Mapa Institute of Technology

School of EE-ECE-COE
Intramuros, Manila

Accident Report
Volkswagen Robot Accident
A Partial Fulfillment for the Requirement in SFTY100 B5

Maago, Jaya Mae T.

Engr. J. A. P. Juan
Professor

A. Employee Details
Name:
Sex:
Race:
Age:
Job description:

Not Released
Male
German
22
Technician

B. Description of Incident
Date:
Location:
Equipment involved:
Injury:

June 29, 2015

Kassel, Germany
Robot
Crushing of upper body (fatal)

C. Details
A 22-year-old German technician is working on the installation of a
robot programmed to complete a series of tasks in the assembly process of
cars by grabbing parts and operating them. Workers and robots are
separated from one another inside the plant but the said technician was
working on the robot inside its cage. The robot grabbed the technician and
crushed him against a metal plate.
His co-technician was outside the cage when the incident happened
and was unharmed. He was rushed to a hospital then died on Monday, July
6, 2015.

D. Analysis and Conclusion

According to Volkswagen spokesman Heiko Hillwig, the robot that
the technician was working on has not suffered a technical defect. Workers
were separated from the robots by using safety cages to prevent accidental
contact, and the technicians were to operate and work outside these safety
cages. Therefore, as a conclusion, it is human error that is the primary
cause of this incident.
The said technician also went inside the safety cage without proper
gear and proper permission to its superior technician/engineer etc. This
can be concluded as the secondary cause of the incident.

E. Recommendations
To prevent similar occurrences, I suggest the following:
1. A refresher course on safety procedures should be conducted.
2. Permission to higher-ups or superiors whenever conducting or operating
on direct contact with the robots.