An industrial robot system including a workcell including a load area and a process area. A detector detects when a human enters the load area. A manipulator is located in the workcell. At least one positioner is adapted to hold a workpiece and to change the orientation of the workpiece about at least one axis while the manipulator processes the workpiece. A station exchanger is movable about an axis and adapted to move, upon command, the manipulator or the positioner between the load and process area. Each of the axes is provided with a motor and a drive unit. An axis controller is adapted to switch between executing a first task in which the axes of the positioner and the station exchanger are commanded to a standstill, and a second task in which the axes of the positioner and the station exchanger are allowed to move. A safety controller is adapted to supervise, upon detecting that a human is entering the load area, whether any of the station exchanger or the positioner is moving, and to generate a signal which disables the drive unit of the moving axis if it is detected that any of the supervised axes is moving.