Every day, hundreds of thousands of UK workers carry out tasks at height — on rooftops, scaffolding, ladders, MEWPs, in warehouses and on construction sites. The UK is among the safest countries in the world to work, with workplace fatalities falling from 495 in 1981 to 124 in 2024/25. Yet falls from height have been the single most common cause of workplace death in almost every year of that period. This guide brings together the latest verified data from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), RIDDOR and the Labour Force Survey (LFS) on the scale of the risk, who is most affected, the cost of falls and what the law requires.
Key facts and figures
- 124 workers were killed in work-related accidents in Great Britain in 2024/25 — down from 138 the previous year.
- 35 of those deaths were falls from height — around 28% of all workplace fatalities.
- 4,684 employer-reported (RIDDOR) non-fatal falls from height were recorded in 2024/25.
- Up to 44,000 workers were injured in falls from height in 2024/25 (LFS, self-reported).
- 416,000 working days were lost to non-fatal falls from height in 2024/25.
- £956 million+ was the total cost of working at height injuries in 2023/24.
The scale of the risk
The Work at Height Regulations 2005 define this work as any task where, if precautions were not taken, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury — with no specified minimum height. The statistics show both persistent danger and real long-term progress: workplace fatalities have fallen from 495 in 1981 to 124 in 2024/25. Despite that improvement, falls from height have remained the single most common cause of workplace death across almost the entire period.
In the latest year there were 35 deaths from falls from height, representing around 28% of all 124 workplace fatalities. The five-year average sits at 38 falls-from-height deaths per year, so the latest figure is broadly in line with the recent trend rather than an outlier.
What counts as working at height?
The Work at Height Regulations 2005 define working at height as work in any place, including a place below ground level, from which, if measures required by the Regulations were not taken, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury. Deliberately, no minimum height threshold applies — work at 1 metre is covered identically to work at 30 metres.
In practice, working at height includes:
- Work on rooftops, both flat and pitched
- Work from ladders, stepladders and mobile towers
- Work from scaffolding and working platforms
- Work in elevated positions using MEWPs (cherry pickers, scissor lifts, boom lifts)
- Work at the top of buildings or structures
- Work in trenches, excavations or other below-ground areas with a fall risk
- Work near unguarded openings, edges or fragile surfaces
- Work on stairways during construction or maintenance
The breadth of this definition means working at height is relevant to virtually every industry and business type — not just construction and maintenance. An estimated 2.7 million workers regularly work at height across UK sectors.
The workforce most at risk
Self-employed workers represent the most significant trend in recent fall-from-height fatality data. Self-employed workers now account for approximately two-thirds of fatal fall incidents — up from one-third in 2021/22. While they make up around 15% of the workforce, they account for roughly 40% of all workplace fatalities. Contributing factors include reduced access to formal safety training, minimal supervision, cost-driven PPE decisions and often working alone. In construction alone, nearly 45% of fatal injuries over a five-year period involved self-employed workers.
Older workers are also over-represented. Workers aged 60 and over account for approximately 40% of all workplace fatalities in 2024/25, while making up just 12% of the workforce. Reduced physical resilience, long-accumulated risk habituation and limited training or equipment access among older self-employed tradespeople all play a part.
Male workers account for 95% of workplace fatalities, reflecting the concentration of men in higher-risk sectors as well as behavioural risk patterns.
Working at height by industry
Construction is the most affected sector by absolute numbers. In 2024/25, construction recorded 35 worker fatalities — the same total as falls from height across all industries — with falls from height responsible for over half of construction deaths. Its fatal injury rate is around 4.8 times the all-industry average, reflecting how much height work dominates construction activity.
Other sectors carry significant height risk too. Agriculture, forestry and fishing has the highest fatal injury rate per 100,000 workers, with falls from farm buildings, silos, trees and equipment a substantial contributor. Manufacturing sees falls account for roughly 20% of deaths. Transport and storage recorded 15 fatalities in 2024/25, including falls from vehicle cabs, loading bays, racking and mezzanine floors. Waste and recycling has the second-highest fatal injury rate per 100,000 workers, while telecommunications (tower and mast climbing) and window cleaning carry their own specific height risks.
| Measure (Great Britain, 2024/25) | Figure |
|---|---|
| Total workplace fatalities | 124 |
| Falls-from-height deaths | 35 (~28%) |
| Five-year average falls-from-height deaths | 38 per year |
| RIDDOR non-fatal falls from height | 4,684 |
| Self-reported falls-from-height injuries (LFS) | up to 44,000 |
| Working days lost to falls from height | 416,000 |
| Construction worker fatalities | 35 |
| Transport & storage fatalities | 15 |
| HSE prosecutions | 246 |
The cost of falls from height
Falls from height carry a heavy economic as well as human cost. Non-fatal falls from height accounted for an estimated 416,000 working days lost in 2024/25, and falls from height make up around 8% of all employer-reported non-fatal injuries. The total cost of working at height injuries reached over £956 million in 2023/24. Against figures like these, the cost of properly training a workforce to work safely at height is negligible.
The hierarchy of control
The Work at Height Regulations 2005 establish a legal hierarchy of control. This is not a menu of options — it is a mandatory sequence employers must follow:
- Avoid work at height entirely wherever reasonably practicable — for example using extending tools or remote cameras that remove the need to ascend.
- Prevent falls using collective protective measures such as scaffolding, edge protection, safety nets and guardrails that protect everyone without relying on individual action.
- Mitigate the consequences of a fall, where prevention cannot completely eliminate the risk, using personal fall protection equipment such as harnesses, lanyards and fall-arrest systems.
Only where the first two levels are not reasonably practicable may an employer rely on the third. Many prosecuted falls-from-height cases involve employers who skipped straight to the third level — or provided nothing at all — without adequately considering whether prevention was feasible.
Training requirements for working at height
The Work at Height Regulations 2005 require all work at height to be carried out by competent persons — those with sufficient knowledge, skills, experience and training for the task. The level of competence required varies with the nature of the work and the level of risk:
- General awareness training for workers who occasionally work at height in low-risk situations
- Specific equipment training for all workers using specialised height equipment including ladders, scaffolding and MEWPs
- Supervisor and manager training for those who plan, supervise or manage height activities
- Rescue and emergency training for designated emergency responders
IPAF data consistently shows that the vast majority of MEWP accidents involve operators who had not received structured training. The same pattern holds across height work generally — training is the most cost-effective investment available to employers seeking to reduce height-related incidents. There were 246 HSE prosecutions in 2024/25, with falls from height among the most frequently prosecuted categories.
Sources & references
- HSE — Work-Related Fatal Injuries in Great Britain 2024/25
- HSE — Kind of Accident Statistics in Great Britain 2025
- Access Industry Forum — HSE Releases Annual Workplace Injury Statistics
- No Falls Foundation — No Falls Week 2025
- RIDDOR & Labour Force Survey (LFS) — reported and self-reported non-fatal injury data
Make sure everyone who works at height is properly trained and competent.
Train your team to work safely at height →
Mark writes about working at height, workplace health and safety, compliance and accredited training for Working at Heights Course, part of Online CPD Academy.