Best Practice Guide to Introducing Robots into the Warehouse Environment
06/06/2023 OMRON Industrial Automation
Warehouse workspaces bring some different challenges to the Health and Safety professional when considering the implementation of technologies such as Robots, AMRs and Cobots.
According to the Health and Safety Executive, 45% of accidents within the Warehouse can be attributed to manual handling (according to HSE76 Warehousing and storage – a guide to health and safety), a hazard that Robot technology is specifically targeted to reduce. However, poorly implemented installations could increase the risk of other major hazard factors such as slips, trips and falls (26%) or being hit by a moving vehicle (10%).
For instance, lighting in many warehouses may be sufficient for Forklift Truck operation, but not for operational tasks like checking bar codes and maintenance tasks such as routine replacement of robot grippers. Recommended lighting levels in warehouses can vary by the task, from 50 lux in loading bays to 100 lux and above depending on the level of detail required. Be prepared to install additional lighting where you need to fit your machinery.
Let’s consider a Robot Palletiser in a warehouse space.
Robots are inherently efficient and reliable pieces of equipment, but sometimes the packages they are moving may not be. this will mean additional personnel are introduced into the warehouse space to keep the Robot Palletiser operation clean and your pallets of finished goods ready for the racking.
The first stage of any implementation is the Risk Assessment. OMRON Safety Service Europe (OSSE) recommend and use a bottom up approach and a risk scoring method for risk appraisal. The recognised steps to take are:
- Identify the hazards – Consider all the hazards associated with accessing, operating, cleaning and maintaining the Robot Palletiser in its intended location.
- Decide who might be harmed and how – This will include supervisors, operators, engineers, cleaners.
- Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions – What are the risks? An example could be that the operator has to enter into the truck area to access the machine 3 times a day to replace consumable materials.
- Record your findings and implement them – If it is not recorded consider that it hasn’t been done!
- Review your risk assessment and update if necessary – It is recommended that periodically and after an event that the risk assessment is reviewed to see if it can be improved.
Let’s take that example of the operator replacing materials in the Robot Palletiser:
Hazard – Crushing by Forklift Truck
Severity of harm – Death or multiple injuries
Frequency – 3 times/day
Probability of occurrence – Likely
Using recognised scoring this will give you a risk score based on this hazard and will likely ensure you know that this kind of hazard needs to be mitigated against. So, we can either modify the machine so the operator doesn’t have to access so many times, but this might not be practicable, or we make it safe for him to enter. We could do this by making a safe access with barriers between them and the truck movement and reinforce it with training.
A well-managed warehouse will have a transport plan. Make sure access to the Robot Palletiser is included in this, to segregate persons from vehicles and give the person a safe entrance and exit to the warehouse, this may mean a personnel door rather than taking a chance through the vehicle access. Place your machinery as close to the production and the means of access. This makes sense from a machinery and safety perspective. Barriers and a segregated walkway will ensure your staff are safe from forklift truck movement.
It makes sense to site the Robot as near to the production room as possible, probably just through the wall to limit conveyors and other factors. Robots need to be guarded and protected against access during operation, the design of the safety control needs to meet a safe level, generally Performance Level d (PLd according to BS EN ISO 13849-1-Safety related parts of control systems), so it is important to ensure the machine integrator knows how to implement this standard.
Mobile Robots and AMRs can work in the same space as people, but the guidance available for this to be applied safety needs to be considered. There is information available for how much space the AMR must give the person when it is passing them and a solid object such as racking or a barrier, and how fast they can operate when a person is in the same working area. You may want to set up zones where the AMR is programmed not to enter, and these could be considered a safe space within the warehouse.
A Collaborative Robot (Cobot) may be safe to operate in the same working space as a person because the speed, force and pressure the Cobot can apply is able to be programmed by the user, but safeguards need to be applied and if the risk of injury is perceived with your risk assessment. The risk of injury to the person will be less if it could trap a finger than if it might be that the Cobot will need to be controlled so that it can not operate while that person is in the working space or will need to carry out some safer tasks.
In summary, considering the safety implications of any robotic installation is a critical part of the system design process. By discussing with OMRON, you can ensure that all bases are covered and you are deploying a system that is both productive and safe.
Print this articleFor more information, please contact:
Stuart Coulton
OMRON Industrial Automation
Opal Drive
Fox Milne
Milton Keynes
Bucks
MK15 0DG
Tel: 01908 258124
Email: stuart.coulton@omron.com
Web: www.industrial.omron.co.uk/en/home
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