Safety assessment framework of desktop 3D printers

Abstract

The influx of consumer-scale 3D printers in the market in recent years had seen many such desktop-based machines going into schools, homes and offices. However, there are open questions about the use of desktop 3D printers, with no specific standards directly associated with these products currently. In this paper, a qualitative safety assessment framework has been developed based on a Hazard Based Safety Engineering (HBSE) approach. It encompasses wide ranging aspects of the usage desktop 3D printers. These would help to determine the important criteria to consider when adopting 3D printing technologies.