Health and safety duties when algorithms manage work in Great Britain

Software now sets targets, allocates tasks, schedules shifts and measures the pace of work in warehouses, call centres, delivery and many office jobs. People often call this algorithmic management. Great Britain has no separate statute for it, but general health and safety law already applies to how work is organised, including work-related stress. This page sets out, for employers and workers, the duties that apply, as the legislation stood on 31 October 2026.

The short answer: employers must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of employees, including safe systems of work. That covers systems that set pace, targets or hours. They must assess the risks to employees, review the assessment when something significant changes, such as a new management system, and consult safety representatives or employees in good time about the health and safety consequences of introducing new technologies.

The general duty: safe systems of work

Every employer must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all employees. This includes providing and maintaining systems of work that are safe and without risks to health, the information, instruction, training and supervision needed, and a working environment that is safe and without risks to health (Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 2(1) and (2)). A system that allocates work and sets the speed at which it must be done is part of the system of work. Except in cases prescribed by regulations, employers must also prepare a written statement of their general health and safety policy and the arrangements for carrying it out, and bring it to employees' notice (section 2(3)).

Employees have duties too: to take reasonable care for their own health and safety and that of others affected by what they do, and to co-operate with the employer so far as needed for it to comply (section 7).

Risk assessment must cover how work is organised

• Assess: every employer must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to the health and safety of employees while they are at work (Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3(1)). Risks to health include risks to mental health from the way work is designed.
• Review: the assessment must be reviewed if there is reason to suspect it is no longer valid or there has been a significant change in the matters it relates to, and changed where needed (regulation 3(3)). Introducing or changing a system that sets targets, pace or schedules is the kind of change that calls for a review.
• Record: where there are five or more employees, the significant findings and any group identified as especially at risk must be recorded (regulation 3(6)).

Work-related stress

The Health and Safety Executive, the regulator for most workplaces in Great Britain, says there are six main areas that can lead to work-related stress if they are not managed properly: "demands, control, support, relationships, role and change" (HSE, causes of stress at work). Algorithmic management can touch several of them at once:

• Demands: targets and pace set by software, and whether they allow for breaks, interruptions and harder tasks.
• Control: how much say people keep over the order and method of their work when tasks are allocated automatically.
• Support and role: whether someone can explain an instruction or a score, and whether people know what is expected of them.
• Change: whether people are told and involved when the system is introduced or its rules change.

For monitoring that feeds these systems, see employee monitoring rules in the UK and AI monitoring at work. For what the EU agency EU-OSHA has found about AI management and safety, see AI and workplace safety. For hours and availability, see AI and the right to disconnect.

Consultation on new technologies

• Where there is a recognised union with safety representatives: the employer must consult them in good time about the introduction of any measure that may substantially affect employees' health and safety, and about the health and safety consequences of introducing, including planning, new technologies into the workplace (Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977, regulation 4A).
• Where employees are not covered by those representatives: the employer must consult them, directly or through elected representatives, in good time on the same matters (Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996, regulation 3).

"In good time" means before decisions are fixed. See also AI and unions.

Practical steps for employers

• Treat a new allocation, target or scheduling system as a significant change: review the risk assessment before it goes live, and again once real data shows how it works.
• Check that targets allow for breaks, rest, training time, adjustments for disabled workers and the real time hard tasks take.
• Keep a person who can explain and override instructions, and a way to report problems without penalty.
• Consult safety representatives or employees in good time about the health and safety effects, and record what you changed as a result.
• Monitor sickness absence (and pay it correctly: see statutory sick pay when software tracks absence), turnover and complaints after launch, and adjust the system, not only individuals.

For workers

If targets or schedules set by software are affecting your health, raise it with your manager or safety representative in writing, describe the effect and ask whether the risk assessment covered the system. You can also contact the Health and Safety Executive. If you are pregnant, have recently given birth or are breastfeeding, see risk assessment for new and expectant mothers; for pay when a listed health rule requires suspension, see suspension on medical grounds. For workstation assessments, screen breaks and eye tests for staff who work at screens, see display screen work. For protection from detriment or dismissal after raising a safety concern, see raising safety concerns about AI and robots. This page covers Great Britain; Northern Ireland has parallel legislation. It is general information, not legal or medical advice.