Taking one for the team – robots working to promote a healthy work environment
When you think of a healthy work environment, what do you think of? Maybe the attitudes of people around you, the positive energy received from superiors and coworkers? But, do you ever take it literally? You should. A healthy work environment and the health of a facility’s workers is paramount to the facility’s ability to run.
How do robots fit into all this? Well, first and foremost, they don’t get sick. The only time a robot is affected by illness is if its programmer gets sick. Otherwise, it can run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year without stopping.
However, these are not the only ways that industrial robots promote health in the work environment. Robots also keep humans safe from hazardous work environments, and in that way are able to keep workers healthy and on the job.
Robots keep humans safe? Of course they do! Robots are engineered to do the tedious, dull and sometimes injury-inducing work that humans have done for generations. One good example of a robot keeping a healthy work environment for a human is the robot palletizer. Palletizing goods can be difficult on the back, arms and other parts of the body. Human workers are constantly lifting heavy objects, while bending and twisting. Robots do not have that same risk of injury.
Similarly, a human that is welding can breathe in toxic fumes that are given off during the process. Fumes produced during welding, painting and other noxious processes could cause brain and other central nervous system damage. A robot does not succumb to these dangerous chemicals. Also, robots take humans out of environments that are too hot or too cold, and away from applications that may produce small particles that can be breathed into the lungs and cause respiratory infections.
Aren’t you glad that robots are around? They keep the workplace a healthy environment, and they do it without taking breaks, days off or vacations. And – they do it without compliment or complaint.
RobotWorx, a certified integrator of robots from FANUC, Motoman, ABB, Universal Robots, and KUKA, promotes a healthy work environment by helping customers to automate their applications. This kind of automation will not only boost the speed and accuracy of production, but it will also raise the safety and health level in your facility.