Health and Safety
Executive
th
Data up to March 2020 Annual Statistics Published 4 November 2020
Kinds of accident statistics in Great Britain,
2020
Contents
Summary 2
Introduction 3
Fatal injuries 3
Non-fatal injuries 4
Annex 1: Sources and definitions 6
Annex 2: Links to detailed tables 6
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Summary
The document can be found at: www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causinj/kinds-of-accident.pdf.
Fatal injuries to workers by most common accident kinds
(Source: RIDDOR, 2015/16-2019/20)
Non-fatal injuries to employees by most common accident kinds
(Source: RIDDOR 2019/20)
Note:
RIDDOR: Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations. Injury numbers for 2019/20 are at
this stage provisional and will be finalised during 2021.
A five-year period has been used for the breakdown of fatal injuries by accident kind. This is because the number of
fatalities for some accident kinds is relatively small, hence susceptible to considerable variation. The five-year picture
gives a more stable picture of fatal injuries by accident kind.
The charts above show those accident kinds that contribute to 5% or more of the total.
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Introduction
1
In 2019/20, 111 workers were killed at work. In addition, an estimated 693,000 workers sustained non-fatal
injuries, according to self-reports. Certain workplace non-fatal injuries (generally the more serious) require
reporting by employers to the Enforcing Authorities under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous
Occurrences Regulations (those that result in more than seven days absence from work or specified on a
2
pre-defined list of injuries) . There were 65,427 such reported incidents to employees in 2019/20 (although it
is known that RIDDOR defined non-fatal injuries to employees are substantially under-reported by
employers, with current levels of reporting estimated at around a half). Despite long term reductions in the
number of workers injured each year, the kind of accident profile remains similar year on year.
Fatal injuries
3,4
Figure 1: Fatal injuries to workers by accident kind, 2015/16-2019/20
Source: RIDDOR
Almost half of the fatal injuries to workers over the last five years were accounted for by just two different
accident kinds – falls from a height and being struck by a moving vehicle.
Falls from a height accounted for 25% of all fatal injuries (an average of 34 fatal injuries per year).
Over half of all fall from height deaths over the last five years were in the construction sector
(annual average 18 per year).
Struck by a moving vehicle accounted for 19% of all fatal injuries (an average of 26 fatal injuries per
year).
Over a quarter of deaths over the last five years from being struck by a moving vehicle were in the
agriculture, forestry and fishing sector (annual average of seven per year). A further 18% of deaths
from being struck by a moving vehicle over this five-year period were in the transportation and
storage sector (annual average of five per year) and 14% in the construction sector (annual
average of four per year).
1
The term ‘worker’ includes employees and the self-employed combined.
2
See www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg453.pdf for more details of what is reportable
3
A five-year period has been used for the breakdown of fatal injuries by accident kind. This is because the number of fatalities for some
accident kinds is relatively small, hence susceptible to considerable variation. The five-year picture gives a more stable picture of fatal
injuries by accident kind. (There was a total of 683 fatal injuries over this period, an annual average of 137).
4
Fatal injury numbers for 2019/20 are at this stage provisional and will be finalised in summer 2021.
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Of the deaths in the ‘All other accident kinds’ category (average of 14 deaths per year), there were:
An average of two deaths per year for each of exposure to fire, from being exposed to harmful
substances and from strike against something fixed or stationary.
An annual average of one death per year from handling, lifting or carrying accidents and from acts of
violence.
The remaining deaths were categorised as ‘other kind of accident’.
Non-fatal injuries
The profile of non-fatal injuries by accident kind differs quite markedly to the profile of fatal injuries.
5
Figure 2: Non-fatal injuries to employees (as reported by employers) by accident kind, 2019/20
Source: RIDDOR
About half of all employer reported non-fatal injuries to employees in 2019/20 were accounted for by just
two different accident kinds (similar to earlier years); slips trips or falls on same level accidents (29%) and
handling, lifting or carrying accidents (19%). In contrast, these two accident kinds accounted for only 3%
of fatal injuries to workers over the period 2015/16-2019/20.
This picture is broadly similar across all the main industry sectors, with the exception of agriculture
forestry and fishing, where these two accident kinds accounted for a smaller proportion of non-fatal
injuries in the sector (around a third).
Falls from a height, the most common cause of fatal injury to workers over the last five years, accounted
for 8% of employer reported non-fatal injuries in 2019/20 (a similar proportion to earlier years).
There is some variation by main industry sector, with the proportion of non-fatal injuries accounted for
by falls from a height highest in construction (18% in 2019/20).
