Human-robot workplace safety is becoming a central concern as industries adopt collaborative robots (cobots). These technologies are transforming how humans and machines interact, offering opportunities to reduce risks while also presenting new safety challenges that must be carefully managed.
Institutions responsible for worker safety and health are facing an industrial landscape undergoing significant transformation. New technologies as collaborative robot applications (cobot), transform processes, environment, and human-machine interaction. Increasing the level of automation, some risks could be reduced, while others should be considered and managed. The challenge is encouraging innovation, ensuring worker’s safety and health.
Key Challenges and Solutions
Institutions responsible for worker safety and health face a wide range of environments, from large factories to small enterprises (SME), where safety and health systems vary significantly in terms of budget and human resources. Robotics can help workers in different dangerous or heavy tasks, and collaborative applications allow users to share the workspace with machines. There isn’t any fence between the worker and the robot. Workers and robots can work together, helping each other in a specific area called space collaboration.
The risk of contact with a mobile element must be managed by design for each application and scenario of interaction, and, if it is necessary, visual or auditory, or tactile measures will be introduced. The risk assessment for these applications is particularly hard, then it is necessary to develop tools to simplify it and to design a safe and healthy solution for all potential uses.
Ensuring Accessibility and Inclusion
In workplaces, an inclusive and accessible environment is a prerequisite to assure the right to work on an equal basis in safe, healthy and well-being conditions. Technologies are factors that can scale up the accessibility and inclusion, encourage participation and autonomy in carrying out activities, as well as work. Using technologies to reduce disability means alleviating the fatigue of the person with reduced abilities and thus reducing work injuries.
Collaborative robots can support a worker eliminating or reducing the difficulties and
allowing a wider participation on production process. The human-machineries interfaces
are customizable through digitalize tools.
The role of SKillAIbility in workplace safety in human-robot collaborative
environments
SKillAIbility focuses on the opportunity of using technologies to assure a safe environment for everyone, by using technologies for help vulnerable groups such as older workers, people with different abilities, and underqualified individuals. In SKillAIbility we identify the main gaps of safety and health standards, and national regulation compared to necessary skill and abilities of users.
The Inail approach
Inail, SkillAIbility consortium partner, is the Italian Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work which safeguards workers against physical injuries and occupational diseases. In recent years, it has expanded its functions and gradually changed its role in the Italian welfare system, increasingly assuming the features of a global and integrated system through which it carries out its institutional mission of great social importance. Inail contributes to the development of scientific research on health, safety and applied technology, to prevent injuries, reduce the incidence of occupational diseases, to assess and to manage emerging risks, to improve the standards for safety of work.
Inail research activities are also carried out in relation to the digital transition, a very important challenge in the field of Health and Safety at Work; in this context Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics are going to be essential components. This activity is always fulfilled by considering sustainability and ethical aspects, also with an assessment of balancing opportunities and risks. In this context, the research aims to respect the rights of the individuals involved, contemplating the impact that the results may have on all social groups.
Following a Human-Centered Research approach, it aims not to neglect the well-being of vulnerable categories, focusing on effective and inclusive strategies that respect three fundamental elements: human centrality, sustainability, and resilience.
