Construction Deaths Down on Previous Year in 2026 HSE Statistics

There were 126 workers killed in work-related incidents in Great Britain between April 2025 to March 2026, a marginal increase from 124 in the previous 12-month period.

The latest annual statistics from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show construction was once again the industry with the highest number of deaths (25). However, this was a decrease on the 35 deaths recorded in 2025.

This was followed closely by agriculture, forestry and fishing (22) which continues to have the highest rate of fatal injury per 100,000 workers (8.09) of all main industry sectors.

The most common cause of fatal injuries continues to be falls from a height (31), 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 (40) despite that age group accounting for just 12% of the workforce.

104 members of the public were also killed in work-related accidents in 2025/26.

Mesothelioma Figures

The HSE has also published the annual figures for mesothelioma, a cancer caused by past exposure to asbestos.

The figures show that 2,146 people died from the disease in Great 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 ten-year period 2011-2020.

Many current mesothelioma deaths still reflect exposure to asbestos that often occurred before the 1980s and HSE says annual deaths are expected to continue declining during the next decade.

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