Raising safety concerns about robots, AI and automated work: UK protection from detriment and dismissal

Warehouse robots, automated vehicles, machine-paced lines and software that sets work rates can all create new hazards. People who see the risk first are often the ones doing the work. The Employment Rights Act 1996 protects employees who raise health and safety concerns, and workers who leave or take steps in serious and imminent danger, from detriment and dismissal. This page sets out those rules in Great Britain. It is for workers, employees, safety representatives and employers.

The short answer: an employee must not be subjected to a detriment for carrying out designated safety duties, acting as a safety representative or committee member, taking part in safety consultation, or, where there is no representative or it is not reasonably practicable to use one, raising reasonably believed health and safety concerns by reasonable means (s44(1)). Any worker is protected for leaving, refusing to return or taking appropriate steps in serious and imminent danger (s44(1A)). Dismissal of an employee for these reasons is automatically unfair, with no qualifying period (ss100 and 108(3)).

Who is protected and for what

An employee has the right not to be subjected to any detriment by any act, or deliberate failure to act, by the employer done on the ground that (s44(1)):

• having been designated by the employer to carry out activities to prevent or reduce risks to health and safety, they carried out or proposed to carry out those activities;
• as a health and safety representative or safety committee member, under statutory arrangements or acknowledged as such by the employer, they performed or proposed to perform those functions;
• they took part or proposed to take part in consultation under the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996, or in an election of representatives of employee safety; or
• at a place with no safety representative or committee, or where it was not reasonably practicable to raise the matter that way, they brought to the employer's attention, by reasonable means, circumstances connected with their work which they reasonably believed were harmful or potentially harmful to health or safety.

In practice, that last route covers an employee who reports, by reasonable means, that a robot cell's guarding is being bypassed, that an automated pick rate leaves no time for safe lifting, or that software overrides a safety stop, provided the employee reasonably believes the circumstances are harmful or potentially harmful and the conditions about representatives are met.

Serious and imminent danger

A worker, not only an employee, has the right not to be subjected to a detriment on the ground that (s44(1A)):

• in circumstances of danger which they reasonably believed to be serious and imminent and which they could not reasonably have been expected to avert, they left or proposed to leave, or while the danger persisted refused to return to, their place of work or a dangerous part of it; or
• in circumstances of danger which they reasonably believed to be serious and imminent, they took or proposed to take appropriate steps to protect themselves or others.

Whether the steps were appropriate is judged by all the circumstances, including the worker's knowledge and the facilities and advice available at the time (s44(2)). There is no detriment on the ground of taking steps if the employer shows it was so negligent to take them that a reasonable employer might have treated the worker as it did (s44(3)). The worker protection in s44(1A) was added from 31 May 2021 by SI 2021/618.

Dismissal and selection for redundancy

An employee is regarded as unfairly dismissed if the reason, or principal reason, for dismissal is one of the same health and safety grounds, including leaving or taking appropriate steps in serious and imminent danger (s100(1)), subject to the same rule about negligent steps (s100(3)). Selection for redundancy for one of those reasons is also unfair (s105(3)). The usual qualifying period for unfair dismissal does not apply (s108(3)(c)). For employees, a detriment that amounts to dismissal is dealt with under the dismissal rules rather than s44 (s44(4)). See unfair dismissal.

Complaints and time limits

An employee can complain to an employment tribunal of detriment in breach of s44(1), and a worker of detriment in breach of s44(1A) (s48(1) and (1XA)). On such a complaint, it is for the employer to show the ground on which it acted or failed to act (s48(2)). The complaint must be presented within six months beginning with the date of the act or failure, or the last of a series of similar acts or failures, or within a further reasonable period if it was not reasonably practicable to present it in time; the period can be extended for Acas early conciliation (s48(3) and (4A)). The six month period applies from 1 October 2026 under the Employment Rights Act 2025, with transitional provisions, so check which period applies to earlier acts. See Acas early conciliation.

Practical steps

• Workers and employees: raise concerns through the safety representative or committee where there is one, and otherwise in writing to the employer, describing the hazard and when you saw it. Keep a copy, and note any change that follows, such as fewer shifts, a lower automated rating or a disciplinary step.
• Safety representatives: keep records of what you raised about new machinery or software and the employer's response.
• Employers: make sure performance, scheduling and discipline systems do not penalise people who stop work or report a hazard, for example by counting a safety stop as idle time. Be ready to show the ground for any decision that follows a safety report.

For the employer's duties on safe systems of work and risk assessment, see AI and health and safety law; for reporting wrongdoing more widely, see UK whistleblowing law and AI; for challenging pay, hours or holiday decisions, see asserting statutory rights. These provisions extend to England, Wales and Scotland. This page is general information on the law in Great Britain as at 1 November 2026, not legal advice.