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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)

Self-reported non-fatal injuries by length of absence from work (LFS estimate, 2023/24)
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Non-fatal injuries to employees by most common accident kinds
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(Non-fatal injuries reported under RIDDOR in 2023/24. Includes those accident kinds accounting for 5% or more of the total)
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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 (PDF) [26].

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.

More information on non-fatal injuries at work

Supporting data tables

Link URLs in this page

  1. Statisticshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/index.htm
  2. Statistics A - Zhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/a-z.htm
  3. Index of data tableshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/tables/index.htm
  4. Ill healthhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/index.htm
  5. Overview - COVID-19https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/coronavirus/index.htm
  6. Management informationhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/coronavirus/management-information.htm
  7. Overview - Fatal injurieshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/fatals.htm
  8. Latest quarterly fatal injury figureshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/fatalquarterly.htm
  9. Overview - Non-fatal injuryhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causinj/index.htm
  10. Violence at workhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causinj/violence/index.htm
  11. Costs to Britainhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/cost.htm
  12. Industrieshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/industry/index.htm
  13. Countries and regions of Britainhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/regions/index.htm
  14. Comparisons with other countrieshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/european/index.htm
  15. Historical picturehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/history/index.htm
  16. Overview - About HSE Statisticshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/about.htm
  17. Data sourceshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/sources.htm
  18. Overview - National statistics policieshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/about/index.htm
  19. Revisionshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/about/revisions/index.htm
  20. Confidentiality policyhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/about/confidentiality.htm
  21. Overview - User engagementhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/about/engagement/index.htm
  22. Reports from previous user consultationshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/about/engagement/previous-consultations.htm
  23. Quality guidelineshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/about/quality-guidelines.htm
  24. Statement of administrative sourceshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/about/administrative-sources.htm
  25. Research and ad hoc analysishttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/resources.htm
  26. Historical picture statistics in Great Britain reporthttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/assets/docs/historical-picture.pdf
  27. Accident kindhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/assets/docs/kinds-of-accident.pdf
  28. Violence at workhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/assets/docs/work-related-violence-report.pdf
  29. Historical picturehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/history/index.htm
  30. Days losthttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/dayslost.htm
  31. Self-reported injury tableshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/lfs/index.htm
  32. Employer reported injury tableshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/tables/index.htm#riddor
  33. Injuries to workers on railways (mainline rail, London Underground, and other non-mainline networks (trams, metros, other light rail, minor and heritage railways)) for which Office of Rail and Road are the main Enforcing Authorityhttps://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/health-and-safety/rail-safety/
  34. Injuries to workers offshorehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/statistics/index.htm
  35. More details on injury data sourceshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/sources.htm

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Updated 2025-02-18