Which sectors are hit hardest?
In Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales; Northern Ireland is not included in these figures), provisional figures from Britain’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show that in 2025/26 126 workers died in work-related accidents. Final figures are due in July 2027. Construction recorded the highest number of fatalities, with 25 deaths, followed by agriculture, forestry and fishing with 22. Manufacturing (18 deaths) and transportation and storage (15 deaths) come next. The same HSE figures show that falls from height, with 31 deaths — roughly a quarter of the total — are the most common cause of death, followed by being struck by a moving vehicle (24 deaths) and being struck by a moving object (21 deaths).
Why do known risks keep causing fatalities?
That is the question trade publication ISHN raises, drawing on comments from Nathan Jones, managing director of British risk management and insurance advisory firm Stallard Kane. This reflects the view of a commercial party rather than a position taken by HSE: the firm has a commercial interest in offering risk management services. According to Jones, the risks behind fatal accidents have been known for decades, despite legislation, guidance and years of industry experience. He argues that a serious incident is rarely caused by a single mistake, but is usually the result of several smaller failings stacking up: an outdated risk assessment, poor training or supervision, working practices that have never been reviewed, weak management of contractors, and poor communication on site.
Jones stresses in the ISHN article that having policies and procedures in place does not automatically mean that control measures work in practice. Risk management, he says, should not be a paper exercise: documents need to be reviewed regularly, because workplaces, staff and working processes are constantly changing. After a serious incident or a liability claim, he calls for a thorough root-cause analysis, including a review of risk assessments, additional training and tighter controls on contractors, to prevent recurrence.
Context
Excluding the pandemic years 2019/20 to 2021/22, the total of 126 is provisionally the lowest figure ever recorded in a single year, trade publication Scaffmag reports, citing HSE data, compared with 217 deaths in 2005/06 and 495 in 1981. HSE itself notes that the long-term downward trend has flattened out in recent years. The fact that falls from height pose a structural risk is not unique to Britain: according to the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), falls from height are particularly common in the construction sector, and the likelihood of a fatal outcome increases with the height of the fall. Ladders, EU-OSHA notes, are involved in more than a quarter of all workplace falls.
What does this mean for HSE professionals worldwide?
For safety professionals worldwide, these figures confirm a familiar pattern: falls from height, being struck by vehicles or objects, and risks in construction and agriculture are also among the leading causes of fatal workplace accidents elsewhere. The fact that these risks have been mapped out for decades does not make them any less persistent. The British figures underline that policies on paper are not enough; control measures must be actively maintained, tested and adapted to changing conditions on the ground. That applies to organisations in every sector and every country, not only construction and agriculture firms in Great Britain.
Source: Britain’s Most Serious Workplace Risks Are Nothing New So Why Are They Still Causing Fatalities?, 2 November 2026
Additional sources: HSE, Work-related fatal injuries in Great Britain, Scaffmag, Falls from height account for quarter of all work deaths, HSE says,EU-OSHA OSHwiki, Working at height
