Maintenance is one of the highest-risk categories of work in many plants, especially because it often involves non-routine tasks and interfacing with energy sources. It’s not unusual to see maintenance take place in a blitz to get tasks done quickly. Schedule pressure is real, but so too is the pressure still trapped in a conveying line you thought was bled down.
Ingredient handling systems have their own specific hazards — combustible dust, pinch points, stored electrical energy — and those hazards don't negotiate with production timelines. Solid manufacturing safety practices mean one thing above all: prove it’s safe before you touch it.
To protect employees and maintain compliance, proper training and safety regulations should be in place. Here's what those safety protocols look like in practice.
The most preventable workplace injuries happen when someone skips the planning step. Before anyone picks up a wrench, get the whole team in the room: maintenance, operations, safety personnel, and your AZO service team if they’re involved.
Walk through every step of the job to find potential hazards. Identify what’s being isolated, what stays live, who owns each part of the lockout, and what to do if something doesn’t go as expected. Eliminate surprises in the conference room because the floor is a terrible place to figure things out.
Regular safety meetings like this are one of the most reliable mechanisms for reinforcing safety training and confirming that every worker is current on the protocols that apply to their specific tasks. This reinforces that shared responsibility for safety procedures starts at the pre-job meeting, not after something goes wrong.
This is also when you coordinate upstream and downstream processes. AZO systems don’t operate in isolation. A blower, a diverter valve, or a shared conveying line can shift or energize a component you thought was isolated. Map it all out and then lock out what you’re not working on, not just what you are.
In 2025, OSHA cited 2,177 lockout/tagout violations — making it the #4 most-common safety violation nationwide. OSHA estimates that proper LOTO procedures could prevent approximately 50,000 injuries and 120 deaths every year. The violations almost always happen during maintenance, when equipment isn't properly isolated.
OSHA sets the national floor for manufacturing safety. Compliance requires consistent training, documented practices, and accurate recordkeeping that hold up under inspection so you can avoid citations.
The biggest trap isn't skipping LOTO altogether, but assuming lockout alone is adequate. Stored energy is the real hazard. On AZO systems, that means pneumatic valves can still be under pressure even when the disconnect is locked out. That means:
The right sequence: lock it out, bleed it down, and verify with a meter or gauge that it’s actually at zero energy. Don’t take someone else’s word that it’s de-energized. A safe electrician tests it themselves, every time.
For solenoid valves, most have a manual actuator. Use it to confirm the valve position and verify there’s no built-up pressure before reaching near it. If the air line is tagged out, disconnect the downstream hose to the component to relieve any remaining pressure.
On Feb. 7, 2008, a sugar dust explosion at the Imperial Sugar facility in Port Wentworth, Ga., killed 14 workers and injured 36 more. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board concluded the disaster was “entirely preventable.” The root cause: sugar dust had been allowed to accumulate on equipment, floors, and elevated surfaces throughout the facility. One spark — likely from an overheated bearing — triggered a primary explosion that lofted accumulated dust into the air, which then fueled a chain of secondary explosions that tore through the building.
The same unsafe conditions exist in any manufacturing setting handling powdered or granular ingredients. Classified as hazardous materials under OSHA guidelines, dust builds up on top of equipment, inside pipes, and in the gaps and ledges of a plant that lacks a rigorous housekeeping program.
During maintenance, the risk goes up. Pulling a large gearbox or a rotary valve can send accumulated dust airborne, and opening a line with a product plug can release a cloud. If everything isn’t properly locked out and there’s any ignition source nearby, the conditions for an explosion are met in seconds.
A good housekeeping program is ultimately a safety program and a proactive measure against fugitive dust. Keeping a clean workspace — walkways clear, spills addressed immediately, and surfaces free of accumulated material — is one of the most direct ways to prevent slips, trips, and falls, which remain among the most common sources of plant-floor injuries. This includes:
A few components on AZO systems require specific handling during maintenance: rotary valves, screw feeders, and pneumatic valve actuators each have mechanical considerations worth knowing before you start. Machine guarding is a fundamental safety requirement — those barriers and covers are specifically engineered to prevent contact with moving parts that would otherwise cause serious injury. Guards should only be removed after a complete lockout is verified.
