Death by FANUC at Nissan Plant - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2013, 05:29:26 pm
content: There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of info on the web about it, most stories are a different accident at that plant.I was reading in a safety bulletin at work about a recent death of a worker at a Nissan plant, he was doing some maintenance work on a Fanuc robot. Someone else had seen that the safety alarm had been triggered and reset it and the robot swung around at full speed.Apparently full LO/TO procedures were not followed by the worker and the other person did not investigate why the safely alarm had been triggered. In addition the robots were set at full speed instead of their slowest setting which might have given the worker a chance to dive to the ground when it started moving.

author: Phaedrus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2013, 06:59:08 pm
content: The robot uprising has begun.

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2013, 07:28:22 pm
content: I wonder if his name was John Connor?

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2013, 10:08:41 pm
content: Once the robots get sight of blood, they'll be back for more.In all seriousness, this is a tragic accident, that looks like it could have been easily avoided had the appropriate easy precautions been applied.

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 22, 2013, 10:14:57 pm
content: Agreed. Even just tag out without the lock out could have prevented this. And of course disabling a safety alarm without checking the robot first is unforgivable. I expect (hope) that this will result in a significant improvement of their safety culture.

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2013, 11:23:20 pm
content: Quote from: alm on August 22, 2013, 10:14:57 pmFrom what I can tell, that's the second death this year at that plant. Someone got killed by a falling panel that was knocked down by a truck that hit it.

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2013, 11:56:25 pm
content: One time during my career I was sent by an engineer to reboot a computer that controlled some equipment during the smoke break or lunch break. When I got there I made sure that the equipment was idle and that the break had started and started the reboot. Someone stuck their head in and said I rebooted too early and shut their production line down for like 10+ minutes. I said that wasn't possible because I just got there. After their break they had an issue at their console that was 50 or so feet away. And they had trouble starting up again. They called one of the supervisors at home who in turn called me so I went back out there. Turned out it was just an issue with their KVM and not related to what I did, but later that day I was interrogated by a higher-up at the company saying what I did interrupted production for X number of minutes and cost the company X number of dollars and so forth, and it was a big deal and that it was my responsibility to check their KVM before it had stopped working. They said they expected a full explanation from my department head in the morning.So our department pulled logs off the equipment and so forth and it ended up being someone entered a restricted area while the equipment was on and it shut everything down before I got there. Since I was in the area they didn't bother checking the fault, they just kept hitting reset over and over again thinking it was related to my reboot, but if they had pulled up the fault it would have told them there was an intrusion in the restricted area. Luckily since the fault was tied to physical sensor it didn't let them reset. After their break the mysterious person had left and the sensor reset.So yeah, don't just reset faults without seeing what they are.I also seem to remember reading a policyonce there that in addition to LO/TO procedures, company policy was all equipment settings were to be set to their slowest, lowest power, least pressure, etc setting during the LO/TO procedure to provide that one extra layer of protection.

author: SArepairman
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2013, 01:59:46 am
content: they should have some kind of way to insert a physical block from a distance before approaching those things*if for some reason you can't just unplug them.like a locking rod that could be inserted with a long pole or something.I'm just waiting for the CIA to make a virus to beat the head engineer of some industrial plant in iran to death

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2013, 02:08:59 am
content: robot will not rise, its just human stupidity.

author: WarSim
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2013, 05:08:06 am
content: All these safety processes are to combat the rampant stupidity.There will always be people who wrap fuses in tinfoil, disconnect fire alarms, reset breakers without investigating why, and press the big red buttons due to curiosity. Stupid people are everywhere and we need to protect ourselves from them.

author: G7PSK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2013, 09:33:10 pm
content: I once had to go to the A&E to get a finger stitched that I had rather stupidly cut by grabbing at a large tin can with a sharp edge as it fell, While in there they had just started to patch me up when they had to rush off, eventually they came back, apparently they had to see to a farm worker who had got his arm mangled in an elevator, I was told he had been trying to clear or fix the machine when another worker came into the barn and turned the lights on, the same switch was connected to both the lighys and the elevator the man was pulled half way up the machine before the power was turned off, the fire brigade had to wind the machine the rest of the way as being the quickest way to get the man down as he was hanging by his mangled arm twenty feet in the air.My grandfather had a saying "there is no such thing as an accident only such thing as a fool" sometimes I am inclined to agree with him.

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2013, 09:53:56 pm
content: Quote from: G7PSK on August 23, 2013, 09:33:10 pmthere are 2 more things to consider, either we "forget" or the thing has not been archived in our knowledge or we didnt know it can happen, as in the "first time" or "new type" of accident. both are acceptable as an excuse (for me), but if the same thing happens the second or third and so on times in the future, then its either "forget" or "fool". then again the "forget" can be divided into 2, forget because we are too ocupied with many things or jobs or responsibilities, or we forget because we dont have much thing to do we keep thinking or playing with useless stuff. the later also can be categorize as "fool". my 2cnts..."by Time. indeed we are at loss, except for those who keep advicing and reminding each other about the "truth" and "patience".YMMV.