HSE 2025/26: falls from height caused a quarter of all worker deaths

126 workers were killed in work-related incidents in Great Britain between April 2025 and March 2026. Leaving aside the pandemic years, that is the lowest number HSE has ever recorded. Construction still had more deaths than any other industry, and falls from height were once again the biggest single cause.

The headline numbers

Source: HSE, published 1 July 2026. The 2025/26 figures are provisional and will be finalised in July 2027.

For context, 217 workers were killed twenty years ago in 2005/06, and 495 in 1981. The long-term trend is firmly in the right direction.

“Every one of these numbers represents a loved one lost; serving as a powerful reminder of the importance of the work we do.”

Sarah Albon, Chief Executive, HSE

Construction still tops the list

Construction recorded 25 deaths, more than any other industry. Agriculture, forestry and fishing came second with 22. Farming carries the highest rate of fatal injury, at 8.09 deaths per 100,000 workers against an average of 0.37 across all industries, but construction has the highest number of people killed.

Falls from height haven’t moved

31 of the 126 workers who died fell from height. That’s around a quarter of all worker deaths, and it makes falls the single biggest cause again this year.

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 set out a clear order of priorities:

• Avoid working at height wherever you reasonably can.
• Prevent falls with the right equipment or measures where you can’t avoid it.
• Minimise the distance and consequences of a fall where the risk can’t be removed.

Each of those steps relies on people on site knowing what good looks like. When a ladder is the wrong tool for the job. How to inspect a harness and lanyard before use. What a fragile roof looks like and why you never walk on one.

A third of deaths were workers over 60

40 of the workers killed were aged 60 or over. That’s around a third of all worker deaths, from a group that makes up just 12 per cent of the workforce.

Plenty of experienced people on site last sat a formal course years ago. Regulations change, equipment changes, and bodies change too. A refresher is as useful at 60 as it is at 20.

Asbestos is still killing thousands

The figures above only count deaths from incidents. Disease is reported separately, and HSE recorded 2,146 deaths from mesothelioma in 2024, a cancer closely linked to asbestos exposure. That’s 109 fewer than the year before and below the 2011 to 2020 average of 2,508, but it’s still more than 2,000 people a year.

Any building constructed or refurbished before 2000 may contain asbestos. Anyone whose work could disturb it needs asbestos awareness training by law.

What you can do about it

The three risks that stand out in this year’s figures map directly onto training you can book. All three are half-day courses at our Salford centre, or on your site across Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Lancashire.

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