Disclosure first: we make Tegis Safety, so we have a stake in what you choose. This guide is meant to help you judge any vendor fairly, including us. It shows its math, links its sources, and says where Tegis is not the right fit.
Choosing lockout/tagout software comes down to three questions. Will it keep a current, machine-specific procedure in front of every person who services or works near that machine? Will it make your OSHA 1910.147 records easier to keep and prove? And what will it cost over three years, once every authorized employee, affected employee, contractor, and new hire is counted?
The guide follows the order a careful evaluation should: requirements, then the numbers to gather, product categories, features, pricing models and a worked cost model, IT and contract checks, the business case, a 30-day trial plan, rollout, and a scorecard to make the final call.
Start with what the standard requires, not a feature list
Software does not make a program compliant. People isolating energy do. What software can do is lighten the documentation load of 29 CFR 1910.147 and make the right procedure easy to find at the right moment. Lockout/tagout ranked No. 4 on OSHA’s final FY2025 most-cited list with 2,177 federal violations, and many of those citations are about documentation: missing machine-specific procedures, uncertified periodic inspections, and training that cannot be shown.
Before any demo, map each requirement to what a tool can help with and what stays with your people. A vendor that claims its product covers this whole table by itself is overselling.
| 1910.147 requirement | Where software helps | What stays with your people |
|---|---|---|
| (c)(1) Energy control program | One organized library for procedures and related records, by site and asset | Writing the program, assigning responsibility, and enforcing it |
| (c)(4) Documented procedures | Structured fields for scope, energy sources, shutdown, isolation, stored-energy release, and verification; photos; revision history | Walking each machine and confirming every isolation point is right |
| (c)(6) Annual periodic inspection | Due-date reminders and certification records naming the machine, date, employees, and inspector | An authorized employee who does not use that procedure observing it and correcting gaps |
| (c)(7) Training and retraining | Attendance and certification records with names and dates; retraining triggers | Teaching the content and confirming people understand it |
| (f)(2) Outside contractors | Giving contractors the host procedure at the machine quickly | Exchanging lockout programs with the contractor before work starts |
| (f)(3) and (f)(4) Group lockout and shift change | Clear group and handoff steps written into each procedure | Running the group lockout and the handoff correctly on the floor |
Gather your numbers before the first demo
Vendors quote and demo better when you hand them a profile of your program, and you compare quotes more fairly when every vendor prices the same profile. Half a day collecting these figures saves weeks of back-and-forth later.
| Input | Why it matters | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Machines needing procedures, by site | Sets library size and authoring effort; drives procedure- or tier-based pricing | Equipment list, CMMS asset register, or a walkdown of each area |
| People who write and approve procedures | Usually a small group; these need full accounts on any model | EHS, maintenance leads, and engineering |
| People who need to read procedures | Usually the largest number; drives per-user pricing and admin work | Authorized and affected employees on every shift, plus temps |
| Contractors per year | Contractors must follow your procedures; they rotate often | Contractor sign-in logs and purchase orders |
| Shifts and turnover | More shifts and higher turnover mean more people needing access | HR headcount and separation reports |
| Connectivity at the machines | Decides whether live pages work or printed copies are essential | A phone signal and Wi-Fi check in each area, including basements and washdown zones |
| Existing records | Inspection and training records must either move in or stay somewhere defined | Binders, spreadsheets, LMS, or current software exports |
| IT requirements | SSO, data hosting, and security review can add weeks to a purchase | Your IT or security team, early |
The four kinds of LOTO software you will be offered
Vendors use the same words for very different products. Know which category you are evaluating, because each one is built for a different buyer.
| Category | Examples | Strength | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Procedure platforms | Tegis Safety, LOTOBuilder, Brady LINK360, Master Lock eLOTO | Build, approve, publish, and print machine-specific procedures | How workers reach procedures at the machine, which records are included, and how the price scales |
| Connected execution systems | Master Lock cLOTO | Records who applied and removed which registered lock | Device, app, lock registration, and connectivity requirements |
| Broad EHS suites | Platforms with incident, audit, chemical, and training modules | One contract for many compliance programs | Long sales cycles, implementation fees, and LOTO as a minor module |
| Consulting and writing services | Safety consultants and procedure-writing firms | Experienced people walk your machines and write the procedures | What happens after handoff: a library you can update, or a binder that goes stale |
Features that matter, and how to test each one
Any vendor can say a feature exists. Ask them to show it on one of your machines. These are the features worth paying for, roughly in the order they decide whether a program works on the floor:
- Point-of-work access. This matters most and gets tested least. Ask how a second-shift operator, a temp, or a visiting contractor opens the current procedure at the machine in under 30 seconds. Then try it with a phone that has never used the system. Whatever that first-time experience is, it is what your least-supported workers will get.
