What's the simplest way to (safely) interlock a Pig Launcher?

Pigging operations, involving the loading and unloading of cleaning or inspection pigs into the launcher or receiver have the potential cause serious injury, death and damage to equipment if not carried out under the strictest procedural guidelines.

Even the best training or written procedures cannot safeguard against human error. Fundamentally, the potential for incident occurs when opening the pig launcher or receiver door. At this time, the launcher/receiver vessel can be under pressure, charged with hazardous liquids and gases. Opening the vessel without correctly isolating, venting and draining can cause the trap door to fly open with the pig exiting the vessel like a missile. Read more....

What's the best padlock for lockout tagout use?

German padlock manufacturer Abus have increased their range of safety padlocks for lockout tagout applications with the 74/40 padlock.

Comparing this alongside other established safety padlocks, this feels like a top quality product. No less than you'd expect from a German product.

It's beautifully refined in design and function. The lock mechanism is very smooth on key entry and has the added feature of a spring return cylinder. Once the padlock shackle is open, the key becomes trapped within the lock. A standard feature for safety lockout padlocks.

Dimensionally it's very similar to offerings from Master Lock and Brady. The shackle is steel but has a vinyl sheath. Abus claim this makes the shackle non-conductive; a feature becoming increasingly popular with safety padlocks. Naturally, having a steel core gives this padlock far greater strength same similar all-plastic non-conductive padlocks.

The padlock comes with self adhesive labels to indicate equipment locked out, as well as a space for personal identification on the back.

Available in a range of colors and key suites including keyed alike and master key.

In summary, this is a Rolls Royce product. Probably the finest on the market, naturally slightly more expensive than others but for organizations who look for the best in safety equipment, this padlock is sure to satisfy.

What's the best padlock for lockout tagout use? An blog by Tim Hughes of Total Lockout (Safety) Ltd

How do you use Car Seals for locking valves?

We're interested in feedback from readers of this blog on why they use car seals. In our experience there's a couple of common applications for using car seals for sealing valves. For example:

Sprinkler System Water Supply. For obvious reasons, continuity of water supply is essential for fixed fire fighting systems. The water supply valves will be set in the open position and sealed with a car seal.

PSV (Safety Relief Valve) Isolation Block Valves. Valves upstream and downstream of a safety relief valve can be 'car sealed open' or 'car sealed closed'. For process safety reasons, a safety relief valve must be kept onstream at all times. By sealing the valves around the PSV, this status is assured. If the PSV must be taken off-line for maintenance, a spare relief valve must be brought onstream. (Sometimes, valve interlocks are used to provide control in this critical application.).

Aside from these two applications, car seals may be used for random locking of valves to prevent inadvertent or unauthorized tampering.

We'd be interested to learn of your experiences. How do you use car seals for locking valves?

Car Seal Open, Car Seal Closed - changes to the product range.

We've made some subtle changes to our range of car seal devices...(for those of you seeking clarification on car sealed valves, refer to our previous blog "What does car seal open, car seal closed mean?").

Until now, the default cable size for our car seals was length 1,000mm (about 39") x 3.5mm cable diameter (1/8").

After getting feedback from the field we found that a 2.5mm diameter cable (3/32") was more than adequate for sealing valves. The residual strength in the multi-strand cable was fine for sealing valves.

Therefore, with immediate effect, all stock seals are now 1000mm long x 2.5mm diameter. There is a commercial aspect to this change of spec' too. By making this change, there's about 20% reduction in unit weight. This means we can save money in shipping costs. Which of course, we pass on to you, our customer.

By the way, if you're thinking 1000mm (39") is way too long for my requirements, you can cut off the surplus cable once it's deployed on the valve. But be sure not to trim the cable before you deploy the seal, because the individual cable strands will fray and you wont be able to pass the cable into the seal head.


Car Seals are used for sealing open or closed valves in long term isolations. Critical valves, such as sprinkler system water supply and relief valve block valves may be sealed closed to prevent inadvertent operation or tampering.

Follow the link to see view our car seal website.

Where can I find a Type 1 Key Safe (Group Lockout Box)?

The Type 1 and Type 2 Key Safes are used to retain keys safely that are used to isolate or ''lock off'' equipment or machinery. The design was conceived in accordance with C.E.G.B (The Central Electricity Generating Board) safety rules in the early 1970's.

The Key Safes form a part a safe system of work, a brief example of this is demonstrated below.

In the event of a maintenance or outage order being issued, the equipment must be isolated.

The Senior Authorized Person (SAP) will lock the keys in the nominated key safe, once the equipment has been isolated. The SAP will hold the control key, which is common for all key safes in the area.

A Permit to Work will be issued to the first engineer that is required to work on the equipment that has been isolated. This engineer will also be issued with a secondary Key A from the nominated key safe. The following engineer that is required to work will be issued with Key B, and so on and so forth. The keys will be returned once all work has been completed and work permits will be signed off. It is only after all of the secondary keys have been returned and work permits have been signed off that the key safe can be opened. The SAP can then open the key safe and release the keys, remove the isolation lock and get the equipment back up and running.

