ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE FREQUENCIES OF AUTOMATION ACCIDENTS AT DIFFERENT KINDS OF EQUIPMENT AND FOR DIFFERENT OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS

Accidents where automated production equipment has injured a person (a utomation accidents) were studied over a 2-year period at 21 plants. T he paper reports the absolute and relative frequencies of these accide nts for different kinds of automated equipment and for different occup ational groups working with them. Length of sick leave following an ac cident was investigated by kind of installation and occupational group . An estimated 9% of all reported accidents were automation accidents. Over 1 year, such accidents were incurred by 3% of operators of autom ated equipment and at 4% of the items of automated equipment. The resu lts demonstrate that special attention should be paid to the hazards f aced by machine operators, and in the automated conveying or handling of work pieces. (C) 1997 National Safety Council and Elsevier Science Ltd.