Britain continues to rank among the safest places in the world to work, according to a new report.
An analysis by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has confirmed a sustained decline in work-related fatalities across the country.
The past year recorded 126 deaths, a provisional low not seen outside of the coronavirus pandemic years.
A new analysis by the HSE, comparing Britain’s fatal injury rates with 35 other nations, affirmed its status as one of the world’s most secure working environments.
This marks a substantial reduction from 217 fatalities two decades ago and 495 in 1981. However, construction, agriculture, forestry, and fishing remain the industries with the highest number of fatalities.
The most common cause of fatal injuries continues to be falls from a height, representing around a quarter of worker deaths in 2025/26.
Workers aged 60 and over accounted for around a third of all fatalities during the year despite that age group accounting for just 12 per cent of the workforce, said the HSE.
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.
“We can be proud that Great Britain remains one of the safest places in the world to work, and the new analysis we have developed this year, for the first time, allows us to compare our safety record with a wide range of other advanced economies.”
The HSE also published the annual figures for mesothelioma, a cancer caused by past exposure to asbestos, which showed that 2,146 people died from the disease in Britain in 2024, representing a fall of 109 compared with 2023 and substantially lower than the average of 2,508 deaths per year over the 10-year period 2011-2020.
Many current mesothelioma deaths still reflect exposure to asbestos that often occurred before the 1980s and annual deaths are expected to continue declining during the next decade, said HSE.
Ruth Wilkinson of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), commented: “While Great Britain has made significant progress over the long term, it is deeply concerning that the number of work-related fatalities have remained broadly unchanged for several years.
“This suggests a deeper systemic challenge, one that requires a renewed focus and collective action to drive further improvements, with prevention-first approaches needed at the very heart of this.”
