Ford casting plant worker killed by parts-retrieval robot in Flat Rock

What happened

Ford’s Michigan Casting Center in Flat Rock used an automated storage system to hold and retrieve castings from high racks. According to a 1987 Michigan Court of Appeals opinion, a Ford employee entered the third level of the high-density robotic storage area during his shift to investigate a malfunction in the storage system. While he was inside, a transfer vehicle struck him from behind and crushed him.

Guinness World Records describes the machine as a one-ton production-line robot that was part of a parts-retrieval system, and says the worker had climbed into the storage rack to retrieve parts by hand because the system was running slowly. Later accounts give his age as 25.

The system involved

The equipment was a multi-level automated storage and retrieval system supplied by the Unit Handling Systems division of Litton Systems. Castings were stored in high-density racks and moved by transfer vehicles that traveled through the racks. The court record refers to a lockout system supplied with the equipment, which Litton said was not in use when the worker entered the racks.

The machine was not a robot arm in the modern sense but an automated material-handling vehicle. It is nonetheless the event most often cited as the first death of a person caused by a robot.

Investigation and response

The worker’s estate sued Litton, alleging negligent design, manufacture and supply of the storage system and a failure to warn of the dangers of working inside the storage area. A jury found Litton liable for negligence and breach of implied warranty and returned a $10 million verdict, reported by the Associated Press in August 1983. Later accounts say the award was raised to $15 million in January 1984. The parties then settled, with Litton stipulating that it did not admit negligence or the correctness of the verdict.

Litton also sought indemnity from Ford, alleging that Ford failed to send the worker to training Litton offered and allowed him into the system while the lockout was off. On November 2, 1987, the Michigan Court of Appeals reversed a trial court ruling and held that Litton had not stated a valid indemnity claim against Ford. According to the published case history, the Michigan Supreme Court upheld that result in 1989.

What is not established

The exact date is disputed between sources: the Court of Appeals opinion says January 26, 1979, while Guinness World Records and press coverage say January 25, 1979. The amount of the final settlement was not disclosed. The claim that this was the first robot-related death is a matter of definition: in 1985 NIOSH described a 1984 Michigan die-casting death as the first documented robot-related fatality in the United States.