Citation

Jiang BC, Gainer J. J. Occup. Accid. 1987; 9(1): 27-45.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1987, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Reported cases of robot accidents involving fatality, injury and non-injury were gathered from several sources (U.S., West Germany, Sweden and Japan). In cases where adequate information was available a cause-effect analysis of these accidents was performed. A total of 32 accidents were analyzed in the study. The accident effects were grouped according to who was injured (line worker, maintenance worker or programmer), the type of injury (pinch-point, impact or other), and the degree of injury (fatal, non-fatal-lost-work or non-fatal-no-lost-work). The accident causes were grouped into four categories (human error, workplace design, robot design and other) with the possibility that an accident could have more than one cause. Findings indicate that line workers are at greatest risk, followed by maintenance workers and programmers. Pinch-point accidents accounted for 56% of all accidents while impact accidents accounted for 44%. Most accidents were caused by poor workplace design (20 of 32 accidents) and human error (13 of 32 accidents).A comprehensive cause-effect analysis was performed on 25 of the accidents and includes: the accident source, the accident cause, the accident effect in terms of human injury, recommended guidelines to be implemented, and applicable safety standards in each case. Conclusions are drawn on the effectiveness of worker safety training and workplace design, both a result of suggested standards.