News

“Car seals” are single-use security cable seals, so-called due to their alternative use in sealing railway cars, or wagons. Such car seals can also be used in the safe and effective lockout and isolation of industrial valves. Our Flexigrip 325M car seal is available from UK with unique sequential numbering and 1m length cable for safe and secure sealing of valves.

Car seals perform well as single-use lockout devices to seal a valve in the open or closed position, typically for long durations - for example, to permanently secure a sprinkler system valve. To remove the car seal, a cutting tool is required, after which the cable will splay, ensuring that the device cannot be re-used. This effectively prevents unauthorised use of the valves, where this may be dangerous without appropriate safeguards.

Below is a visual guide to the use of car seals for valve lockout:-

Colour coding is used to indicate the safe working position of the valve, for example green for valves which should be kept in the ‘open’ position, red for ‘closed’ valves, and yellow for ‘throttled’ valves – however, a range of custom colours available upon request: this may be preferred to indicate other important information, such as the substance flowing through pipework.

Car seals for valve lockout come in a standard 1m length cable – but custom lengths are available, to suit particularly large operatus or to seal multiple valves in one operation.

In order to provide safe working practice, a system of working should be implemented to provide a full auditable record of safety lockout. For example, a regularly updated list of safety critical valves should be maintained, recording the following information.

• Safe position of valve, e.g. open or closed
• Valve location / department
• Last inspection date
• Unique identification number of the car seals

This is to ensure that you meet your responsibilities under national occupational safety legislation. For example, in the UK, the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER), provides for safe working practices - particularly the provision of machinery with appropriate and safe methods of control, and the safe isolation of machinery from all energy sources, as required. Car Seals can act as a suitable tool as part of your health and safety protocols to ensure that your workforce is protected, and that you are in compliance with safety legislation.

If you require another type of solution to suit your particular needs, we do offer other products for valve lockout - our full range is available here.

Please contact us to discuss your requirements - sales@universeal.co.uk or 01829 760000