Product Overview

Summary: This SOP provides a clear, step-by-step framework for the safe use of robotics and automation in Australian workplaces, from installation and programming through to operation and maintenance. It helps businesses integrate advanced technologies while controlling new and emerging WHS risks, ensuring workers, contractors and visitors remain safe around automated plant and robotic systems.

As Australian businesses adopt robotics and automation to improve productivity, they also introduce new and often unfamiliar safety risks. Traditional guarding and lock-out practices do not always cover collaborative robots, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), vision systems and integrated production cells. This SOP provides a structured, practical approach to managing these risks so that automation projects deliver efficiencies without compromising worker safety or breaching WHS duties.

The document sets out how robotics and automation are to be planned, installed, commissioned, operated, maintained and modified within your workplace. It aligns with Australian WHS legislation and relevant standards, covering topics such as exclusion zones, emergency stops, interlocks, safeguarding validation, software and control changes, and interaction between people and machines. By implementing this SOP, businesses can standardise safe work methods across sites, support competency-based training for operators and technicians, and demonstrate due diligence when regulators, clients or insurers scrutinise how automated systems are managed.

Whether you are running a highly automated manufacturing line, a robotic welding cell, a pick-and-place packaging system, or automated warehousing equipment, this SOP helps you clearly define responsibilities, safe operating limits and escalation pathways. It reduces reliance on informal “tribal knowledge” and ensures that any person entering or working near robotic and automated plant understands the controls in place and the steps they must follow to stay safe.

Key Benefits

• Ensure safe integration and operation of robotic and automated systems in line with Australian WHS requirements.
• Reduce the risk of crush, entanglement and impact incidents involving robots, AGVs and automated plant.
• Standardise procedures for programming, set-up, fault-finding and maintenance to minimise human error.
• Demonstrate due diligence to regulators, clients and auditors through a documented, defensible safety process.
• Support effective induction, training and competency assessment for operators, technicians and supervisors.

Who is this for?

• WHS Managers
• Operations Managers
• Engineering Managers
• Production Supervisors
• Maintenance Supervisors
• Robotics Technicians
• Automation Engineers
• Manufacturing Managers
• Warehouse and Logistics Managers
• Site Safety Representatives
• PCBU Directors and Officers

Hazards Addressed

• Crushing and entrapment between moving robotic arms and fixed structures
• Impact and collision with mobile robots, AGVs and automated material handling equipment
• Entanglement in conveyors, grippers, end-effectors and rotating components
• Unexpected start-up or uncontrolled movement during programming, fault-finding or maintenance
• Exposure to hazardous energy sources (electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic, stored mechanical energy)
• Failure or bypassing of interlocks, light curtains, pressure mats and other safeguarding devices
• Contact with sharp edges, hot surfaces, weld arcs or process-related hazards on automated cells
• Slips, trips and falls around robotic cells due to poor housekeeping, cables or component placement
• Psychosocial risks related to job redesign, role uncertainty and working alone with automated systems

Included Sections

• 1.0 Purpose and Scope
• 2.0 Definitions and Types of Robotics and Automation
• 3.0 Roles, Responsibilities and Competency Requirements
• 4.0 Planning, Design and Risk Assessment for Robotic and Automated Systems
• 5.0 Installation, Commissioning and Validation of Safeguards
• 6.0 Pre-Start Checks and Area Preparation
• 7.0 Normal Operating Procedures for Robotics and Automation
• 8.0 Safe Programming, Teaching and Set-Up Modes
• 9.0 Isolation, Lockout/Tagout and Verification of Zero Energy
• 10.0 Fault-Finding, Jam Clearing and Maintenance Activities
• 11.0 Human–Robot Interaction, Exclusion Zones and Access Control
• 12.0 Emergency Stop, Emergency Response and Incident Reporting
• 13.0 Change Management for Software, Hardware and Process Modifications
• 14.0 Training, Induction and Competency Assessment
• 15.0 Inspection, Testing, Maintenance and Recordkeeping
• 16.0 Review, Audit and Continuous Improvement of the SOP

Legislation & References

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth and corresponding state and territory Acts)
• Work Health and Safety Regulations 2011 (Cth and corresponding state and territory Regulations)
• Safe Work Australia – Code of Practice: Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace
• Safe Work Australia – Code of Practice: Managing the Work Environment and Facilities
• AS 4024.1 Safety of machinery (series)
• AS 4024.3301 Safety of machinery – Robots for industrial environments – Safety requirements
• AS/NZS 4024.1501 Safety of machinery – Design of safety-related parts of control systems – General principles
• AS/NZS 3000 Electrical installations (Australian/New Zealand Wiring Rules)
• AS/NZS ISO 12100 Safety of machinery – General principles for design – Risk assessment and risk reduction