- Procedure structure built for (c)(4). Each energy source by type and magnitude, each isolation device and its location, the lockout device each point needs, stored and residual energy release, and a verification step for each source. Look for required fields that block publishing an incomplete procedure, not free-text boxes.
- Revision control that always serves the current version. Drafts and published procedures should be separate, and each revision should have a reviewer, a date, and an author. Ask the vendor to edit a published procedure live and show what a worker at the machine sees during and after the change.
- Approval workflow. Who can publish, and can you require a second reviewer before a procedure goes live? A single editor publishing straight to the floor is fast but risky for complex equipment.
- Photos with annotations. Marked-up isolation-point photos help new hires and once-a-year maintenance jobs the most. Confirm the annotations print in the PDF instead of being attached separately.
- Printable PDF fallback. Basements, washdown areas, and shielded rooms will defeat any live page. A clean PDF with site, asset, revision date, and approval is both your offline copy and your audit exhibit.
- Labels and tags. Ask what the asset label looks like, which printers and label stock it supports, and whether the label survives your environment: heat, oil, washdown, or UV.
- Multi-site governance. One procedure format across plants, site-scoped equipment and editors, and a corporate view that does not require logging into each site separately. Ask what adding a site costs.
- Inspection and training records. If you want them in the same tool, confirm the inspection certification captures every (c)(6)(ii) element and training records capture names and dates per (c)(7)(iv). If not, decide where they will live before you buy.
- Data ownership and export. You should be able to export every procedure as PDF plus structured data at any time, at no charge. Ask for a sample export during the trial.
- Administrative effort. Count the steps to add a new hire, remove someone who left, give a contractor crew access, and add a new machine. This is ongoing work, and the pricing model strongly affects how much of it there is.
Pricing models compared
The pricing model often affects total cost more than the list price, because it decides what makes your bill grow. In a lockout program, two numbers grow: the equipment list, which changes slowly, and the number of people who need to read procedures, which changes every week. Each model below is reasonable for some buyers. The question is which one matches the shape of your program.
| Model | What grows the bill | What to check | Fits best when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per user, per year (often with cheaper read-only seats) | Every person who needs a login, including viewers | Seat count for every shift and contractor, true-ups at renewal, minimum users per site, and the account admin each hire or departure requires | A small, stable group needs access and turnover is low |
| Company plan tiered by procedures and sites | Library size and the number of plants | Where the next tier starts, what happens at the limit, and whether all users are included | Many people need to read procedures and your machine count is known |
| Per procedure or per project (common with consultants) | Each procedure written or rewritten | The cost of updates after handoff and who keeps documents current between projects | A one-time authoring push, with your team maintaining things afterward |
| Enterprise EHS contract | Modules, sites, and services in an annual commitment | Implementation fees, multi-year terms, price escalators, and how strong the LOTO module really is | LOTO is one of many programs you want on one platform |
| Hardware-tied (connected locks, label printers) | Devices, registration, consumables, and replacements | Software and hardware are often quoted separately; get both in writing | Lock-level execution records or one label ecosystem are firm requirements |
How per-user pricing behaves in a lockout program
Per-user pricing works well for software used daily by a defined group. Lockout procedures follow a different pattern: a few people write them, and many people read them, often occasionally, across shifts, and often without a company email address. Authorized employees need procedures to isolate energy, affected employees should understand what is being done to the equipment they run, and contractors must follow the host employer’s procedures. When each reader is a license, the price follows headcount rather than the size of your program.
None of that makes per-user tools bad products. It means you should model the full cost and plan for these effects before signing:
- Access gets rationed. When every viewer has a cost, teams tend to limit seats, and the people left out are usually temps, night shifts, and contractors. Those are the workers most likely to meet unfamiliar equipment. Decide up front that everyone who needs a procedure gets access, and price that.
