The latest episode of For Tech’s Sake explores the health and safety aspect of having robots in the workplace with Mackin EHS’s Thomas Deegan.
When people think about robots in the workplace, some might 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 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. 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 to keep humans away from dangerous machinery and reduce 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 and safety point of view, Deegan said, these automated machines remove potential hazards for workers, for example by decreasing the likelihood of lower back or knee problems caused by lifting 150 heavy boxes an hour.
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