Patent ID: 7009488

Claim:
A method for selectively locking controls from at least one operator operating equipment comprising acts of: actively detecting when an operator is accessing a particular control for which an operator lockout is desired; and locking the control to prevent the operator from operating the particular control; whereby an operator is permitted selective access to controls in order to promote operator safety, and wherein the act of actively detecting when an operator is accessing a particular control for which an operator lockout is desired is performed by acts of: generating a signal; passing the signal to a plate; coupling the signal from the plate through the operator to a receiving pad; and detecting the signal at a signal detector attached with a control, and wherein the signal is an electrostatically-coupled signal, and wherein different signals are provided for different operators, and where the act of locking the control selectively locks the control based on the signal received, and wherein the signals are passed through a posterior portion of the operators by use of at least one signal transmitter incorporated with each of the seats on which the operators sit during operation of the equipment, whereby different signals may be transmitted from different signal transmitters incorporated into different seats so that operators sitting on different seats may be selectively locked from controls based on the seat upon which they sit.