Lockout/tagout software can mean very different things depending on the industrial environment.

For a manufacturing facility, the requirement may be relatively focused: create machine-specific lockout/tagout procedures, identify hazardous energy sources, guide authorized employees through isolation points, and maintain records showing who performed each stage of the procedure.

For a refinery, chemical plant, power-generation facility, mining operation, or other high-hazard site, hazardous energy control may sit inside a much wider operational safety process. The software may need to connect work authorization, risk assessment, permits, isolations, simultaneous operations, contractors, and maintenance systems.

That distinction matters when comparing products.

The best platform for creating visual OSHA-aligned LOTO procedures for manufacturing equipment is not necessarily the best platform for coordinating complex process isolations during a shutdown or turnaround.

For this guide, we researched seven products with substantive functionality around lockout/tagout, hazardous energy control, energy isolation, or Control of Work.

 

What does LOTO mean in the United States?

For US industrial buyers, the regulatory starting point is OSHA’s Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout) standard, 29 CFR 1910.147.

The standard applies to servicing and maintenance of machines and equipment where unexpected energization, startup, or release of stored energy could injure employees. OSHA requires employers to establish an energy control program consisting of procedures, employee training, and periodic inspections. (osha.gov)

Lockout/tagout

LOTO is the core US term.

OSHA defines lockout around placing a lockout device on an energy-isolating device so that the equipment cannot be operated until that device is removed.

Tagout uses a warning device to indicate that equipment may not be operated until the tag is removed.

Where an energy-isolating device is capable of being locked out, OSHA generally requires lockout unless the employer can demonstrate that a tagout system provides equivalent protection. (osha.gov)

Hazardous energy control

Hazardous energy control is the broader concept behind LOTO.

Hazardous energy can include electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, chemical, thermal, pressure, stored, and other forms of energy capable of harming workers.

Software should therefore do more than record whether a padlock has been attached.

A credible hazardous energy control system may need to identify energy sources, specify isolation devices, control shutdown steps, verify de-energization, manage stored energy, document authorized employees, control lock removal, and guide safe restoration of equipment.

Energy control procedures

OSHA requires documented energy control procedures unless a narrow exception applies.

Those procedures must address the intended use of the procedure, specific steps for shutdown and isolation, placement and removal of locks or tags, responsibilities, and requirements for testing or verifying the effectiveness of energy control measures. (osha.gov)

That makes machine-specific procedure management one of the most important capabilities to examine in LOTO software.

 

Group lockout and shift changes

Complex industrial LOTO often involves multiple workers rather than a single employee and padlock.

OSHA includes requirements for group lockout/tagout and requires procedures that maintain continuity of protection during shift or personnel changes.

Outside contractors must also exchange information with the host employer about their respective energy control procedures. (osha.gov)

Software becomes particularly valuable where organizations must coordinate multiple authorized employees, contractors, shifts, locations, and pieces of equipment.

 

Control of Work and Permit to Work

Control of Work is widely used as an industrial software category, particularly in oil and gas, chemicals, power, mining, and other high-hazard sectors.

It is not a single OSHA regulatory program equivalent to 1910.147.

Instead, Control of Work software typically links processes such as:

work request > hazard assessment > permit or authorization > isolation / LOTO > field execution > verification > handback > re-energization

US regulations contain specific permit requirements for particular hazards.

For example, OSHA’s Process Safety Management standard requires hot-work permits for hot work conducted on or near covered processes, while 29 CFR 1910.146 establishes permit requirements for permit-required confined spaces. (osha.gov)

This distinction matters because some products in this guide are primarily LOTO systems, while others are broader Control of Work platforms.

 

How we selected the software

Products were considered where current product evidence demonstrated meaningful functionality around:

• Lockout/tagout
• Hazardous energy control
• Energy isolation
• Machine-specific energy control procedures
• Isolation verification
• Permit or work authorization integration
• Field execution
• Re-energization and restoration
• Group or complex isolation management
• Auditability

We also considered whether the product was relevant to US industrial buyers.

