Non-fatal injuries at work in Great Britain

Important Note

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the government’s response has impacted recent trends in health and safety statistics published by HSE and this should be considered when comparing across time periods. More details can be found in our reports on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on health and safety statistics

565,000

Workers sustained a non-fatal injury according to self-reports from the Labour Force Survey in 2021/22 (LFS)

61,713

Employee non-fatal injuries reported by employers in 2021/22 (RIDDOR)

Workplace injuries and ill health	Estimated working days lost
Injuries with up to 7 days absence	415000
Injuries with over 7 days absence	150000

Non-fatal injuries to employees by most common accident kinds

(Non-fatal injuries reported under RIDDOR 2021/22, includes those accident kinds that account for 5% or more of the total)

Non-fatal injuries reported under RIDDOR 2021/22 where accident kinds account for 5% or more of the total, Slips, trips or falls on same level 33%, Handling, lifting or carrying 18%, Struck by moving object 10%, Acts of violence 8% and falls from height 8%

Type of injury	Percentage of injuries
Slips, trips or falls on same level	30
Handling, lifting or carrying	18
Struck by moving object	11
Acts of violence	9
Falls from a height	8

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 (1,790 injuries per 100,000 workers) is similar to the 2018/19 pre-coronavirus levels.
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 (222 injuries per 100,000 workers) is below the pre-coronavirus levels.

Charts showing how these injury rates have changed over time can be found in the Historical picture statistics in Great Britain report.

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 (around 1,125 per year on average).

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.