An arrangement is disclosed for, in particular, activating a transport pawl including a movable activation device which is secured to a carrying structure and, in a first activation phase, can be moved out of the position of rest into an end position, counter to the force of a restoring spring, and in a second activation phase can be moved out of the end position and back into the position of rest, under the force of the restoring spring. In order to configure the arrangement in such a way that the operator of the activation device is alerted to incompletely executed activation of the activation device, in at least one embodiment a locking mechanism is provided which locks the activation device in the direction of its position of rest during the first activation phase when a first intermediate position is reached, and releases it again when a second intermediate position is reached. The arrangement can be applied in particular in tensioning devices for spring energy stores of electric switches which have a tensioning shaft and a manual drive for turning the tensioning shaft.