Customer reviews were examined as an additional evidence source, but review ratings were not used to create a proprietary product score or determine the winner.

This is particularly important because review coverage varies considerably.

Some vendors have exact-product reviews for their LOTO system. Others have reviews only for a broader EHS or operations platform.

A high rating for an EHS platform should therefore not automatically be interpreted as a high rating for its isolation-management module.

 

Independent customer review aggregation

We researched customer feedback from G2, Capterra, GetApp, Software Advice, Gartner Peer Insights, and other relevant software-review sources.

Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice are all part of Gartner Digital Markets. Where the same underlying reviews appear across these properties, we do not multiply the review count by treating each site as an independent customer population.

Where an aggregated rating is shown, the calculation is:

Σ (published rating × eligible review count) ÷ total eligible review count

This is a review aggregation only.

It is not a proprietary product score and it does not determine our editorial recommendations.

 

 

 

The table highlights one of the main problems with using review ratings to rank this market.

A large enterprise platform may have extensive deployments but relatively little publicly accessible feedback specifically covering its Control of Work or isolation functionality.

A specialist LOTO platform may have more relevant reviews but a very small sample.

Review scores should therefore be assessed alongside sample size, product identity, functionality, intended operating environment, implementation complexity, and integration requirements.

 

1. Sphera Control of Work

Best for: Complex enterprise isolations, shutdowns, and SIMOPS

Sphera is one of the strongest candidates for organizations where hazardous energy control forms part of a larger process-safety and operational-risk environment.

Its Isolation Management capability supports multi-phase isolation planning for different stages of work, individual isolation points, dependencies between isolation points, energy-source visibility, status tracking, critical valve monitoring, and work and authorization history. (sphera.com)

Isolation Management sits inside Sphera’s broader Control of Work environment.

The wider platform brings together risk assessments, JHAs, isolation management, Permit to Work, job-conflict visualization, SIMOPS, interactive P&IDs, and operational logbooks. (sphera.com)

Sphera’s Permit to Work capability also explicitly references Lockout/Tagout procedures and combines information from permits, isolations, hazards, maintenance activities, and simultaneous operations. (sphera.com)

For US refineries, chemical facilities, oil and gas operations, mines, and other high-risk industrial environments, that breadth can be a major advantage.

The potential drawback is complexity.

A manufacturing facility whose primary requirement is to replace several hundred paper or Word-based machine LOTO procedures may be evaluating considerably more functionality than it actually needs.

Review evidence

SpheraCloud currently has 4.0/5 from 11 reviews on G2.

The reviews provide useful evidence about the broader platform and vendor experience, but they do not constitute a dedicated customer rating of Sphera Control of Work.

Gartner Peer Insights separately displays 5.0/5 from one rating, but that review relates to another area of SpheraCloud rather than specifically to Control of Work.

Review aggregation: 4.08/5 from 12 eligible platform-level ratings/reviews.

The aggregation should therefore be treated as platform context rather than a direct measure of the isolation-management product.

 

2. Enablon Control of Work

Best for: Enterprise-wide integrated Control of Work

Wolters Kluwer Enablon combines isolation management and Lockout/Tagout with a broader enterprise EHS and operational-risk platform.

Its Control of Work product brings together Permit to Work, hazard identification, risk assessment, isolation management, real-time SIMOPS coordination, mobile workflows, and audit trails.

Enablon’s isolation functionality can use P&IDs and its iDiagram environment to help maintenance teams and equipment operators manage LOTO and equipment isolation. (wolterskluwer.com)

This makes Enablon particularly relevant for large organizations that want hazardous energy control to operate inside the same enterprise architecture as other EHS, operational risk, and compliance processes.

That flexibility also means implementation deserves careful attention.

Highly configurable enterprise systems can support complex organizations, but the buyer should understand how much configuration, consultancy, data preparation, and internal ownership will be required.

