Machines have been making workplaces more efficient since the Industrial Revolution, but their impact on health and safety is a complex issue. Today, the emergence of robots is bringing significant health and safety benefits to a variety of workplaces, but also new challenges. What kinds of organisations are using robots? Robots are most commonly used in manufacturing, but are increasingly being introduced to a wide variety of industry sectors, from healthcare to retail. The health and safety benefits of robots Robots can carry out tasks that are dangerous for humans to perform, such as lifting or moving heavy objects, or working with hazardous substances. There is also a new generation of wearable robotics devices that can reduce the risk of injury, or aid the rehabilitation of workers who have been injured. However, as a number of well-publicised incidents have demonstrated – including the death of a worker at a VW plant in Germany and a similar incident at a factory…

Since the global financial crisis, tougher legal and regulatory environments have meant Directors face greater scrutiny of their actions. Whether it’s health and safety, bribery laws, mergers and acquisitions, insolvency, wrongful trading, corporate manslaughter or equality in the workplace, directors are working in ever more complex environments – and they need to be fully aware of their duties and obligations. Changing landscape The European Union is currently overhauling its data protection laws, which means directors in the UK will increasingly be held to account over any failures of a company’s privacy and data protection policies. There are also two pieces of UK legislation, which highlight some of the complex liabilities faced by company directors and officers: Firstly, the Bribery Act, which came into force in 2011, means that companies (and individuals) can be prosecuted for failing to prevent bribery being carried out on their behalf, inside or outside the UK, by any “associated person”, which could include an employee or…