There is just no justifiable logic behind skipping safety in any workplace environment because that would be immoral, illegal, and uneconomic at the same time. However, while adoption and utilization of advanced industrial safety equipment that meets the highest standards can lower risks significantly, bringing automation into the mix does indeed have the potential to make a workplace even safer. Let’s discuss a few points with regard to how and why that’s true so that the potential of automation in raising and maintaining safety standards is better realized.

Elimination of Heavy Lifting Tasks

Heavy lifting is one of the leading causes of back injuries in workers and this can be addressed with the use of automated machines. Robotic trucks, autonomous forklifts and the like can be programmed to perform basic lifting, carrying, and placing tasks quite successfully. They will still need human guidance, of course, but the risk of injury from trying to lift, carry or place heavy industrial objects can definitely be neutralized with the use of autonomous devices.

Increased Productivity

A machine will outperform a human worker every time when it comes to lifting power or performing other manual, repetitive tasks. This means that companies adopting automation technology will be able to achieve better productivity, while the workers will be spared from injuries caused by repetitive strain and heavy lifting. The machines will still need operators and regulators, but they will work in a much safer environment, leaving the dangerous tasks to the machines. The same applies to keeping employees from being exposed to dangerous and toxic work environments as well.

Incentivizing the Employers

For a business to survive and make profits in the industry, it needs to be efficient and productive at the same time. Bringing in the right safety measures can help a company reach that goal, especially with the help of automation. When regular, menial tasks are performed seamlessly and without unnecessary delays, the business process becomes more efficient and productive by default. In addition to that, the significant boost in safety means fewer lawsuits, strikes, off days and compensation payments every year. If all that doesn’t act as incentives for a company to adopt better safety equipment and automation technology, then it may have a particularly hard time surviving in the future that’s nearly here.

Automated Protection

Similar to how automation software in autonomous cars can detect incoming objects and stop the vehicle from hitting them by reacting instantly, the same is also applicable in factories and other industrial sectors as well. While the exact application will differ in accordance with the process in question, the idea is that automated machines can be given the necessary intelligence to stop themselves from hurting human workers, provided they have been programmed to read the danger signs.

As the Bureau of Labor Statistics continues to disclose disturbing stats that show labor accidents, deaths, and the ensuing costs are disturbingly high in spite of everything, it would not be an exaggeration to state that automation needs to be adopted more widely to augment high-quality industrial safety equipment.