The latest episode of For Tech’s Sake explores the health and safety aspect of having robotics in the workplace with Mackin EHS’s Tom Deegan.
When people think about robots in the workplace, many would worry about the many, many headlines about whether or not said robots will eventually steal their jobs.
Indeed, there are many important discussions around the possibility that the advances in AI and automation will displace or irrevocably change certain roles. It’s also worth noting that this could disproportionately affect jobs with lower wages.
These debates are important as we look at the societal impact of AI. But while the shorthand way of speaking about this has been ‘robots taking jobs’, it’s not really a conversation about real-life physical robots so much as it is about chatbots and large language models.
When we talk about actual robots in the workplace, they can actually prove to be a way of keeping workers safe.
This is where Thomas Deegan comes in. Deegan works for Cork-based Mackin EHS as a health and safety consultant and he joined us on the latest episode of For Tech’s Sake to discuss the safety implications of working alongside all sorts of autonomous machines, from humanoid robots to self-driving vehicles.
He spoke about scenarios where robotics can be used in such a way that keeps humans away from dangerous machinery and reduces the specific tasks that can cause injury.
“A conveyor belt will bring the goods in from the truck, bring it to the forklift. The forklift brings it over to the crane that’s operate on the racking bay and the racking bay scans the barcode and brings it to the correct location. Really smooth,” he said.
“From a health safety point of view, we’re saying we’re going to prevent there from being potentially dangerous someone has not trained them before, if using it, we’re going to remove the likelihood of musculoskeletal disorders or injuries, which is lower back problems, knee problems if you’re lifting a heavy box 150 times an hour, its guaranteed.”
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