Every year the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) publishes the official count of people killed in work-related accidents in Great Britain. The latest figures, for 2024/25, show that 124 workers lost their lives — a long way down from the early 1980s, but a number that has stopped falling. This guide brings together the verified HSE data on workplace fatalities: how many people die at work, the hazards that cause it, the industries most at risk, and why progress has plateaued.

Workplace fatalities in the UK

124 workers were killed in work-related accidents in Great Britain in 2024/25 — 14 fewer than the previous year, and consistent with pre-pandemic levels. The long-term decline from 495 deaths in 1981 to 124 in 2024/25 represents one of the most significant achievements in UK health and safety regulation. But the rate of progress has plateaued over the past decade, and behind every number is a person, a family, and a story that did not need to end the way it did.

Falls from height remain the single most common cause — responsible for 28% of all workplace fatalities. Together with being struck by a moving object and being struck by a moving vehicle, these three hazard types account for 60% of all fatal injuries to workers.

Key facts & figures

  • 124 workers killed in work-related accidents in Great Britain in 2024/25 — down from 138 the previous year.
  • 0.37 fatal injuries per 100,000 workers — one of the lowest rates on record.
  • 495 workplace deaths in 1981 — the current rate is around a 75% reduction over 40 years.
  • 35 deaths from falls from height — the leading cause, 28% of all fatalities.
  • 40% of fatalities involved workers aged 60 and over, who make up just 12% of the workforce.
  • 92 members of the public were also killed in work-related incidents — up from 87.

The five most dangerous hazards

HSE data consistently identifies the same five hazard types as responsible for the overwhelming majority of workplace deaths:

  1. Falls from height: 35 fatalities — 28% of all deaths. The single leading cause in almost every year since 2001/02.
  2. Struck by a moving object: 18 fatalities — approximately 15% of all deaths. Includes being hit by falling objects, being struck by moving plant, and impacts from machinery.
  3. Struck by a moving vehicle: 14 fatalities — approximately 11% of all deaths. Particularly prevalent in construction, agriculture, and transportation/logistics settings.
  4. Trapped by something collapsing or overturning. A significant category in both construction and agriculture — building collapses, trench failures, and overturning plant.
  5. Contact with moving machinery. Manufacturing and agriculture settings are the primary locations for machinery-related fatalities.

Together these five types account for approximately 80% of all worker fatalities — demonstrating that workplace death is highly concentrated in a small number of well-understood, largely preventable hazard scenarios.

Industries with the highest fatal injury rates

Construction recorded 35 worker fatalities in 2024/25 — the highest absolute number of any industry, though down sharply from 51 in 2023/24. The fatal injury rate in construction is approximately 4.8 times the all-industry average, and falls from height are responsible for over half of construction deaths over the five-year period.

Agriculture, forestry and fishing recorded 23 fatalities — and despite having a smaller workforce than construction, has the highest fatal injury rate per 100,000 workers of any industry sector. The combination of working at height (on farm buildings, grain stores, trees, and agricultural machinery), working with large animals, and the remote nature of much agricultural work all contribute to this elevated rate.

Waste and recycling has the second-highest fatal injury rate per 100,000 workers — a small workforce facing very high exposure to moving vehicles, plant, and height risks. Transportation and storage saw 15 fatalities in 2024/25, up from 11 the previous year, with falls from vehicles and loading facilities featuring alongside struck-by incidents.

Industry (Great Britain, 2024/25)FatalitiesNote
Construction35Highest total; down from 51 in 2023/24
Agriculture, forestry & fishing23Highest rate per 100,000 workers
Transportation & storage15Up from 11 in 2023/24
Administrative & support services13—

The self-employed: a growing concern

Self-employed workers represent one of the most concerning trends in workplace fatality data. They make up approximately 15% of the workforce but account for roughly 40% of all workplace fatalities. In construction alone, nearly 45% of fatal injuries over a five-year period involved self-employed workers.

For falls from height specifically, self-employed workers now account for approximately two-thirds of fatal fall incidents — up from one-third just four years ago. The drivers are clear: self-employed workers are less likely to receive formal safety training, less likely to be supervised, more likely to make cost-driven decisions about PPE, and more likely to work alone without anyone to respond quickly if something goes wrong.

Members of the public

92 members of the public died in work-related incidents in 2024/25 — up from 87 the previous year. These are individuals who were not at work themselves but were in a workplace setting affected by work activities. The majority of public fatalities occur in service sectors — retail, transportation, hospitality, and healthcare — where the interface between work activities and members of the public is highest.

Employers have a legal duty not only to protect their workers but also to protect members of the public who may be affected by their work. The rising trend in public fatalities is a significant concern.

The UK's workplace fatality record shows a clear long-term improvement — from 495 deaths in 1981 to 124 in 2024/25, approximately a 75% reduction over 40 years. The HSE regularly notes that Great Britain is one of the safest countries in the world to work.

However, the rate of improvement has stalled. Excluding the pandemic-affected years of 2020/21 and 2021/22, the fatal injury rate has been broadly flat for approximately a decade — fluctuating between roughly 0.37 and 0.46 per 100,000 workers without the sustained downward trend seen in earlier decades.

This plateau reflects that the easiest safety gains — basic machinery guarding, obvious fall hazards, elementary traffic management — have largely been achieved. The remaining fatalities are concentrated in complex work environments, involving self-employed and older workers, in high-risk sectors where further progress requires more sophisticated and sustained intervention.

Related guides

Sources & references

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

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