Industrial Robots, Workers' Safety, and Health

Does the rise of robotic technology make people healthier?

“…Conducted independently and at the same time as our paper, the authors found that an increase in robot exposure is associated with a reduction in work-related injuries in the United States. Our paper complements the findings in Gihleb et al (2020) in a few main ways. First, we examine directly the relationship between robot exposure and health, showing evidence that a higher industrial robots adoption in the US cities is associated with an improvement in the health status of low-skilled individuals.…”

“…We contribute to this literature by examining the potential role of robotic technology in improving the health of the population, especially those who are low-skilled. A closely related study to our paper is the work by Gihleb et al (2020). Conducted independently and at the same time as our paper, the authors found that an increase in robot exposure is associated with a reduction in work-related injuries in the United States.…”

“…3 This is unlike the effect of Information and Communication Technology, which mainly adversely affecting workers in the middle of skill distribution (Autor et al, 2003;Goos et al, 2014;Michaels et al, 2014). 4 It is worth noting that Gihleb et al (2020) documents evidence that an increase in robot exposure leads to an increase in mental health problems in the United States, presumably caused by the rise in economic uncertainty, consistent with studies that found deteriorating economic conditions are associated with worsening mental health in the population (Frasquilho et al, 2015;Modrek et al, 2015;Venkataramani et al, 2020). However, they do not find that this is the case in Germany.…”

“…First, we examine directly the relationship between robot exposure and health, showing evidence that a higher industrial robots adoption in the US cities is associated with an improvement in the health status of low-skilled individuals. 4 That is, reduction in workrelated injuries, which is the focus in Gihleb et al (2020), is a mechanism through which a rise in robot exposure can affect health. In addition, we use different data and econometric specifications to examine the potential reallocation of tasks due to the rise in robot exposure.…”

“…As noted in Gihleb et al. (2020), there are a few limitations in using OSHA data. First, OSHA data is not representative of all businesses (i.e., OSHA only collects data from 1% of total establishments).…”