What's in the template
Three pages to keep at the machine and one guidance sheet.
- A Machine and procedure details
- B Scope: which tasks the procedure covers, and which it does not
- C Energy sources and isolation points: one row per source, with the isolating device, the lockout device, stored energy and how zero energy is checked
- D Lockout devices, tools and PPE
- E Shutdown and lockout, step by step
- F Verification of zero energy before any work starts
- G Special conditions: group lockout, contractors, shift change, test runs, a lock left on
- H Restoration and hand-back
- I Authorised persons and their instruction
- J Approval and review record
Pages 1 and 2 hold the procedure, parts A to H; page 3 holds the authorised persons, the approval and the review record. The guidance sheet explains the steps, when a lighter document will do and when a permit is needed, the roles and, for each requirement, the German and the Swiss rule side by side; where a country has no rule of its own, the sheet says so.
When do you need it?
Before anyone services, cleans, sets or clears a machine, it is switched off, separated from every energy source, secured against restart and checked for zero energy. A written procedure for each machine makes sure every source and every stored energy is covered, the same way each time, by people who are authorised and instructed. Write it once per machine, have it approved, and review it after every change.
Rules it follows
Germany
- BetrSichV §3, §8, §10, §12 and §13 (review, isolation, maintenance, instruction, contractors)
- TRBS 1112, Instandhaltung (March 2019)
- TRBS 2111, mechanical hazards (March 2014), for shift changes
- DGUV Information 209-015, Instandhaltung an Maschinen und Anlagen (June 2026)
- DGUV Vorschrift 3 §6 and DIN VDE 0105-100 for electrical isolation
- EN ISO 14118, prevention of unexpected start-up
Switzerland
- VUV Art. 3, 6, 8, 9, 30, 32b and 43 (checks, instruction, contractors, isolating devices, safe state before maintenance)
- Suva, eight life-saving rules for maintenance (84040, 88813), and Suva 66121, planning and monitoring maintenance
- Suva checklists 67075 (unexpected start-up) and 67192 (maintenance)
- Ordinance on Heavy-Current Installations (Starkstromverordnung, StV), Art. 72
- Suva 84042, life-saving rules for electricity
Checked against the current editions on 14 October 2026.