Increasingly, U.S. industries are using robotic technologies to perform dangerous or repetitive tasks, and these systems are becoming more collaborative and mobile in nature. While these advances add new capabilities to work and the workplace, they also introduce new workplace hazards for those who work with, and alongside them. In 2017, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the Association for Advancing Automation (formerly the Robotic Industries Association) formed an alliance to share technical knowledge, improve awareness about workplace hazards and appropriate safeguards, and identify needed research on the use of traditional industrial and emerging collaborative robotic technologies.

Recently, the alliance updated and expanded a chapter in the OSHA Technical Manual on Industrial Robot Systems and Industrial Robot System Safety. The collective effort has made significant updates to the manual, including up-to-date technical information on the hazards associated with industrial and emergent robot applications, safety considerations for employers and workers, and risk assessments and risk reduction measures.

The manual serves to guide OSHA compliance officers as they perform inspections at facilities with robotic systems, and provides a technical resource for safety and health professionals overseeing the use of robotic systems in workplaces.

"We value the efforts and expertise of the engineers at the Association for Advancing Automation and the researchers at NIOSH to enhance this important resource," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Douglas Parker. "Robot use will continue to expand, and employers have a responsibility to assess the hazards these new applications may introduce, and implement appropriate safety controls to protect the workers who operate and service them."

The World Robotics 2021 Industrial Robots report estimates currently that more than 310,000 industrial robots now operate in U.S. factories. The continuing rise of robotics increases the risks associated with robotic systems' hazards such as struck-by/caught-between, crushing and trapping, electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic and environmental.

"Our trade association has made the safety of people working around robots our top priority for nearly four decades," said Association for Advancing Automation President Jeff Burnstein. "That's why we developed R15.06