Review evidence

The broader Enablon EHS profile currently shows 4.7/5 from three reviews across Gartner Digital Markets.

Gartner Peer Insights’ all-markets Enablon Platform profile displays 5.0/5 from eight ratings.

The evidence provides useful context on the wider Enablon platform, but it does not isolate the customer experience of the Control of Work module.

Contextual review aggregation: 4.92/5 from 11 ratings/reviews.

Gartner also displays different results under individual market filters, so this figure should be treated cautiously rather than presented as a definitive Enablon Control of Work rating.

 

3. Octave Tempo Control of Work

Best for: Configurable industrial work-control workflows

Octave Tempo Control of Work, formerly j5 Control of Work, digitizes permits, isolations, certificates, approvals, and other safe-work processes.

The platform supports real-time monitoring of permits and isolations, SIMOPS awareness, mobile access, configurable workflows, audit trails, and integration with CMMS and EAM systems. (octave.com)

One of its main advantages is configurability.

Octave emphasizes no-code and low-code capabilities for adapting forms, workflows, approvals, and operational processes.

That can matter significantly for industrial organizations that already have established work-control procedures and want software to reflect their operating model.

Tempo belongs firmly toward the broader Control of Work end of the market.

It is therefore more comparable with Sphera, Enablon, and Prometheus ePAS than with a focused visual LOTO procedure tool such as Brady LINK360.

Review evidence

The current G2 profile for the wider Tempo Operations Management product shows 4.5/5 from one review.

That sample is too small to support meaningful conclusions about overall customer sentiment.

It also relates to Tempo Operations Management rather than specifically to the Control of Work functionality discussed here.

Review aggregation: 4.50/5 from one review.

The figure should be treated as a limited customer-review signal only.

 

4. Prometheus Group ePAS

Best for: SAP, Maximo, and EAM-connected energy isolation

Prometheus Group’s Electronic Permit Administration System, or ePAS, is particularly relevant where hazardous work and energy isolation need to connect closely with maintenance and asset-management processes.

Prometheus describes ePAS as an integrated safe system of work and Control of Work solution.

Its isolation functionality includes templating, cross-referencing, isolation-point validation, tag printing, and lockout/tagout management. (prometheusgroup.com)

Prometheus also supports connections with major enterprise systems including SAP, IBM Maximo, and Oracle.

That creates a potentially important advantage for organizations where work orders, maintenance planning, permits, and equipment isolations need to operate as connected processes. (prometheusgroup.com)

Instead of creating an entirely separate safety-data environment, businesses can connect work-control processes more closely to the systems already governing equipment and maintenance.

This makes ePAS particularly relevant to asset-intensive US organizations with mature EAM environments.

Review evidence

We did not identify a sufficiently strong independent exact-product review profile for Prometheus ePAS across the major review sources examined.

As a result, no review aggregation has been calculated.

This should not be interpreted as a negative product signal.

It simply means prospective customers should place greater emphasis on product demonstrations, customer references, implementation evidence, and integration testing.

 

5. TenForce Lockout Tagout

Best for: Connecting LOTO directly with Permit to Work

TenForce provides a useful middle ground between dedicated lockout/tagout procedure software and a larger enterprise Control of Work environment.

Its LOTO module allows users to define equipment-specific procedures, energy sources, isolation points, locks and tags, verification requirements, authorized personnel, and restoration steps. (tenforce.com)

The relationship with Permit to Work is one of the product’s clearest strengths.

TenForce can connect work permits directly with relevant LOTO activities and isolations so that the status of hazardous energy controls forms part of the wider authorization process. (tenforce.com)

That makes the platform relevant to organizations where machinery isolation cannot be managed independently from contractor work, hazardous maintenance, permits, and operational risk.

For a straightforward plant that only needs machine-specific LOTO procedure documents, the broader functionality may not always be necessary.

For facilities looking to connect those procedures with wider work control, TenForce becomes more interesting.

Review evidence

TenForce currently has 4.1/5 from seven reviews across Gartner Digital Markets.

