Working Safely with Robot Workers: Recommendations for the New Workplace

Robots are used in increasing numbers in the workplace and in society in general. As their capabilities increase, there is interest in ensuring that the rise of robots will not spell “doom for humanity”.(1) However, a more immediate and pressing need is to ensure that the increasing deployment of robot workers does not bring new risks for human workers. This is further emphasized by continuing headlines about workers injured or killed by robots.(2) In his 1942 story “Runaround,” Isaac Asimov set out three laws of robotics. The three laws were quoted as being from the “Handbook of Robotics, 56th Edition, 2058 A.D.”(3) Of importance for occupational safety is the first law, “a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.” How well is Asimov’s first law of robotics being applied as robots take on more tasks in the 21st century workplace?