Non-fatal injuries at work in Great Britain

Change over time

• Prior to the coronavirus pandemic the rate of self-reported non-fatal injury to workers showed a generally downward trend. The current rate (1,750 injuries per 100,000 workers) is similar to the 2018/19 pre-coronavirus level.
• Likewise, for RIDDOR reported injuries prior to the coronavirus pandemic the rate of non-fatal injury to employees reported by employers showed a downward trend. The current rate (215 injuries per 100,000 workers) is below the 2018/19 pre-coronavirus level.

Charts showing how these injury rates have changed over time can be found in the Historical picture statistics in Great Britain report.

Notes

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) provides the most complete estimate of workers sustaining a non-fatal injury at work, regardless of whether time off work was taken (based on self-reports by workers).

This data is supplemented with reports by employers of injuries resulting from work-related accidents under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR).  RIDDOR requires employers to report certain work-related non-fatal injuries, generally the more serious (those that result in more than 7 days absence from work or specified on a pre-defined list of injuries). Note: Data of employer reported non-fatal injury presented here exclude those incidents arising on railways or offshore. This data is published separately and available through the links below.

It is known that employers substantially under-report these non-fatal injuries: the level of overall employer reporting of RIDDOR defined non-fatal injuries to employees is estimated at around a half. Any comparisons between different subsets within RIDDOR data (e.g. comparisons between one industrial sector and another) need to take account of the possibility of there being markedly different reporting levels in the subsets being compared.

LFS data has several advantages over RIDDOR including: data are available for all workplace injuries, irrespective of time off work; they are not subject to the substantial under-reporting that affects RIDDOR; and they are not affected by changes in legislation. However, RIDDOR provides greater richness in terms of details about the injury sustained.