Gender

Information on work-related injuries and ill health by gender:

Headline statistics

Fatal injuries - in 2022/23, 129 (96%) of all worker fatalities were to male workers, a similar proportion to earlier years (Source: RIDDOR).
Non-fatal injuries - male workers (1,810 per 100,000 workers) had a non-fatal injury rate which was statistically significantly higher than female workers (1,480 per 100,000 workers) over the period 2020/21 to 2022/23 (Source: LFS).
Ill health - male workers (4,610 per 100,000 workers) had an ill health prevalence rate which was statistically significantly lower than female workers (5,880 per 100,000 workers) over the period 2020/21 to 2022/23 (Source: LFS).
Deaths linked to past exposures at work - of the 13,000 total estimated annual deaths, around 75% are male and 25% female. This largely reflects differences in the estimated numbers of men and women exposed to the various workplace hazards that contributed to these deaths, including asbestos, respirable crystalline silica, diesel engine exhaust emissions, and shift work (Source: Death certificates and estimates based on epidemiological information).

A selection of data tables providing further information are available.

Data sources

The most complete estimates of workplace injury and work-related ill health is the annual Labour Force Survey (LFS) of 27,000 households per quarter across Great Britain which provides information about the labour market. HSE commissions a module of questions in the LFS to gain a view of workplace injury and work-related illness based on individuals' perceptions.

Both the non-fatal injury and ill health estimates from the LFS are based on averages over a three-year period (2020/21 to 2022/23). The ill health figures are prevalence rates meaning that they include long-standing as well as new cases.

For fatal injuries, data are collected from reports made by employers under RIDDOR (the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations). Additional data for non-fatal injuries is also available from RIDDOR, providing analysis at a detailed level not available through the LFS, for example around the kind of incident, but needs to be interpreted with care since it is known that non-fatal injuries are substantially under-reported.

In addition to these two data sources, there are a range of further supporting sources. More details on these further sources can be found here.

Interpretation of gender differences

The underlying risk of an adverse health and safety outcome such as ill health or injury will differ from one worker to the next. Research indicates that an individual’s risk is driven by a complex combination of factors including their occupation, the length of time they have been doing their job and the industry in which they work. As a result, differences in injury and ill health rates will be strongly affected by the overall employment profiles of men and women.

Research exploring the factors, including gender, which may contribute towards differences in work-related ill health and injury rates can be found at:

The research demonstrates that almost all the gender differential in both self-reported non-fatal workplace injuries and work-related ill health can be explained by differences in other job and establishment characteristics, primarily occupation.