Machine safety research at NIOSH and the future directions

Workers who operate and maintain machinery suffere about 18,000 amputations and 843 fatalities annually. These machine-related injuries have excellent potential for eradication if research can provide better prevention knowledge to machine users, designers, and builders. Because machines are a frequent and persistent source of occupational injury, NIOSH has conducted a program of research on machine safety problems since the Institute was established in 1971. This report describes results of a NIOSH analysis of data on all types of machine-related fatality and injury. Machines from the agricultural, construction, and manufacturing industries were combined in this analysis. The data analysis used death certificate and workers' compensation information to rank types of machines needing research. This report also describes results of a roundtable at which priorities in manufacturing machine safety research were discussed. Human factors in robotized workplaces, reliability of machine safety devices, and machine-related injury data for different machine types were among the subjects discussed. Farm tractors, industrial presses, saws, forklifts, and shears and slicers were identified as machines with high severity and frequency of injuries. Additional work is also justified in the emerging technology of robotic safety. NIOSH's safety research programs in the new decade will focus on these high priority machines.