News: HSE releases annual workplace fatality figures for 2020/21

The HSE revealed provisional data last week which shows that a total of 142 were killed at work in Great Britain in 2020/21; this is an increase of 29 from the year before (though the number of deaths that year was lower than in other recent years).

Over the past 20 years there has been a long-term reduction in the number of workplace fatalities; the average annual number of workers killed at work over the five years 2016/17-2020/21 is 136.

The three most common causes of fatal injuries continue to be:

  • Workers falling from height (35)
  • Being struck by a moving vehicle (25)
  • Being struck by a moving object (17).

The data also continues to highlight the risks to older workers with around 30 per cent of fatal injuries in 2020/21 involving workers aged 60 or over, even though such workers only make up around 11 per cent of the workforce.

The figures relate to workplace incidents. They do not include deaths arising from occupational exposure to disease, including COVID-19.

A fuller assessment of work-related ill-health and injuries, drawing on HSE’s full range of data sources, will be provided as part of the annual Health and Safety Statistics release on 16 December 2021.

Read more on the HSE website or download the full report here.