When you do lockout/tagout, you are very particular about verifying deenergization. Using your DMM, you always test the meter, test the circuit, and test the meter again. This way, you don’t inadvertently how absence of voltage when it’s present.
You’re working deep in a refinery, and a bus runs to the gate every two hours. Jim, your coworker, notices how deliberate you are. He tells you he has locked out these same circuits many times, and he knows they are deenergized. He also tells you his boy has a ballgame tonight and if he doesn’t catch the bus in time he’ll miss the game. Very sharply, he says, “Quit wasting time.”
Of course you want to get along with Jim. And what he says makes sense. Should you skip this “waste of time” since there is apparently no danger of energization?
Let’s say you do skip it and Jim, with his mind on that ball game, made a mistake and locked out the wrong breaker. Or since the last time he worked on this equipment some modifications were made and now there’s a backfeed that keeps those conductors energized.
Will Jim make it to the ball game on time? Probably, he won’t make it there ever. Probably, he has already watched his boy play ball for the last time.
But suppose luck is on your side and you get away with skipping that step this time. Now you’ve crossed a boundary. It will be easier to skip this step in the future. What you want to do instead of making a risk assessment for skipping an essential safety habit is to do it every time so it stays a safety habit.
Don’t let someone pressure you into making exceptions to your standard safety checks and procedures. No matter what justification is given, those must always be done so that an incorrect justification doesn’t lead to a tragedy.