- Shared logins creep in. A shared account saves money but erases the record of who viewed what, and it usually breaks the vendor’s terms. If you find yourself considering one, the pricing model is not fitting your program.
- Account administration adds up. Every hire, transfer, departure, and contractor crew means creating or removing an account. At a plant with a few hundred hourly workers, that becomes a routine task for the safety team, plus a license reconciliation at renewal.
- Paper workarounds return. Printing PDFs for anyone without a seat is the common fix, and it brings back the uncontrolled-copy problem software was meant to solve.
- Growth changes the bill. A new shift, an acquired plant, or a turnaround with dozens of contractors adds licenses. Ask how the vendor handles temporary spikes and whether each new location requires its own paid users.
A worked 3-year cost model
Below are three example programs. The per-user column uses illustrative round rates of $100 per editor and $20 per viewer per year; substitute the quotes you receive. The company-plan column uses Tegis’s published prices, where every plan includes unlimited users and only procedures and sites set the price. “Viewers” means authorized and affected employees plus regular contractors who would open a procedure at the machine. Turnover is not included, which keeps the per-user totals on the low side.
The point is the shape, not the exact figures: per-user cost rises with every person given access, while a company plan stays flat as access widens. Run the same table with your own headcount and quotes.
| Program | Editors / viewers | Per-user model (1 yr / 3 yr) | Company plan, unlimited users (1 yr / 3 yr) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single plant, 80 procedures | 4 / 75 | $1,900 / $5,700 | Tegis Starter: $960 / $2,880 |
| Two plants, 220 procedures, steady contractors | 8 / 300 | $6,800 / $20,400 | Tegis Starter: $960 / $2,880 |
| Five plants, 900 procedures | 25 / 1,100 | $24,500 / $73,500 | Tegis Pro: $3,600 / $10,800 |
Costs that do not appear on the quote
License fees are only part of the total. Add these to every vendor’s column before comparing:
- Authoring time. The walkdown takes longer than data entry. A simple single-source machine may take under an hour end to end; a multi-source line with stored hydraulic or pneumatic energy can take a day of field verification. This cost is similar across tools, but a good builder and photo workflow shortens it.
- Administration. Estimate the hours per month spent adding and removing people, resetting passwords, and onboarding contractors. For a two-plant program with 300 readers and a quarter of them turning over each year, that can be 150 account actions annually before counting contractors.
- Records the tool does not keep. If a product does not certify periodic inspections or keep training records, price the separate tracker and the time to maintain it. Tegis, for example, does not keep those records today, so a Tegis budget should include them.
- Labels, tags, and printers. Durable asset labels, tag stock, and any required printer models.
- Implementation, training, and support tiers. Ask whether onboarding help, phone support, or extra sites cost extra.
- Contract terms. Auto-renewal windows, annual price increases, minimum terms, and early-termination fees all change the three-year number.
IT, security, and contract checks
Bring IT in during the shortlist, not after you have picked a winner. These checks catch most late-stage surprises:
- Access control. Role-based permissions for editors and approvers, single sign-on for staff accounts if your company requires it, and an audit log of who changed which procedure.
- Field access and exposure. If workers open procedures without signing in, ask how links are protected, whether they can be revoked, and what information is visible. Keep sensitive details such as alarm codes out of procedure text regardless of the tool.
- Hosting and resilience. Where data is hosted, how it is backed up, how outages are communicated, and how fast you can get a full export.
- Devices and browsers. Which phones, tablets, and browsers are supported, and whether anything must be installed on company devices.
- Contract and exit. Data return on termination, notice periods for renewal, price-change limits, and what happens to QR labels already posted if you leave.
Building the internal business case
Leadership approves software that saves measurable time or reduces a risk they recognize. Build the case from your own numbers rather than vendor claims:
- Time to find the right procedure. Time a technician locating and confirming the current procedure for three assets today. Multiply by your weekly lockout jobs. Even a few minutes saved per job adds up across shifts.
- Time to update. Count how long it takes to revise, approve, reprint, and replace a procedure everywhere it is posted. Compare that with editing and publishing once.
- Audit preparation. Estimate the hours spent pulling procedures, inspection certifications, and training records before an audit or OSHA visit.
