Workplace fatalities statistics UK
HSE records 126 workers killed in work-related accidents in Great Britain in 2025/26, provisionally. The total covers England, Scotland and Wales and includes employees and the self-employed.
Accident fatalities are distinct from deaths caused by occupational disease. This guide explains both the scope of the headline total and the differences between annual counts, rates and multi-year averages.
Reviewed 15 October 2026. HSE statistics cover Great Britain. Non-fatal injury and ill-health figures are for 2024/25 or the stated multi-year average; fatal figures are 2025/26 provisional. Cost estimates refer to 2023/24.
Key facts & figures (overview)
- 126 workers killed in 2025/26, provisional.
- 128 workers killed in the revised 2024/25 count.
- 0.37 per 100,000 workers: the 2025/26 provisional fatal-injury rate.
- 104 members of the public killed in the 2025/26 series, subject to its exclusions.
- 31 deaths involved falls from height in 2025/26.
- 25 deaths occurred in construction, the largest main-industry total in 2025/26.
- 8.09 per 100,000 workers: the agriculture, forestry and fishing fatal-injury rate in 2025/26.
- 93% of fatally injured workers were male in 2025/26.
- 40 workers aged 60+ died: 32% of the 2025/26 total.
- 40 self-employed workers died in 2025/26, about one third of the total.
- About 13,000 deaths annually are estimated from occupational lung disease and cancer linked to past workplace exposures, a separate measure.
How many workers are killed each year?
The provisional 2025/26 count is 126, two fewer than the revised 128 in 2024/25. It will be finalised in July 2027. The five-year total for 2021/22–2025/26 is 651, averaging about 130 deaths a year.
HSE describes 2025/26 as the lowest annual count outside the years affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Small annual counts fluctuate, so the rate and rolling average help put a single year in context.
The leading causes of workplace death
The main accident kinds in Great Britain in 2025/26 were:
| Cause of fatality | Worker deaths, 2025/26 provisional |
|---|---|
| Falls from height | 31 |
| Struck by a moving vehicle | 24 |
| Struck by a moving object | 21 |
| Trapped by collapse or overturning | 18 |
| Contact with moving machinery | 10 |
These categories account for 104 of the 126 deaths, about 83%. They are separate categories; moving objects should not be interpreted as including moving vehicles.
Over 2021/22–2025/26, height-related deaths averaged 37 annually across all industries. In construction, falls from height accounted for over half of worker deaths over that period.
Which industries have the highest fatality rates?
By number of fatalities, 2025/26 provisional
- Construction: 25.
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 22.
- Manufacturing: 18.
- Transportation and storage: 15.
- Wholesale/retail/motor repair, accommodation and food services combined: 11.
By fatal injury rate, 2025/26 provisional
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 8.09 per 100,000 workers.
- Waste collection, treatment, disposal and materials recovery: 5.47 per 100,000.
- Construction: 1.23 per 100,000.
The all-industry rate was 0.37 per 100,000. Annual sector rates can vary substantially. Across 2021/22–2025/26, the corresponding rates were 8.08, 4.03 and 1.78, compared with 0.39 overall.
Who is most at risk?
Gender
In 2025/26, 117 of the workers killed were male, or 93%. HSE relates this pattern largely to men’s greater representation in higher-risk work.
Age
Forty deaths involved workers aged 60 and over: 32% of fatalities, compared with 12% of the workforce. This is a national comparison, not proof of the cause of any individual accident.
Employment status
Forty workers killed in 2025/26 were self-employed, about one third of the total. Self-employed workers comprise around 15% of the workforce and are more prevalent in some high-risk industries. The five-year fatal-injury rate was 0.93 per 100,000 self-employed people versus 0.30 per 100,000 employees.
Deaths to members of the public
The public-death count was 104 in 2025/26, up from a revised 96 in 2024/25. It includes people affected by work activities who were not workers in the relevant incident.
The series excludes work-related patient and service-user deaths in England’s healthcare and adult social care premises where CQC is the lead enforcement body. It is not a count of all deaths occurring on business premises.
Occupational disease deaths: the hidden toll
HSE separately estimates about 13,000 deaths annually from occupational lung disease and cancer caused by past work exposures. This is a modelled burden estimate, not a count of 13,000 newly reported fatal accidents in 2025/26.
Diseases may emerge many years after exposure. Controls for asbestos, silica and other hazardous substances therefore remain important even where a workplace has a low recent accident count.
The long-term trend in fatal injuries
Selected years in HSE’s historical worker-fatality series show the long-term reduction:
| Year | Worker deaths in Great Britain |
|---|---|
| 1981 | 495 |
| 2004/05 | 223 |
| 2015/16 | 147 |
| 2023/24 | 138 |
| 2024/25, revised | 128 |
| 2025/26, provisional | 126 |
The rate was 2.1 per 100,000 workers in 1981 and 0.37 in 2025/26. HSE’s 2026 analysis describes a long-term downward trend whose rate of decline has slowed in recent years. This replaces its earlier description of a broadly flat recent trend.
Changes in workforce composition and reporting coverage matter when interpreting long periods; a count alone is not a complete measure of risk.
Interpreting international comparisons
International rates require comparable reporting coverage, industry mix and reference years. Great Britain’s HSE rate should not be ranked against another country’s total without checking those definitions.
The figures in this guide support comparisons within the HSE series. They do not establish a current global league table of workplace safety.
What the fatality statistics do not include
- Deaths from occupational disease are outside this accident-fatality series.
- Most fatal accidents on non-rail transport systems are excluded; road-traffic rules have specified exceptions.
- Natural causes are not reportable simply because a death occurs at work.
- The public series excludes the specified CQC-led patient and service-user deaths in England.
- Northern Ireland is outside the Great Britain geographical coverage.
Employer legal duties and RIDDOR
Prevention
In Great Britain, employers must manage risks to workers and others affected by their activities, with suitable assessment, equipment, instruction and supervision. Specific duties apply to hazards such as work at height and workplace transport.
Reporting
The responsible person must notify reportable fatal accidents without delay and ensure a report is received within 10 days. Reporting can be online; telephone reporting is also available for fatalities and specified injuries. Follow the relevant RIDDOR criteria and exclusions.
Preventing workplace fatalities: what the evidence shows
Use the accident patterns to focus attention, then assess the actual work. Avoid work at height where possible, provide fall prevention where needed, separate people from vehicles and guard or isolate dangerous machinery.
Coordinate contractors and provide instruction for the equipment and conditions. Review incidents and near misses and check that controls continue to work. Training supports these measures; it cannot substitute for a safe system of work.
Written by workplace safety experts
This guide was produced by the team at Manual Handling Training, a UK provider of RoSPA-approved and CPD-accredited online health and safety training. We publish data guides like this one because we believe that clear, accurate, and accessible safety information saves lives — and because the workers and employers who use our training deserve to understand the scale of the challenge that good workplace safety practice is designed to address.
Related guides
Sources & references
- HSE: work-related fatal injuries, Great Britain, 2025/26 provisional
- HSE: RIDFATAL detailed fatal-injury tables, July 2026
- HSE: historical RIDDOR injury tables
- HSE: work-related ill health and occupational disease
- HSE: making a RIDDOR report
- HSE: types of reportable incidents
- HSE: how to make a RIDDOR report
- RIDDOR 2013: reporting criteria, timescales and record keeping
- HSE: working at height
- HSE: workplace transport safety
- HSE: managing risks and risk assessment at work
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Mark writes about workplace health & safety, manual handling and accredited online training for Manual Handling Training, part of Online CPD Academy.