Health and Safety Stats in the UK

Work-related fatal injuries in Great Britain

This newsletter provides headline numbers on deaths resulting from work-related accidents in 2024/25 that were reportable under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR). Numbers include both fatal injuries to workers and to members of the public.

 

The counts for 2024/25 are currently provisional and will be finalised in July 2026 to take account of any necessary adjustments.

 

124 workers killed in work-related accidents in 2024/25 (RIDDOR)

Fatal injuries to workers by main industry (2024/25)

 

The construction and agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors continue to account for the greatest number of workers killed in fatal accidents each year, between them accounting for just under half of all fatal injuries to workers in 2024/25.

Fatal injuries to workers by gender and age (2024/25)

Male workers continue to account for the vast majority of fatal injuries, with 95% of workers fatally injured in 2024/25 being men, a similar proportion to earlier years. Furthermore, deaths to workers aged 60 and over continue to account for a substantial proportion of the total – around 40% in 2024/25.

 

 

Rate of fatal injuries by age group (per 100,000 workers), annual average for 2020/21-2024/25.

 

Main kinds of fatal accidents for workers (2024/25)

The most common kind of fatal accident continues as falls from a height, accounting for over a quarter of fatal injuries to workers in 2024/25.

 

 

Rate of fatal injury per 100,000 workers

Over the long-term, the rate of fatal injury to workers showed a downward trend, though over the last decade-or-so the rate has been broadly flat (excluding years affected by the coronavirus pandemic).

Note: The data for 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22 includes the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, shown inside the grey shaded area.

 

92 members of the public were also killed in work-related accidents in 2024/25 (excludes deaths due to work-related accidents to ‘patients and service users’ in the healthcare and adult social care sectors in England reportable under RIDDOR).

 

Headline figures

A total of 124 workers were killed in work-related accidents in Great Britain in 2024/25, a decrease of 14 fatalities from 2023/24. However, the number of deaths in both 2023/24 and 2024/25 remain broadly in line with pre-pandemic levels.

 

Figure 1: Fatal injuries to workers: Great Britain 2014/15 – 2024/25.

 

Note: Data for 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22 includes the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Injuries by industry

There are two ways of looking at fatality numbers. The first is to look at the absolute count. On this basis, construction and agriculture, forestry and fishing tend to come out worst as they account for the greatest number of fatalities each year.

 

Figure 2: Number of fatal injuries by selected main industry group, 2024/25 and annual average for 2020/21-2024/25.

 

The profile of fatal injuries to workers by industry sector in 2024/25 is broadly similar to the profile for the 5-year period 2020/21-2024/25, with just under a half (47%) of fatal injuries in 2024/25 occurring in two industry sectors: construction and agriculture, forestry and fishing.

 

• The construction sector continues to account for the largest share of fatal injuries to workers – 28% in 2024/25. With 35 worker deaths in construction in 2024/25 the number is back in-line with the pre-coronavirus level, having been higher in each of the 2 previous years (annual average 49 deaths 2022/23-2023/24).
• In agriculture, forestry and fishing there were 23 fatal injuries in 2024/25, a decrease of 1 from the previous year total (24). The five-year average for fatal injuries in this sector is 25.

 

The second approach of looking at fatality numbers is to consider the fatal injury rate in terms of the number of fatalities per 100,000 workers employed. On this basis, agriculture, forestry and fishing comes out worst.

 

Figure 3: Rate of fatal injuries by selected main industry group (per 100,000 workers), 2024/25 and annual average for 2020/21-2024/25.

 

Based on the annual average rates for 2020/21-2024/25 (as this reduces the effect of year-on-year fluctuations and gives a more stable picture):

 

• The rate of fatal injury to workers in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector remains markedly higher than the average across all industries: 22 times as high as the all industry rate.
• The waste and recycling sector also has an elevated rate of fatal injury over this period compared to the average across all industries: 8 times as high.
• The rate of fatal injury in construction, while around 5 times as high as the average rate across all industries, is considerably less than the rate in agriculture, forestry and fishing despite accounting for a greater number of cases.
• The manufacturing, transportation and storage, and administration and support services sectors all have elevated rates compared to the average rate across all industries: transportation and storage around twice the average rate, manufacturing and administrative and support services around 1.5 times as high.
• While the combined ‘wholesale, retail, motor repair; accommodation and food services’ sector accounted for around 9% of fatal injuries between 2020/21 and 2024/25, in terms of rate the overall sector is relatively low risk with an injury rate of around half the average rate across all industries. However, there will be variation in risk across activities within the sector.

The profile of fatal injuries to workers by accident kind in 2024/25 is broadly similar to the profile for the 5-year period 2020/21-2024/25, with around 80% of all fatal injuries accounted for by just 5 different accident kinds in 2024/25.

 

Falls from a height has been the main cause of work-related fatal injury in almost every year since at least 2001/02.

 

Figure 4: Number of fatal injuries to workers by accident kind, 2024/25 and annual average for 2020/21-2024/25.

 

Based on the annual average number of deaths for 2020/21-2024/25 (as this reduces the effect of year-on-year fluctuations and gives a more stable picture):

 

• 60% of all fatal injuries were accounted for by just three accident kinds: falls from a height, struck by a moving object, and struck by a moving vehicle.
• An average of 38 deaths per year were due to falls from a height, representing 28% of all worker fatal injuries over this period.
• Being struck by a moving object and being struck by a moving vehicle each accounted for an average of 21 deaths per year (around 15%).
• By sector, there is variation in the profile of fatal injuries to workers by accident kind, to some extent reflecting the varying risks present across industries. For example:
• • A markedly higher proportion of worker deaths in construction were due to falls from a height compared to other sectors, with over half of all deaths in construction over this five-year period accounted for by this accident kind (average of 21 deaths per year). In contrast, in both manufacturing and administrative and support services falls from a height accounted for 20% of worker deaths over this period (annual average of 4 and 2 deaths respectively).
  • While being struck by a moving vehicle accounted for around 15% of all deaths, this proportion was markedly higher in waste and recycling (53%), transportation and storage (27%) and agriculture, forestry and fishing (23%).