America’s warehouses and factory floors are becoming safer for human workers as robots take on more of their riskiest jobs, McGuireWoods Richmond partner Courtney Malveaux told Bloomberg Law in a Feb. 4, 2026, story.
Bloomberg Law reported that there were 2.5 million nonfatal workplace injuries in the U.S. in 2024, the fewest reported since 2003, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The article cited a strategic shift in safety culture, a decline in COVID-19-related respiratory illnesses, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s focus on high-hazard sectors as possible causes for the decline.
Malveaux, a labor and employment attorney and former Virginia labor commissioner, told Bloomberg Law that workers are also being spared injuries thanks to a greater uptake of robots in high-risk industries.
“There are manufacturing sites, warehousing, and other sites—where robotic systems are taking over functions that human beings performed,” Malveaux said. “The more those robotic systems are taking the place or augmenting human functions, humans will experience fewer exposures to hazards.”