Because Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice can display the same underlying review pool, those seven reviews should be treated as seven customer reviews rather than multiplied across individual Gartner Digital Markets websites.

Review aggregation: 4.10/5 from seven reviews.

The review pool is useful but still relatively small, so it should be considered together with functionality and product fit rather than used as a standalone ranking measure.

 

6. Brady LINK360

Best for: Visual machine-specific LOTO procedures

Brady LINK360 represents a different type of product from the enterprise Control of Work systems in this guide.

Its focus is heavily centered on creating, managing, approving, and distributing lockout/tagout procedures.

Organizations can create standardized visual procedures and make approved versions available across facilities. Brady’s mobile capabilities allow workers to access relevant procedure information at the point of work and progress through lockout and restoration activities. (bradyid.com)

LINK360 also supports energy isolation point identification, printing of labels and tags, procedure auditing, inspection management, and integrations with other workflow systems. (bradyid.com)

This makes it particularly relevant to US manufacturers managing large numbers of discrete machines.

For those businesses, the primary challenge may not be enterprise Control of Work.

It may simply be ensuring that each machine has an accurate, approved, accessible, and understandable Energy Control Procedure.

Brady’s background in physical lockout/tagout hardware and industrial identification also makes it unusual among the software suppliers in this comparison.

Review evidence

LINK360 currently has 4.5/5 from two eligible reviews across Gartner Digital Markets.

One additional G2 review exists but is excluded from the G2 score, so we have not included it in the aggregation.

Review aggregation: 4.50/5 from two eligible reviews.

The main limitation is sample size.

Two reviews are insufficient to establish a strong overall customer consensus, even though they relate more closely to the actual product being discussed than some of the platform-level reviews elsewhere in this comparison.

 

7. CONFORMiT LOTO

Best for: OSHA-focused hazardous energy control and field execution

CONFORMiT has one of the strongest direct fits with a US-focused LOTO comparison.

Its software supports the creation and management of Energy Control Procedures, approval workflows, procedure history, mobile execution, field access, and integration with maintenance systems.

CONFORMiT explicitly positions its Lockout Tagout software around hazardous-energy-control requirements and the management of standardized Energy Control Procedures. (conformit.com)

That makes the product particularly relevant to manufacturing and industrial companies looking to move beyond static procedure documents.

Instead of treating the Energy Control Procedure as a document stored in a folder, the platform can make procedure creation, approval, execution, and revision part of a controlled digital workflow.

This can be particularly useful for organizations operating across multiple sites that need greater consistency in the way LOTO procedures are created and governed.

Review evidence

CONFORMiT currently has 4.9/5 from eight reviews across Gartner Digital Markets.

Several reviewers specifically refer to lockout or LOTO functionality, which makes this review set particularly useful compared with ratings that concern only a vendor’s wider EHS platform.

Positive comments include ease of use, support, approval controls, and the management of lockout procedures.

Reported drawbacks include complexity around more advanced functions, performance issues in particular IT environments, limitations in older mobile functionality, and cost concerns.

Several of the available reviews are relatively old, however, so they should not automatically be assumed to describe the current version of the product.

Review aggregation: 4.90/5 from eight reviews.

Among the seven products in this comparison, this is one of the stronger independent review signals because several reviewers directly discuss the relevant LOTO use case.

It should still not be interpreted as proof that CONFORMiT is automatically the best product for every organization.

 

LOTO software versus Control of Work software

The seven products fall into two broad groups.

LOTO and Energy Control Procedure software

Products such as Brady LINK360 and CONFORMiT place particular emphasis on machine-level energy control.

Typical capabilities include:

• Machine-specific Energy Control Procedures
• Hazardous energy sources
• Isolation points
• Visual instructions
• Locks and tags
• Authorized employees
• Verification
• Procedure approval
• Periodic inspection
• Mobile access
• Restoration to service

These products are particularly relevant to manufacturing environments with large numbers of discrete assets.

