Guidance Automation Highlights the Positive Impact of Automation on Health and Safety, Dispelling Common Misconceptions.
The automation of warehouse facilities, often praised for its operational benefits, faces a common misconception regarding its impact on employee safety. Guidance Automation's research reveals that 64% of respondents are hesitant to implement warehouse or manufacturing plant automation due to safety concerns around physical accidents caused by automated systems. However, experts argue that automation should be seen as a solution to enhance health and safety, rather than a problem.
Warehouses, recognised as high-risk environments, witness continuous movement of people, forklifts, and equipment. Recent data from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) indicates an increase in fatal injuries among employees in the manufacturing and transportation & storage sectors. To address this, risk management plays a vital role in health and safety strategies, considering factors like hazardous substances, fire risk, and falling hazards.
Automation emerges as a comprehensive solution to warehouse risk management. By deploying automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), human exposure to forklifts and heavy equipment is reduced, mitigating the risk of accidents. Automation also enhances existing processes, such as using picking robots to reach high shelves, eliminating the need for manual climbing.
Moreover, automation technologies, like AMRs, operate without fatigue or breaks, contributing to injury prevention caused by worker fatigue or repetitive motion. The shift towards automation not only lessens the risk of workforce injuries but also creates opportunities for upskilling and value-added tasks. Human workers can focus on complex analytical tasks, leaving repetitive or potentially dangerous roles to automated technologies.
Concerns about staff safety when working alongside robotics can be addressed by collaboration with automation vendors. Vendors prioritize safety, ensuring robots function based on specific programming, follow optimized pathways, and use sensors to detect and avoid obstacles or humans. Safety features, including emergency stops, make self-driven vehicles safer than human drivers.
In conclusion, despite the inherent risks in warehouse environments, automation proves to be a valuable ally in risk management practices. By reducing reliance on manual labour and introducing innovative technologies, automation not only enhances productivity but significantly contributes to improving worker safety in warehouses. The shift towards automation is portrayed as a compelling reason to incorporate it into warehouse management and risk mitigation strategies.
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