Regulators in many jurisdictions have recently stepped up their activities in relation to investigating and prosecuting individual directors and officers for serious incidents resulting in fatalities or serious injuries, and a number of executives have been convicted and jail sentences have been imposed. There have been a number of high-profile incidents recently around the globe involving airline, mining and fire accidents, resulting in multiple fatalities that are ultimately a human, environmental and economic disaster. In addition to the reputational damage suffered by a corporation involved in a serious incident, company executives face criminal liability and may be personally liable for breaches of health and safety laws, and the penalties can involve imprisonment and substantial fines. The session covers: • serious and high-profile incidents around the globe and the response to those incidents; • an outline of the legal obligations in the various jurisdictions; • a comparison of health and safety laws in different jurisdictions, including the personal obligations of company executives and a comparison of potential criminal penalties that may be imposed; • protecting individual employees overseas and cross-border workplace health and safety initiatives; • recent cases involving the imposition of penalties (including jail sentences) on executives for violations of health and safety laws; • implications for corporations, including reputational damage resulting in adverse economic consequences for the corporation; • the importance of investing upfront in health and safety management systems and appropriate training for executives to improve safety outcomes; and • how corporations should respond to critical incidents.