OSHA's lockout/tagout standard, 29 CFR 1910.147, covers servicing and maintenance. Its purpose is to stop a machine from starting up unexpectedly, or releasing stored energy, while someone is working on it.
The basics:
- Shut the machine down and isolate it from its energy sources.
- Put a lock on the isolating device, and a tag saying who and why.
- Only the person who put the lock on takes it off.
- Have written procedures and training, and inspect them at least yearly.
- Take extra care at shift changes, with contractors and when several people work on one machine.
The bot version
Bots have stored energy too. A scheduled routine runs at 8 AM whether or not you're halfway through editing its skill. A bot with access to a folder keeps writing there while you reorganize it.
So, before a change:
- Shut down. Turn off the routines that use what you're changing.
- Isolate. Pause the access you're working on: the connector, the folder, the inbox.
- Tag it. Write a note where the bots and people will see it: "Report routine off. Owner editing the skill, Oct 22. Back on after test."
- Check it's really off. Confirm the next scheduled run won't fire.
- Do the work. Edit, test on old data.
- Only the person who locked it unlocks it. They test, turn it back on and remove the tag.
Why the tag matters
The lock stops the machine. The tag stops the confusion. Without it, someone sees a routine off and turns it back on, mid-edit.
With several bots sharing files, the tag is the handoff. A bot reading the note knows not to restart the routine or touch the half-edited skill. See Who owns what.
Group lockout
On a big machine, each worker puts on their own lock. It doesn't restart until every lock is off.
For bots: if two people are changing the same system, both sign the tag. It goes back on when both are done.
A template
| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| What's locked | Weekly report routine; report skill |
| Who locked it | Owner |
| When | Oct 22, 2026, 1:00 PM CDT |
| Why | Changing how owners are pulled |
| What else is affected | Monday summary reads this report |
| Back on when | Test passes on three weeks of old data |
| Unlocked | (date, who, test result) |
Save it with the change record. See Change on purpose.
Where bots differ
A physical lock can't be picked by a sentence. A paused routine can be restarted by anyone with access, or by a bot that misreads an instruction. The tag is advice, not a padlock. Where you can, use real controls: turn the routine off in its settings, remove the access, not just a note asking bots to wait.
And bots don't have shift changes, but conversations end. A new conversation doesn't remember the old one. The tag must live in a file, not in chat.
Back to Machine safety for bots.