- Coverage gaps. List machines without a machine-specific procedure and procedures past their review date. These are the findings an inspector would write up.
- Exposure. In 2026 federal penalties reach $16,550 per serious violation and $165,514 per willful or repeated violation. Use them as context for risk, not as a sales tactic. See the penalty breakdown.
A 30-day trial plan
A trial is only useful if it tests your real conditions. Run two or three vendors through the same plan at the same time:
- Days 1 to 3: pick three assets: a simple one, your most complex multi-source machine, and one that contractors service. Collect current procedures, photos, and equipment details for each.
- Days 4 to 10: build all three procedures in each tool. Note how long each takes and where the builder forced you to add missing information.
- Days 11 to 18: publish, label the assets, and have workers on each shift open the procedures at the machine, including at least one contractor and one new hire. Ask them which was clearest.
- Days 19 to 24: revise one published procedure and confirm the field copy updates. Export PDFs and data. Walk the inspection and training record process each tool supports.
- Days 25 to 30: get written three-year quotes for your full profile, complete the scorecard, and review the results with maintenance, operations, and IT.
Switching effort and a realistic rollout
From paper or spreadsheets, most of the effort is rebuilding procedures in a structured format. From another platform, confirm export formats before canceling anything, and plan a field check of every migrated procedure, because migration is when isolation points get dropped. A phased rollout keeps you covered throughout:
- Weeks 1 to 2: export or scan existing procedures as reference copies. Rank equipment by risk: frequent servicing, multiple energy sources, stored energy, and past incidents or near misses. Name one owner per site.
- Weeks 2 to 6: rebuild the top 10 to 20 percent of high-risk assets first, with photos and verification steps. Have a second authorized employee review each one at the machine before publishing.
- Weeks 4 to 8: label those assets and have each shift open procedures at the machine. Fix what confuses people; their feedback is worth more than any demo.
- Weeks 8 onward: work through the rest of the equipment list by area. Retire old controlled copies only once replacements are published and posted.
- Ongoing: track coverage (machines with a published procedure), review age, and inspection completion each month. Require a procedure review before any modified machine returns to service.
Weighted vendor scorecard
Score each vendor from 1 to 5 per category, based on your trial rather than marketing pages. Multiply by the weight and add up; the maximum is 500. Drop any vendor that scores 1 or 2 in a category weighted 15 or more. Adjust the weights to your priorities, for example raising inspection records if they are your biggest gap.
| Category | Weight | A 5 looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Point-of-work access | 20 | A first-time worker or contractor opens the current procedure at the machine in under 30 seconds; a printed fallback exists |
| Procedure quality and (c)(4) structure | 20 | Required fields for every energy source, isolation point, device, stored-energy release, and verification; annotated photos print in the PDF |
| 3-year cost at full access | 15 | Everyone who should see procedures is included, with every fee in writing |
| Revision control and approvals | 15 | Separate, dated, reviewed drafts and published versions; old versions never served at the machine |
| Administrative effort | 10 | Hires, departures, and contractor crews need little or no account work for read access |
| Inspection and training records | 10 | Built-in (c)(6) and (c)(7) records, or a clear, low-effort plan for where they live |
| Multi-site governance | 5 | One format across plants, site-scoped editing, a corporate view, and clear site pricing |
| Data export, security, and exit terms | 5 | Full export on demand shown during the trial, IT checks passed, and no exit fee |
Questions to ask every vendor
Ask these in writing and keep the answers with your quotes.
| Question | Strong answer | Answer to dig into |
|---|---|---|
| How does a contractor read our procedure at the machine on their first day? | A short, demonstrated path that needs no setup | Account creation, an app install, or a supervisor relaying it |
| What does our bill look like if 300 more people need access next year? | A specific written figure, ideally unchanged | “We will work it out at renewal” |
| What happens when we reach a plan limit? | A published next tier or written overage terms | No clear answer |
| Can we see an export of our data during the trial? | Yes, PDF and structured data | Only on cancellation |
| How do you prevent an outdated procedure from being opened at the machine? | Field links always resolve to the current published version | Workers are expected to check the revision date |
| What is the 3-year cost for our full profile? | A written total with every fee listed | Year one only, with services quoted separately |
| What happens to posted labels if we leave? | A clear plan for redirection or replacement | They stop working |
| What does your product not do? | A specific, honest list | “Everything you need for compliance” |
Objections you will hear, answered honestly
- “Paper works fine.” Paper works until an inspector asks for three years of inspection certifications, a machine is modified and only one binder gets updated, or the person who knew which copy was current leaves. Software does not replace physical lockout; it replaces the manual work of keeping procedures current and showing it. See our software vs Excel comparison.
