Work at Height Regulations Statistics UK: 2026 Facts, Data & Key Insights

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 are the legal framework that governs every task carried out at height in Great Britain. Two decades after they came into force, falls from height remain the single leading cause of workplace death, and HSE enforcement of the Regulations is as active as ever. This guide brings together verified figures on fatalities, prosecutions, days lost and the landmark fines handed down under the Regulations, with sources from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Gov.uk.

The Work at Height Regulations 2005: two decades of enforcement

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 came into force in April 2005, implementing the EU Temporary Work at Height Directive and consolidating earlier UK working at height legislation. They were introduced specifically in response to the persistent toll of falls from height — which were, as they remain today, the leading cause of workplace death in Great Britain.

Twenty years on, the Regulations have shaped UK workplace practice significantly, but they have not solved the problem. Falls from height continue to kill and seriously injure thousands of UK workers every year, and HSE enforcement of the Regulations remains active and vigorous. In 2024/25 the HSE brought 246 prosecutions for health and safety offences, and falls from height cases regularly feature among the most serious. British Airways was fined over £3 million in 2025 specifically for breaches of Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.

Key facts and figures

• 35 workers died from falls from height in 2024/25 — the kind of fatality the Regulations were introduced to prevent.
• 28% of all workplace fatalities are caused by falls from height.
• 246 HSE prosecutions were brought in 2024/25 across all health and safety offences.
• 416,000 working days were lost to non-fatal falls from height in 2024/25.
• £956 million+ is the estimated total cost of work at height–related injuries for 2023/24.
• £3 million+ was the British Airways fine in 2025 for breaching Regulation 6(3).

Falls from height have been the leading cause of workplace death in almost every year since 2001/02 — both before and after the Regulations came into force in 2005 — and are consistently cited in approximately one-third of all workplace fatality prosecutions. Unlimited fines and up to two years' imprisonment are available for serious breaches under Sections 33 and 37 of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

What the Regulations require

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 apply to all work at height where, if precautions were not in place, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury. There is no minimum height threshold — the Regulations apply whether the fall risk is half a metre or fifty.

The hierarchy of control (Regulation 6) establishes the legal sequence that must be followed:

1. Avoid work at height where it is reasonably practicable to do so — by altering the method of work, using extending tools, or redesigning the task.
2. Prevent falls using collective measures — scaffolding, guardrails, working platforms — that protect everyone in an area without requiring individual compliance.
3. Mitigate the consequences of falls — personal fall protection such as harnesses, energy absorbers and fall arrest systems — used where prevention measures do not eliminate the risk.

This hierarchy is not a choice: employers must work through it in order. An employer who provides only personal fall protection without considering whether collective prevention was reasonably practicable is non-compliant.

Planning, supervision and competence (Regulation 4) requires all work at height to be properly planned — including selection of appropriate equipment, identification of hazards and provision for emergencies — properly supervised by someone with appropriate competence, and carried out by competent persons with sufficient knowledge, experience and training.

Equipment (Regulation 7 and Schedule 5) requires all equipment used for work at height to be suitable for the specific task, regularly inspected and formally examined at appropriate intervals, with any defective equipment removed from service.

HSE enforcement: how it works

The HSE enforces the Work at Height Regulations through a range of mechanisms:

• Inspection visits — inspectors visit workplaces, particularly construction sites, to assess compliance. Unannounced visits are common; inspectors have powers to enter premises and examine work activities, equipment and documentation.
• Prohibition notices — where an inspector finds work that creates an immediate risk of serious personal injury, they can require the activity to stop immediately. The notice stays in force until the specified measures are taken, and working in breach of it is a criminal offence.
• Improvement notices — where contraventions do not create immediate risk, inspectors can require specified action within a specified timeframe.
• Prosecution — where serious contraventions are found, particularly those resulting in injury or death, the HSE considers criminal prosecution. Less serious cases are heard in the magistrates' court; more serious matters go to the Crown Court, which has unlimited fine powers.

Notable prosecution cases

British Airways (2025): fined over £3 million plus £20,935 costs for two breaches of Regulation 6(3) after baggage handlers fell from height while unloading aircraft at Heathrow. The HSE found that gaps between aircraft fuselages and televator platforms created a clear and foreseeable fall risk, and was critical that the airline had already engaged with the HSE on these hazards but failed to implement consistent controls.

Cambridgeshire County Council (2025): fined £6 million under Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act — the UK's largest ever health and safety fine — in a case related to falls at a guided busway, after multiple fatalities and HSE enforcement notices.

Property Facilities Group and Horizon Roofing (2024): fined £14,000 and £3,333 respectively after a roofer suffered multiple fractures in a fall from an unprotected roof edge. Both companies pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) following HSE findings of failures to plan, supervise and carry out the work safely.

SSF Construction Limited: fined £48,000 for unsafe working conditions on a flat roof with no edge protection, following prohibition and improvement notices and a fall from the roof in the days before the inspection.

Why prosecutions follow falls from height

Falls from height prosecutions follow a consistent pattern that HSE investigation regularly confirms:

• No risk assessment, or an inadequate risk assessment, for the specific height work activity.
• No collective fall protection — no scaffolding, guardrails or safety nets — when such measures were reasonably practicable.
• Inadequate supervision, with workers left to work unsupervised at height without checking that fall protection was in place.
• Untrained workers carrying out height work without the training and competence required by the Regulations.
• Defective equipment — ladders, scaffolding or MEWPs with known defects — continuing to be used.

The consistent HSE finding is that the large majority of falls from height are preventable, and that prosecution follows where basic, well-known, legally required precautions were not applied.

Sources & references

• HSE — Work at Height: the law
• Work at Height Regulations 2005 (legislation.gov.uk)
• HSE — Work-related fatal injuries in Great Britain 2024/25
• Lexology — 2025's five most important UK health & safety prosecutions
• Skillcast — 10 highest UK health & safety fines of 2025

Mark McShane

Working at Height & Health & Safety Training Specialist, Online CPD Academy

Mark writes about working at height, workplace safety, compliance and accredited training for Working at Heights Course, part of Online CPD Academy.