Research Information System
Karabulut Ş., Kademli M., Bilgin M., Okyayuz A. Ş., Kökçan R., Boztunç Öztürk N.
Erasmus Project, 2022 - 2024
The
machinery sector is an essential part of the manufacturing industry and is the
industrial mainstay of the European Union economy. The primary problem of the machinery
industry, which can cause countless accidents and deaths, is machinery safety.
Although the machines have been produced within the framework of essential
safety rules, almost one-third (31.7 %) of all non-fatal accidents and around
three-tenths (29.3 %) of fatal accidents at work resulted from losing control
of a machine, tool, or transport/handling equipment in the industrial sites
during 2018 in the EU (Eurostat Statistic). The social and economic costs of
the large number of accidents caused directly by the use of machinery require
smooth and efficient cooperation in Europe and beyond. In order to eliminate
the accidents resulting from operating machinery, the European Parliament and
the Council of the European Union published and adopted “Machinery Safety
Directive 2006/42/EC” in 2006. As a membership candidate country, Turkey also
published “Machinery Safety Regulations” in 2009. On the other hand, the root
of the machinery safety issue in the industry is the lack of training and
awareness on this issue. However, in Vocational Education and Training (VET),
there is no curriculum that includes the safety of machinery, risk assessment,
safety guards, safety distances, designing of safety devices, selection and use
of safety devices, electrical safety devices, safety in pressurized fluid
systems, functional safety, and tagging-locking systems. Besides, this content
is not included in the curricula of engineering faculties. A qualified engineer
and technician training in safe machinery manufacture, use, maintenance, and
repair have great importance. Hence, teaching and training staff, apprentices,
VET learners, higher education students, adult learners, and other related
personnel in the public and private sector need to be trained in accordance
with the Machinery Safety Directive 2006/42/EC and current technological
developments. On the other hand, the production systems are radically
transforming based on the technological developments with Industry 4.0.
Operators will have to carry out their duty in a collaboration with the
machines and industrial robots, automation systems, and data-driven
technologies will be integrated into the intelligent workspace (Garcia, 2019).
However, the application of new processes and methods in production systems
with Industry 4.0 will bring several challenges. As the advancement in
technology, safety and maintenance of the entire production system is
containing a serious concern for the machinery industry (Scurati et al., 2018).
The safety and maintenance of processes in the industry are essential for the
growth of any manufacturing facility, and new approaches are emerging that take
into account not only technical but also societal needs (Martinetti et al.,
2017; Martinetti et al., 2019). More skilled workers will be required to run
jobs in the digitalized production systems with Industry 4.0. Therefore,
today's operators should be trained to overcome the safety and maintenance
problems caused by digitalization with both traditional production systems and
Industry 4.0 (Martinetti, 2019). Therefore, the main challenges of today's
world require innovative approaches to VET. From this point on, machinery
safety training needs a future-oriented, innovative, inclusive, and digital
curriculum and content. Machinery safety training, which is one of the most
important deficiencies of vocational education, is very suitable to be designed
and implemented digitally. Thus, occupational accidents that cause serious
injuries and deaths in the industry can be greatly reduced by developing a
machinery safety training curriculum. The implementation of this curriculum in
a sustainable structure with digital technologies will provide the necessary
participation in VET and will bring an innovative solution to the industry.