Construction Companies Urged to Review Health and Safety Policies, as Workplace Fatalities Rise in the UK

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), has published its annual statistics setting out the number of work-related fatal injuries in the year 2023/2024 and although the data is provisional, it gives us a good indication as to how industry sectors are managing their risks.

According to the HSE, 138 workers were killed in work-related accidents in 2023/24, with 51 of those fatalities reported in construction. There were 136 fatal injuries in the workplace in 2022/23 – 47 of which were in construction. These statistics show that the average number of worker deaths in construction in the latest two years is statistically significantly higher than the pre-pandemic period, which is something that will not go unnoticed by the HSE.

The three most common cases of fatal injury in the workplace involve falls from a height, being struck by a moving vehicle and being struck by a moving object. Together, incidents of those kinds accounted for more than two-thirds of workplace fatalities in the UK in the last reporting year.

Considering the rise in fatalities in the construction industry, construction companies have been urged to review their health and safety policies as it is clear that much more needs to be done to protect workers. The new government must seek to protect and enhance health and safety standards, particularly across high-risk industries like construction and businesses need to step up and ensure they have robust occupational health and safety management systems and control strategies in place to prevent accidents at work and reduce the chance of them happening.

This is something that should be a priority within the construction industries, as inadequate procedures and protections being put in place puts employees at risk, leaving employers liable for to pay compensation if a construction worker is injured as a result of their negligence on site.

It is likely that these statistics will incentivise the HSE to be more rigorous with their inspections and investigations to prevent future work place injuries, illness and fatalities. Our construction team here at Forbes advises organisations across a diverse range of sectors on compliance with their statutory health and safety obligations and help them to manage any claims made in respect of those issues. If you have any concerns about the risk of the work related fatalities and your processes for addressing the same, please do not hesitate to contact us for more information and assistance.