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In “Erin Brockovich,” the Hollywood field workplace hit from 2000 starring Julia Roberts, the title character heroically fights to assist win a lawsuit for residents of a California metropolis affected by groundwater contamination. While many theatergoers noticed the film, which was primarily based on actual occasions, they most likely wouldn’t keep in mind that the chemical inflicting the widespread most cancers circumstances was hexavalent chromium.
Of course, the hazards for people working with and round hazardous chemical compounds have lengthy been recognized. And, sadly, for much too lengthy, unsafe circumstances within the American office weren’t taken as critically as they need to have been. In current years, that has been altering — and for example, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lately launched new beneficial pointers for human publicity to hexavalent chromium. As highlighted in “Erin Brockovich,” hexavalent chromium, or Cr(VI), is a big group of chemical compounds, usually produced in industrial workspaces, that has been recognized to trigger quite a lot of illnesses in people, together with lung most cancers.
Hexavalent chromium risks in aerospace trade
As documented by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), portray and sanding duties often carried out within the aerospace trade can pose critical dangers for people from publicity to hexavalent chromium. Vulnerability to respiratory issues attributable to inhalation of hexavalent chromium is critical, largely as a result of potential injury to the lungs and airways — and the primary purpose for the frequency of publicity is as a result of chromium is usually added to the paints used for airplane elements.
Thankfully, the aerospace trade has begun paying extra consideration to this very critical matter, making a heightened consciousness of the hazards of working carefully with most of these chemical compounds. But, along with rising consciousness and regulatory protections, there are additional methods to maintain people safely away from these and different hazardous substances — and robots are an essential a part of the equation.
Robots can maintain people from needing to work instantly with these and different hazardous chemical compounds. One of the strongest arguments for robots, usually, is their capacity to defend people from working within the varieties of uninteresting, soiled and harmful occupations that always compromise employee security.
A FANUC robotic sprays materials, permitting human staff to keep away from publicity to the fabric. | Credit: Aerobotix
Avoiding different office accidents
In addition to hexavalent chromium publicity, there are additional dangers for staff within the aerospace portray trade. For occasion, when jet-engine inlets are manually recoated, the work usually requires upkeep staff to put on protecting fits and respirators and spend a whole lot of hours crawling round on their fingers and knees.
It’s practically unattainable, underneath these circumstances, to manually apply the coatings at constant speeds and thicknesses. Due to labor circumstances in these cramped, tight areas, the U.S. Air Force has reported a big quantity of shoulder accidents associated to this work. In these circumstances, robots can obtain higher outcomes whereas lowering or eliminating most of these employee accidents.
To this level, a 2022 research by the National Library of Medicine discovered that the usage of robots for repetitive web site work can scale back unsafe, monotonous duties by 25-90%, reducing human publicity to hazardous conditions by a mean of 72%.
How do they do it? One efficient technique is teleoperation, which permits for distant management of robots from secure distances, protecting people away from damage, or publicity to chemical hazards.
A FANUC paint robotic inside an accudraft-enclosed sales space, which additional protects human staff from publicity to sprayed supplies. | Credit: Aerobotix
Implementing the correct robotic, the correct method
To reduce human publicity to hazard whereas additionally gaining the good thing about potential cost-savings, it’s essential to make the most of and set up the correct robotic, and with the right implementation.
It’s crucial to work with a robotic integrator affiliated with the Robotic Industry Association (RIA) who might help select which type of robotic is true for the duty. In addition, any robotic set-up ought to have a threat evaluation carried out to make sure that RIA requirements are met.
Among the methods to satisfy these requirements is by utilizing further sensors, emergency cease buttons, and scanners that detect human presence in unsafe areas, and by fencing off robotic work areas. These are only a few of the measures {that a} compliant robotic integrator may arrange and take a look at for security.
Creating a secure office tradition
At the top of “Erin Brockovich,” the decide guidelines in opposition to the power firm that polluted the groundwater, and a hefty settlement is gained for Erin’s facet. The film implies that the corporate had a tradition of not caring about human well being, which led to their detached dealing with of hexavalent chromium and a subsequent rise in most cancers circumstances.
Creating a secure office within the aerospace trade that protects people from the consequences of this chemical, and different occupational risks, is simpler to implement with the correct security options in place. These embrace robotic staff, which by no means get most cancers, respiratory illnesses or shoulder accidents. Ultimately, they merely can not get sick or injured.
There is a mistaken perception amongst some that robotic installations take jobs away from individuals. Instead, within the aerospace trade, these are sometimes the identical personnel who’re then retrained to load, run, clear up and preserve the brand new robots. Consequently, human staff take pleasure in a safer working atmosphere whereas concurrently including beneficial technical abilities to their resumes.
They’re robots — and so they’re right here to assist people promote a safer office — an idea that Erin Brockovich would almost definitely help.
About the Author
Chris Kolb is vice chairman of gross sales at Aerobotix, an revolutionary chief in robotic options for the aerospace and protection industries. Headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, the corporate specializes within the creation of cutting-edge automated robotic options for high-value, high-precision elements, plane and autos.