Sanders, N.E., Sener, E. orcid.org/0000-0001-5159-0870 and Chen, K.B. (2024) Robot-related injuries in the workplace: An analysis of OSHA Severe Injury Reports. Applied Ergonomics: Human Factors in Technology and Society, 121. 104324. ISSN 0003-6870
Abstract
Industrial robots are increasingly commonplace, but research on prototypical accidents and injuries has been sparse, hindering evidence-based safety strategies. Using Severe Injury Reports (SIRs) from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), we identified 77 robot-related accidents from 2015-2022. Of these, 54 involved stationary robots, resulting in 66 injuries, mainly finger amputations and fractures to the head and torso. Mobile robots caused 23 accidents, leading to 27 injuries, mainly fractures to the legs and feet. A two-stage deductive–inductive thematic analysis was performed using text data from the final narratives in the reports to discover patterns in tasks, precipitating mechanisms, and contributing factors. Findings highlight the need for guards and collision avoidance systems that detect individual extremities. Post-contact strategies should focus on mitigating finger amputations. More structured and detailed narratives in the SIRs are needed.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies. This is an author produced version of an article published in Applied Ergonomics: Human Factors in Technology and Society. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. |
Keywords: | Industrial robot-related injuries and accidents, Occupational Safety and OSHA reports, Human–robot interaction and injury prevention |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Design (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 20 Sep 2024 09:01 |
Last Modified: | 24 Sep 2024 08:15 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.apergo.2024.104324 |
Related URLs: | |
Sustainable Development Goals: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:217393 |
Download
