As an engineer I've provided consulting services to manufacturing facilities and developed LOTO, hazard risk assessments, etc. the truth of the matter is that OSHA requires the employers to have a plan in place and train their workers. When workers are untrained and there are no standards in place accidents happen.
Ive been in manufacturing plants where walls were covered in electric equipment, panelboards, switchboards, motor control centers etc. feeding the manufacturing floor with none of the breakers labeled as to what the breaker was feeding. Some companies balk at the expense of hiring engineers and contractors to trace out the system and develop accurate drawings. The best safety procedures mean nothing if they cannot be implemented in the first place.
Often times, a perturbed facility manager who is fired or wants to keep his job by being the only one who knows the system will purposely destroy all record drawings. You can't LOTO if you don't know where the heck the power shut-off is. Also, depending on how old the equipment is, etc., there may not be obvious disconnecting means right at the machine.
Something breaks, production is stopped and the workers job is to fix it. If they cannot safely do their job because of the environment that is the employers fault, not the workers. A worker must be trained, fill out a work procedure form provided by the employer on proper steps on how to safely do the specific task he is planning to do, worker and supervisor must sign form and then LOTO must be used. Equipment in the plant including all breakers, etc. must be clearly labeled and accurate as-built drawings on hand to determine all sources of potentially dangerous power at a machine.
I am assuming this may be an old plant suffering from some of what I mentioned above.