Never reach into a valve or feeder without confirming it’s fully de-energized and mechanically isolated. Use a manual actuator to verify valve position, and confirm the air supply is bled and at zero pressure before working near any actuated component. Appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE)— including cut-resistant gloves and safety glasses — should be worn any time guards are removed, even with the system locked out.
Weight is also a hazard. Rotary valves, especially larger models, can weigh 300 lbs or more. They’re often supported by brackets or secondary supports — but those supports may not be obvious until you’re at the last bolt.
Before unscrewing, think through how the component is supported and what it will do when that connection is broken. Repetitive strain and improper lifting are also major injury sources in maintenance work. Plan the removal properly with the right equipment and enough people. Use mechanical aids such as hoists or lift tables when handling heavy components to protect yourself from back injuries and dropped-load incidents.
Electrical lockout is straightforward in principle: lock the disconnect, tag it out, and verify with a known working meter that there’s no voltage present. In practice, the verification step gets skipped more than it should. Always test it yourself. Don’t rely on someone else’s confirmation that a circuit is de-energized.
When working near live panels or before lockout is confirmed, personal protective equipment (PPE) is non-negotiable. PPE in manufacturing environments protects workers from a wide range of hazards — not just electrical exposure, but chemical contact, noise, and physical impact — and the gear worn must be matched to the specific hazard level of the task at hand. At minimum, wear arc-flash-rated gear, insulated gloves, and a face shield. Wearing the correct PPE is one of the most direct ways to protect yourself from serious injuries.
Variable frequency drives (VFDs) require extra attention. Capacitors inside a VFD store electrical energy and don’t discharge immediately when the disconnect is switched off. When working near VFDs in the field, lock the panel, turn the disconnect off, and wait before verifying — then verify before touching anything.
Be aware of foreign voltages. In some installations, control cabinets are fed from more than one source. Proper installation signals a foreign voltage with a yellow wire, but not every installation is correct. If you see anything unexpected, treat it as live until proven otherwise.
Control systems add another layer of complexity. A PLC monitors switches, sensors, and limit inputs to control motors and valves in the field. A single closed contact can start a device. Make sure every control circuit is accounted for in your lockout procedure, not just the main disconnect.
AZO receivers and silos qualify as confined spaces under OSHA’s definition. If your facility has a confined space entry program — and it should — those procedures apply here without exception.
AZO service technicians are not authorized to enter confined spaces unless they’ve completed your facility’s specific training and permitting process. In practice, that means AZO technicians will observe and support from outside while your trained maintenance team performs the work inside. If they are able to enter, be sure to properly coordinate the visit so the work can get done.
Before anyone enters a confined space or starts work in a high-risk area, everyone on the job needs to know what they're walking into. This includes:
Every worker on-site should know where emergency exits are located and what the evacuation plan is, particularly when working inside vessels or in areas where a dust incident or pressure release could block egress.
Finally, before any maintenance window, notify production and get explicit sign-off on what’s being taken offline. Identify every upstream and downstream component that could affect the equipment you’re working on and include them in the lockout plan. Diverter valves should be considered to make sure the system you’re working on is properly isolated.
When a line is down, every minute costs money and everyone knows it. But that pressure is exactly when safety discipline matters most, because when corners get cut you have more incidents than during a slower, more deliberate process.
Stop and think through every step before you do it. Walk from start to finish in your head before you start in the field. A pre-job meeting with your full team is the single best tool you have for catching the thing nobody thought of.
Conducting regular safety audits — systematically examining procedures, equipment, and practices before and after maintenance windows — helps identify hazards early and prevents the accidents and costly downtime that follow when gaps go unnoticed. Continuous improvement in workplace safety is about the moment-to-moment discipline to pause and ask, “Have I proven this is safe?”
That discipline doesn’t come from a poster on the wall. A genuine safety culture is a commitment that has to be embraced across every level of the organization — from plant leadership to frontline workers — and it’s built through consistent communication, regular training, and making it genuinely safe for anyone to raise a concern before it becomes an incident. Implement regular training and recurring safety meetings that reinforce a “see something, say something” mindset, and make sure the systems exist to act on what gets raised.
The goal is for everyone to go home at the end of the day. The equipment can be repaired and the line will come back up, but the people doing the work are irreplaceable.
AZO’s Aftermarket Services team partners with your maintenance and operations staff to keep your ingredient handling systems running safely and reliably. Learn more about AZO Aftermarket Services.