5
Numbers for 2019/20 are at this stage provisional and will be finalised in autumn 2021
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6
RIDDOR defines two categories of reportable non-fatal injuries: specified (a pre-defined list of injuries); and
injuries resulting in over-7-days absence from work. Fractures (other than to fingers, thumbs or toes) is the
biggest specified injury category accounting for around 90% of all reported specified injuries in 2019/20.
Given the dominance of fractures to the specified injury category, not surprisingly there is some variation in
accident kind between specified injuries and over-7-day injuries, as shown in figure 3 below.
Figure 3: Percentage of (i) Specified injuries and (ii) Over-7-day injuries to employees accounted for
by different accident kinds, 2019/20
Source: RIDDOR
Information on the distribution of non-fatal injuries by accident kind is also available from the Labour Force
Survey (LFS), based on self-reports from workers. Figure 4 below shows the accident kind distribution for
over-7-day absence injuries to workers from the LFS as compared with the accident kind distribution for
RIDDOR reported non-fatal injuries to employees (which includes specified injuries as well as over-7-day
injuries to employees). Despite slightly different coverage (the LFS estimate is for workers including the self-
employed RIDDOR data covers employees only; RIDDOR data includes reported specified injuries, some of
which may not have resulted in more than 7-days absence from work), both sources present a similar picture
in terms of the relative importance of different non-fatal accident kinds.
Figure 4: Percentage of non-fatal injuries accounted for by different accident kinds based on (i) Self-
reported over-7-day absence injuries to workers from the LFS and (ii) RIDDOR non-fatal injuries to
employees
Source: RIDDOR 2019/20, Labour Force Survey, annual average 2017/18-2019/20
6
see www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg453.pdf
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Annex 1: Sources and definitions
The Labour Force Survey (LFS): The LFS is a national survey run by the Office for National Statistics of
currently around 33,000 households each quarter. HSE commissions annual questions in the LFS to gain a
view of work-related illness and workplace injury based on individuals’ perceptions. The analysis and
interpretation of these data are the sole responsibility of HSE. See
www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/lfs/technicalnote.htm for more details.
Self-reported injuries: Workplace injuries sustained as a result of a non-road traffic accident, as
estimated by the LFS. Over 7-day absence injuries include all those with more than 7 consecutive
(working and non-working) days away from work (not counting the day on which the accident
happened).
RIDDOR: The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (as amended),
under which fatal and defined non-fatal injuries to workers and members of the public are reported by
employers.
Certain types of work-related injury are not reportable under RIDDOR, hence excluded from these figures.
Particular exclusions include fatalities and injuries to the armed forces and injuries from work-related road
collisions.
For more information, see www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/sources.htm.
Annex 2: Links to detailed tables
The data in this report can be found in the following tables:
Employer-reported non-fatal injuries by kind of accident and broad industry group (RIDDOR)
RIDKIND www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/tables/ridkind.xlsx
This table allows you to flexibly view the data. For example, you can view the accident kinds for a specific
industry (such as construction) or you can look at a particular accident kind (such as falls from a height) and
see the percentage contribution that accident kind makes to the total injury count for each industry.
Employer-reported non-fatal injuries by nature of injury (RIDDOR)
RIDNAT www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/tables/ridnat.xlsx
Self-reported non-fatal injuries by accident kind
lfsinjknd www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/lfs/lfsinjknd.xlsx
Other tables can be found at: www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/tables/index.htm
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National Statistics
National Statistics status means that statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and
public value. They are produced in compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics, and awarded National
Statistics status following assessment and compliance checks by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR).
The last compliance check of these statistics was in 2013.
It is Health and Safety Executive’s responsibility to maintain compliance with the standards expected by
National Statistics. If we become concerned about whether these statistics are still meeting the appropriate
standards, we will discuss any concerns with the OSR promptly. National Statistics status can be removed at
any point when the highest standards are not maintained, and reinstated when standards are restored.
Details of OSR reviews undertaken on these statistics, quality improvements, and other information noting
revisions, interpretation, user consultation and use of these statistics is available from
www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/about.htm
An account of how the figures are used for statistical purposes can be found at
www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/sources.htm.
For information regarding the quality guidelines used for statistics within HSE see
www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/about/quality-guidelines.htm
A revisions policy and log can be seen at www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/about/revisions/
Additional data tables can be found at www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/tables/.
General enquiries: Statistician heidi.edwards@hse.gov.uk
Journalists/media enquiries only: www.hse.gov.uk/contact/contact.htm
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First published 11/20.
Published by the Health and Safety Executive V1 11/20
