Emergent risk to workplace safety as a result of the use of robots in the work place

"In the past fifty years, robots have become much faster and more accurate, but in many cases they do no more than operate in one particular location or on rails, automatically carrying out perhaps only a single task within a fixed hazardous zone or inside a safety cage. Despite the aforementio...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Steijn, Wouter, Luiijf, Eric, van der Beek, Dolf
Institution:ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
Format: TEXT
Language:English
Published: Utrecht 2016
TNO
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19396449124911146219-emergent-risk-to-workplace-saf.htm
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author Steijn, Wouter
Luiijf, Eric
van der Beek, Dolf
author_facet Steijn, Wouter
Luiijf, Eric
van der Beek, Dolf
collection Library items
description "In the past fifty years, robots have become much faster and more accurate, but in many cases they do no more than operate in one particular location or on rails, automatically carrying out perhaps only a single task within a fixed hazardous zone or inside a safety cage. Despite the aforementioned limitations, today’s industrial robots have introduced new risk to the work place even though their areas of operation are clearly defined in safety zones or cages. Given that industrial robots are increasingly being used in agriculture, horticulture, the manufacturing sector and distribution warehouses, it is likely that accidents will occur more frequently in the future. Moreover, the programming of industrial robots will become increasingly complex as their tasks continue to increase either in scope or complexity. Progress is also being made with regard to robots that can move and ‘see’ and respond to their surroundings4. It is therefore quite conceivable that people will be working alongside robots in the near future, in settings that are no longer limited to a fixed location or inside a cage. People and robots will also be moving around in the same areas or rooms. This means that the risk of injury as a direct result of collisions between people and robots will increase, but indirect work-safety risk will be heightened too because of the equipment that robots may be using, and which could pose dangers to employees in the vicinity. It is important, as far as this trend is concerned, to look ahead and to define the machine safety of the future, so that robots can proactively be made intrinsically safe as early as the design and development stages."
format TEXT
geographic Netherlands
id 19396449124911146219_3dd97cdf86164e7da133d7f787cec4b5
institution ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
is_hierarchy_id 19396449124911146219_3dd97cdf86164e7da133d7f787cec4b5
is_hierarchy_title Emergent risk to workplace safety as a result of the use of robots in the work place
language English
physical 54 p.
Digital
publishDate 2016
publisher Utrecht
TNO
spellingShingle Steijn, Wouter
Luiijf, Eric
van der Beek, Dolf
robots
human-system interface
occupational safety
occupational risks
safety by design
legislation
Emergent risk to workplace safety as a result of the use of robots in the work place
thumbnail https://www.labourline.org/Image_prev.jpg?Archive=131534695971
title Emergent risk to workplace safety as a result of the use of robots in the work place
topic robots
human-system interface
occupational safety
occupational risks
safety by design
legislation
url https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19396449124911146219-emergent-risk-to-workplace-saf.htm