Design Basics (Type 1 Lockout Box)

1. Steel Construction
2. Grey/Green Colour
3. Dimensions: 152mm Tall x 207mm Wide x 104mm Deep
4. 1 Control Lock, 4 Secondary Locks
5. Inner Shelves
6. Exterior Hinge Pin Extension for Holding Keys

Type 2 Lockout Box has 1 control lock and 6 secondary locks.

These lockout boxes are widely used in the oil, gas and petrochemical industries and also power plants where large maintenance crews are involved with major shutdown activities.

Type 1 and Type 2 Group Lockout Boxes are available to buy from Total Lockout (Safety) Ltd. Click on the link where to buy Type 1 Key Safe (Group Lockout Box).

Total Lockout (Safety) Ltd
Unit 10 Warner Drive
Springwood Industrial Estate
Braintree, Essex, CM7 2YW
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)1376 325506


USA & Canada
4500 140th Avenue North, Suite 101
Clearwater, FL 33762

Tel: (727) 608 4325

sales@totallockout.com

Why use a car seal instead of a padlock and chain to lock a valve?

Car Seals are used to seal valves in the open or closed positions. Of course there are other simple ways of locking a valve; not least a padlock and chain.

But the whole point of the seal is that it can't be readily removed to facilitate normal valve operation. You have to cut the seal, thereby destroying it and giving evidence that the valve may have been tampered with.

A padlock and chain arrangement is a common method of valve locking which enables an authorized person to unlock the padlock, remove the chain and operate the valve.

To that end, whether to use a car seal instead of a padlock and chain is all about the valve application or service.

Some valves must not be operated under any circumstances, (or under strict operational conditions i.e. Permit to Work) for example valves on a sprinkler system which control the flow of water to the fixed fire fighting system. Another application is block valves upstream and downstream of a safety relief valve. These are sometimes designated CSO (Car Seal Open) or CSC (Car Seal Closed) Isolating a safety relief valve must only be done under controlled conditions.

Valve applications such as these may well be left sealed for very long periods of time.

Visit our website for more information on car seals and their specification.

Very simple valve interlock system

Did you know it's possible to achieve high integrity process control using valve interlocks? The simplest system involves two valves, each fitted with a key interlock device. In the diagram below standard symbols are used to represent the valves. The circles with the letter 'A' inside represent the interlock. The designation 'A' refers to the key.

So, in this diagram the requirement is to ensure that both valves are closed during change over.

Illustrated Status:

• Valve V1 is open, but unlocked. (We know this because the interlock symbol (circle) has a line through it indicating that the key is present and trapped).
• Valve V2 is closed and locked.

The only way to release the key (A) is to close the Valve V1. The key will only release when the valve is closed. Therefore, the changeover sequence is as follows:

1. Close Valve V1.
2. Release Key A (Both valves are now locked closed).
3. Insert Key A into Valve V2.
4. Unlocked and open Valve V2.

The important feature of interlocks of this type is that when correctly fitted to the valve, it's impossible to make a mistake. The 'human element' is removed and the operator cannot deviate from the correct changeover sequence.

Click on the link to see valve interlock hardware.

Truly portable valve wheel driver (especially good for large penstocks).

Back in August of this year (2013) Total Lockout secured an exclusive UK agency from F.Lli Scapin of Italy for their portable penstock drive tool.

This is now proving to be a great addition to our product range; having previously been a little skeptical of petrol powered valve exercisers, these devices incorporate all the essential features and user benefits to take the hard work of out opening and closing large valves and penstocks.

Whereas other valve exercisers use the operator as the reaction point, the Scapin power tool has an integral reaction device (anti-rotation) mechanism linked directly to the valve. In this way, no load is transfered to the operator at any time, even when the valve bottoms out or hits a tight spot in its travel.

There are currently three models in the range. These are:

VAS-APB45N - Cordless Battery Tool
Max Torque: 45Nm
Output Speed: 95 RPM
Weight: 7.6kg






VAS-APS100N - Petrol Motor
Max Torque: 105Nm
Output Speed: 104 RPM
Weight: 12.0kg






VAS-APS140N - Petrol Motor
Max Torque: 147Nm
Output Speed: 110 RPM
Weight: 13.0kg




Main features and benefits:

Light weight
Fully portable
Requires no on-site power
Ideal for remote locations
Significantly reduce operating times for large valves, penstocks and sluice gates.
Reduce the risk of strain injury.

For more information and specification, visit the portable valve actuators section of our website.

Car Seals with RFID - is there any point?

Here at  Total Lockout we're always looking at ways to grow our business by increasing our product portfolio. Especially if the product is niche, novel or even finding a new use for an established product.

We're currently reviewing cable ties with embedded RFID technology. Essentially this is a standard plastic tie seal; close to the head is an RFID tag securely embedded in the head of the seal. The product is gaining wide usage in lifting equipment applications. The tie is attached to a piece of lifting equipment and the hardware is used to identify inspection routines.

This got us thinking as to whether this same product could be used for in car seal (valve sealing) applications to record the identity, location and application of the sealed valve.

And here our experience is limited. We would be pleased to receive comments from individuals who implement car seal programs to established whether such functionality has a value in the field. 

Please feel free to comment.

Click here to view our existing range of car seals.