2,272 Dead, Yet UK Still Safest Place To Work

6th July 2026

Great Britain continues to be one of the safest places in the world to work, according to new analysis published on 1 July by the Health & Safety Executive.

126 people lost their lives while working and a further 2,146 died as a result of past exposure to asbestos.

A further 104 people who were not at work were killed as a result of work-related incidents in 2025/26. This refers to members of the public who were not directly working themselves at the time of the incident.

Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is deadly, which is why the HSE comes down heavily on firms that ignore the risk or fail to recognise where asbestos might be present and take appropriate measures to avoid exposure.

The analysis comes at the annual release of HSE’s statistics for work-related fatalities for 2025/26. Mesothelioma deaths were measured in 2024.

Best in the world

HSE has this year developed new analysis comparing the level and trend of fatal injuries to workers in GB with a selection of 35 other countries from around the world, meaning for the first time the results can be compared with countries outside Europe. This analysis provides further supporting evidence that GB is maintaining its position as one of the safest places to work.

Excluding the years affected by the coronavirus pandemic (2019/20-2021/22), the number of worker deaths in 2025/26 is provisionally the lowest number recorded in a single year, comparing to 217 fatalities twenty years ago (2005/06) and 495 in 1981.

Construction & falls

The industries with the highest number of deaths continue to be construction (25) and agriculture, forestry and fishing (22). Of all main industry sectors, agriculture, forestry and fishing continues to have the highest rate of fatal injury per 100,000 workers (8.09) followed by waste and recycling (5.47). This compares to an average 0.37 fatal injuries per 100,000 workers across all industries combined.

The most common cause of fatal injuries continues to be falls from a height (31), representing around a quarter of worker deaths in 2025/26.

Age plays a role

Workers aged 60 and over accounted for around a third of all fatalities during the year (40) despite that age group accounting for just 12 per cent of the workforce.

HSE’s Chief Executive Sarah Albon said: “Every one of these numbers represents a loved one lost; serving as a powerful reminder of the importance of the work we do.”

Apart from Mesothelioma, the figures relate to work-related accidents and do not include deaths arising from occupational diseases or diseases which arise from certain occupational exposures.

Picture: Falls from height are still the biggest killer of construction workers.

Construction workers are still the most likely to die at work in the UK, while past exposure to asbestos is still killing thousands each year. However, the UK is one of the safest places in the world to ply your trade," according to the latest data from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).