Robot Safety Made Simple: The Field Guide to UL/OSHA-Ready Robot Safety Cells

Safety for Robotics is vitally important so learn more about how to implement your next solution.

Good automation is safe automation. Whether you’re deploying a cobot or AMRs, a light-weight but thorough safety process keeps people protected and projects on schedule.

The standards (plain English)

• UL 1740 / ISO 10218: Industrial robot system safety—guarding, interlocks, emergency stops.

• ISO/TS 15066: Guidance for collaborative operations (speeds, forces, contact limits).

• UL 3300: Service/entertainment/education robots (often used for non-industrial mobile/service robots).

• OSHA: General duty + machine guarding; lockout/tagout; training and recordkeeping.

(Your exact mix depends on the robot class and use case; we help map it.)

The field checklist

1. Risk assessment (RA): Identify hazards (reach, pinch, motion), estimate severity/probability, assign Performance Level (PL).

2. Engineering controls: Guarding, light curtains/laser scanners, interlocks, speed/force limits, power isolation.

3. Administrative controls: SOPs, signage, training, bystander policies, authorized-user lists.

4. Emergency systems: e-stops in reach, safe stop behavior, clearly labeled reset procedure.

5. Validation: Test each hazard control, capture results in the RA; run FAT/SAT with sign-offs.

6. Documentation pack: RA, circuit diagrams, component datasheets, SOPs, training logs, maintenance schedule, change log.

Common mistakes

• Treating cobots as “inherently safe” (context matters)

• Forgetting maintenance & cleaning modes in the RA

• Uncontrolled software changes—use versioned configs and MOC (management of change)

Need help navigating the standards? Let us know and we can help walk you through it.