Robot Crushes Worker in South Korea Factory Incident

A robot, incapable of distinguishing between a worker and product boxes, fatally crushed an employee inside a South Korean factory. The incident occurred when the worker was checking the robot’s sensors at an agricultural product distribution center in Gyeongsang, South Korea. The robot, specialized in lifting and organizing boxes of hot peppers onto transport carts, unexpectedly lifted the worker and forcefully placed him on the production line, resulting in severe injuries. The worker was transported to the hospital but succumbed to his injuries later.

This marks the second incident involving industrial robots causing harm to human workers in South Korea. In March of the previous year, another worker suffered serious injuries in an accident involving an industrial robot at an automobile parts manufacturing plant.

A study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine earlier this year highlighted numerous robot-related accidents resulting in 41 fatalities between 1992 and 2017. The study revealed that 83% of incidents were caused by stationary robots, while the remaining percentage involved mobile robots. Notably, four out of five accidents occurred during routine maintenance of robots, indicating that accidents during regular robot operation tasks pose a minimal threat to human workers’ lives.

South Korea leads in robot prevalence within factories compared to human labor, with 710 robots used per 10,000 workers. Singapore ranks second with 658 robots, followed by Germany with 322 robots, according to the Federal Association for Robotics statistics in 2018.

It is noteworthy that China, with a significant share of global robot production, aims to expand the presence of robots in daily life. In 2022, industrial robot production in China reached 443,000 units, compared to about 366,000 units produced in 2021, according to market statistics from Statista. China recently announced its goal of extensive production of humanoid robots by 2025.