 

Control of Work and integrated isolation management

Products such as Sphera, Enablon, Octave Tempo, and Prometheus ePAS address a wider operational problem.

Their functionality can extend to:

• Job requests
• Risk assessment
• JHA
• Permit to Work
• Isolation management
• SIMOPS
• Contractors
• Hot work
• Confined-space work
• Plant diagrams
• Shift handover
• Shutdown and turnaround management
• EAM or CMMS integration

TenForce sits somewhere between these two categories by combining dedicated LOTO functionality with Permit to Work and wider operational safety workflows.

The right category should be established before products are shortlisted.

 

What US buyers should look for in LOTO software

Machine-specific Energy Control Procedures

For many US manufacturers, procedure management should be the starting point.

OSHA requires documented procedures to identify the purpose and scope of hazardous energy control, steps for shutting down and isolating equipment, placement and removal of locks and tags, responsibilities, and verification requirements. (osha.gov)

Software should make those procedures easy to create, approve, distribute, revise, and periodically inspect.

Energy-source and isolation-point management

A procedure should clearly identify the hazardous energy that needs to be controlled.

Better systems allow organizations to maintain structured records for electrical disconnects, valves, hydraulics, pneumatics, stored mechanical energy, thermal hazards, and other energy sources.

Photographs, drawings, and plant diagrams can reduce ambiguity in the field.

Verification

LOTO is not complete simply because a lock has been applied.

OSHA requires verification of isolation before servicing or maintenance begins. (osha.gov)

Software should therefore make verification an explicit workflow step.

Authorized and affected employees

OSHA distinguishes between authorized employees who apply energy-control measures and affected employees who operate or work around equipment subject to lockout/tagout.

Software should reflect those roles.

Larger organizations should also consider whether the platform can connect with training and competency information.

Group LOTO

Group lockout can become significantly more complicated than individual equipment isolation.

OSHA requires each authorized employee to receive protection equivalent to a personal lockout or tagout device and sets requirements for coordination when multiple people or crews are involved. (osha.gov)

Facilities undertaking large shutdowns or maintenance events should therefore test group lockout scenarios during software demonstrations.

Contractors

The relationship between host employers and outside servicing personnel is another important factor.

OSHA requires the parties to inform one another of their respective lockout or tagout procedures. (osha.gov)

For facilities heavily dependent on contractors, external worker access and work-control integration can therefore be important software requirements.

Shift changes

OSHA requires procedures that maintain continuity of lockout/tagout protection during shift or personnel changes. (osha.gov)

Software should make the transfer of responsibility visible and auditable.

Periodic inspections

Periodic inspections form part of OSHA’s energy control requirements.

For companies with hundreds or thousands of Energy Control Procedures, software that tracks inspection dates, records findings, and identifies overdue procedures can reduce substantial administrative work. (osha.gov)

Re-energization

The software workflow should cover the entire hazardous energy control lifecycle.

That includes shutdown, isolation, verification, maintenance, lock removal, notification, and safe restoration of energy.

A software demonstration that concentrates entirely on creating an isolation record without showing how equipment is safely returned to service is incomplete.

 

Review and research methodology

This article was researched for US industrial buyers.

Product functionality was checked primarily against current vendor product information.

Independent review research covered G2, Capterra, GetApp, Software Advice, Gartner Peer Insights, and other relevant sources.

Ratings and review counts were checked on October 6, 2026.

Where a review profile relates to a broader EHS or operational platform rather than the LOTO or Control of Work module being discussed, that distinction has been identified.

Where Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice display the same underlying Gartner Digital Markets review pool, those reviews have not been counted multiple times.

The weighted review figures are simple mathematical aggregations of eligible published ratings.

They are not proprietary product scores and were not used on their own to determine editorial recommendations or “Best for” categories.

Software capabilities can change over time. Buyers should verify required functionality, integrations, implementation requirements, OSHA applicability, and current product availability directly with shortlisted vendors before procurement.