Designing Proactive Safety Systems for Industrial Workers Using Intelligent Mechanisms

In the process of increasing industrial productivity, the aspect of worker safety plays an important but often neglected part. The following workshop paper discusses potential implementations of a priorly designed concept of a HumanAI based assistive and proactive safety system in a specific industrial use case. The goal is to address safety threats which occur during a polymer recycling process (shredding, melting, and producing plastic granulate) during human-machine interaction by encouraging a meaningful transition from the more traditional view of safety (Safety-I), to a more modern and flexible approach to safety (Safety-II), potentially applying intelligent systems. The principles of Safety-I and Safety-II as well as the STOP principle are explained alongside general considerations for safety and assistance systems. This introduction is followed by a detailed description and safety analysis of the chosen representative real-world use case before a transition in the STOP principle from Safety-I to Safety-II is proposed and illustrated in an in depth example. The contribution of this workshop paper is an introduction of Safety-II mechanisms to replace or enhance established Safety-I mechanisms in the STOP principle to increase worker safety.