Robot Safety: Overview of Risk Assessment and Reduction

Industrial robots are found increasingly in the workplace. They can cause severe and fatal injuries to workers during interventions such as maintenance, unjamming, adjustments and set-up. This paper summarises some of the causes of accidents linked to robots. It presents risk assessment as described in international standards as a method to make workplaces involving robots safe. The operating modes in terms of safety aspects and strategies around collaborative robots are also presented. A case study involving safety of an industrial robot used as auxiliary equipment to a horizontal injection molding machine is described. Risk analysis and risk reduction measures for the case study are then summarised.