- “Our crews will not learn new software.” They should not need to. Reading a procedure should be as simple as scanning a label and scrolling. Spend training time on lockout itself, not on logging in.
- “We cannot afford it.” Start with a pilot on your highest-risk assets, many tools offer free or low-cost entry plans, and compare the cost with the hours your team already spends finding, updating, and proving procedures.
- “What if the vendor disappears?” That is why exports matter. If you can download every procedure as a PDF today, a vendor failure is an inconvenience rather than a crisis.
- “Our equipment is too unusual.” The structure of an energy control procedure is the same everywhere; the energy sources, devices, and steps vary. Bring your hardest machine to the trial and see whether the tool handles it.
Where Tegis fits, and where it does not
Tegis Safety is built for getting the current, machine-specific procedure in front of everyone who needs it. Authorized users build and review structured procedures, publish them, and attach an equipment QR code that opens the procedure in any phone browser with no app or worker login. Every plan includes unlimited users. Free covers 10 procedures at one site, Starter is $80 per month for 250 procedures across 2 sites, and Pro is $300 per month for 1,000 procedures across 5 sites. See current pricing.
Tegis is not the right fit if you need built-in periodic-inspection certification, training records, or corrective-action tracking in the same tool, or lock-level execution records with registered or connected locks. Live QR pages need a network connection, so keep controlled PDFs where coverage is unreliable. Our comparison pages for Brady LINK360, Master Lock, and LOTOBuilder cover those trade-offs product by product.
Making the decision
Put each vendor’s scorecard, trial notes, and written three-year quote side by side. Weigh what your crews said at the machine heavily; a tool that looks strong in a conference room but confuses a contractor on night shift will not hold up.
Choose the tool your people actually use at the machine, at a price that lets everyone who needs a procedure have one. That combination is what keeps a lockout program current after the purchase is forgotten.
Frequently asked questions
What should I look for in lockout tagout software?
In priority order: fast access to the current procedure at the machine for every worker and contractor; procedure fields that follow 1910.147(c)(4), including verification steps; revision control and approvals; annotated photos that print into a clean PDF; a 3-year cost that includes everyone who needs access; and a clear plan for periodic inspection and training records.
How much does lockout tagout software cost in 2026?
It depends on the pricing model. Per-user tools charge per person per year, so cost scales with headcount and can reach thousands to tens of thousands of dollars a year once every reader is counted. Company plans price by procedures and sites; Tegis publishes Free, Starter at $80 per month, and Pro at $300 per month, all with unlimited users. Enterprise EHS suites are usually quoted as annual contracts.
Which pricing model is best for LOTO software?
Match the model to your program. If a small, stable group needs access, per-user pricing can be economical. If many people across shifts, sites, and contractor crews need to read procedures, a plan priced by procedures and sites usually costs less and needs less account administration. Model three years with your real headcount either way.
Do affected employees and contractors need software accounts?
OSHA does not require anyone to have a software account. It requires that procedures exist, that people are trained, and that contractors follow the host employer’s procedures. Whether workers need accounts depends on the product; tools with no-login QR access let anyone at the machine read the current published procedure.
Can LOTO software make us OSHA compliant?
No software makes a program compliant by itself. It can structure procedures to 1910.147(c)(4), keep them current, and organize inspection and training records. Your people still walk the machines, verify isolation points, conduct annual periodic inspections, and train employees.
How should we run a LOTO software trial?
Run two or three vendors in parallel on the same three assets: a simple machine, your most complex one, and one contractors service. Build and publish the procedures, have workers on each shift open them at the machine, revise one, export the data, and finish with written three-year quotes and a weighted scorecard.
How long does it take to switch to LOTO software?
Plan in phases rather than one cutover. High-risk assets can be rebuilt and posted in the first 4 to 8 weeks, and the rest follows by area. Time per procedure depends mostly on the field walkdown and energy complexity, not on typing.