Non-fatal injuries at work in Great Britain

604,000

Workers sustained a non-fatal injury according to self-reports from the Labour Force Survey in 2023/24 (LFS)

61,663

Employee non-fatal injuries reported by employers in 2023/24 (RIDDOR)

Workplace injuries and ill health	Estimated working days lost
Injuries with up to 7 days absence	476000
Injuries with over 7 days absence	127000

Non-fatal injuries to employees by most common accident kinds

(Non-fatal injuries reported under RIDDOR 2023/24, includes those accident kinds that account for 5% or more of the total)

Non-fatal injuries reported under RIDDOR in 2023/24 for accident kinds accounting for 5% or more of the total. Slips, trips or falls on same level 31%, handling, lifting or carrying 17%, struck by moving object 10%, acts of violence 9% and falls from a height 8%.

Type of injury	Percentage of injuries
Slips, trips or falls on same level	31
Handling, lifting or carrying	17
Struck by moving object	10
Acts of violence	9
Falls from a height	8

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 (1,890 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 (217 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.