Construction Health and Safety Statistics
The construction sector is one of the most dangerous industries in the UK that experiences some of the highest levels of accidents, incidents, and fatalities. There are around one thousand injuries every week across the construction industry in the UK. Health and safety failures aren’t cheap either – they cost the UK construction sector more than £1 billion every year.
These are the key health and safety statistics for construction in the UK every year:
- 69,000 construction workers experience work-related ill health
- 53,000 construction workers suffer non-fatal injuries
- 45 construction workers sadly suffered fatal injuries in 2023
Get an idea of the scale of injuries in the sector and the importance of good health and safety practices with these important construction health and safety statistics.
Health and safety statistics in construction
More than three million people work in the UK’s construction sector, accounting for about 9% of the country’s workforce. This makes it one of the biggest industries in the country. It’s therefore unsurprising that the sector has such a high level of accidents and injuries, alongside the dangerous nature of much of the work.
Thousands of construction workers experience all sorts of illnesses and injuries inflicted by their working environment every week. Some are unavoidable but plenty could be prevented with strong health and safety practices, risk assessments, and the proper processes in place. To understand the scale of things we’ve pulled together some key stats.
Explore these important health and safety statistics in construction:
- There were 3,340 instances per 100,000 workers of self-reported work-related ill health in the construction industry in 2021
- And there were 2,640 instances per 100,000 workers of self-reported non-fatal workplace injuries in the construction sector for 2021
- The five-year average for fatal injuries in the UK’s construction sector is 37
- Falls from a height are responsible for more than half (51%) of all construction fatalities
- Being struck by a moving object or vehicle are the second and third-most common causes of fatal injuries in construction
- Slips, trips, and falls on the same level are the main cause of non-fatal injuries in the construction sector
- 16,000 construction workers experience work-related mental health issues annually
- Around 4,000 construction workers suffer from lung problems
- The construction industry has the highest number of workplace fatalities in the UK (ahead of agriculture, forestry, and fishing)
- Musculoskeletal disorders affect 54% of ill construction workers
- The economic impact of illnesses, injuries, and fatalities within construction is valued at £1.3 billion
- There are around 2.6 million working days lost annually in the UK construction sector
- Unannounced inspections by the HSE in the construction sector fell by nearly a third (32%) over the last decade
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