Abstract
Manufacturing automation has eliminated many traditional risks of injury, but new types of risks have appeared. In the United States only a limited amount of data is available on automated manufacturing-related accidents, or these data cannot be distinguished from general accident data. The purpose of this study was to collect data on accidents related to advanced manufacturing systems (CIMS). A questionnaire requesting information on one serious computer-integrated accident that occurred in the respondent's plant was used to collect the data. The presented results are based on the analysis of 85 cases. The cases included six fatal injuries, as well as several severe injuries that led to amputation. The results confirm the need to pay more attention to prevention of production disturbances in CIMS, especially in the case of material handling equipment. A relatively large amount of cases involving defeated safety devices calls for the design of intelligent safety systems that protect the human operator, but do not interfere with the work to be done, even during the disturbance situations.
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