No Falls Week 2026: What the statistics tell us
Published May 15, 2026
No Falls Week 2026 runs from 18 to 22 May. It is coordinated by the No Falls Foundation, the only UK charity dedicated exclusively to the work at height sector, and brings together organisations across every industry to focus on preventing falls in the workplace.
Now in its third year, the campaign has grown substantially. More than 5000 organisations participated in 2025, and employers who register receive access to a practical toolkit of resources including toolbox talks, posters and case studies to support engagement during the week.
The campaign is straightforward: falls from height remain the single biggest cause of work-related fatalities in Great Britain, and the majority are preventable. According to the Health and Safety Executive, 35 workers died following a fall from height in 2024/25, representing 28 percent of all work-related deaths in that period. That proportion has been broadly elevated for years.
But falls from height represent only part of the picture. Slips, trips and falls on the same level, while rarely fatal, account for the single largest category of non-fatal workplace injuries across Great Britain. Together, the two categories affect workers in every sector, at every level of seniority, and in workplaces as varied as hospital wards, construction sites, warehouse floors and retail environments.
Falls from height compared to other causes of fatal injuries
Of the 124 workers killed in work-related accidents in 2024/25, falls from height caused more deaths than any other single mechanism. The breakdown of the leading fatal accident types is as follows:
Falls from a height: 35 deaths
Struck by a moving object: 18 deaths
Trapped by something collapsing or overturning: 17 deaths
Struck by a moving vehicle: 14 deaths
Contact with moving machinery: 13 deaths
Falls from height accounted for more than twice as many fatalities as being struck by a moving vehicle and nearly three times as many as contact with moving machinery. Despite decades of regulatory development and technological improvement in fall protection, the category remains dominant.
Slips, Trips and Falls: The non-fatal injury picture
While falls from height dominate the fatality figures, slips, trips and falls on the same level are the leading driver of non-fatal workplace injuries. According to employer-reported RIDDOR data for 2024/25, this category accounts for 30 percent of all reported non-fatal injuries, more than any other single cause. Handling, lifting and carrying injuries come second at 17 percent, followed by being struck by a moving object at 10 percent, acts of violence at 10 percent and falls from a height at 8 percent.
It is important to note that the HSE acknowledges employer-reported RIDDOR figures capture only approximately half of all qualifying non-fatal injuries. The true number of workers injured through slips, trips and falls is therefore likely to be considerably higher than formally recorded figures suggest.
The sectors most impacted
Falls and slip and trip incidents do not affect all industries equally. The HSE's sector-level analysis for 2024/25 identifies the following industries as having statistically higher-than-average rates of non-fatal workplace injury:
Accommodation and food services, which recorded the highest non-fatal injury rate of any sector in 2024/25
Construction
Transportation and storage
Wholesale and retail trade
Construction carries the highest concentration of fatal risk. The sector recorded 35 worker fatalities in 2024/25, more than any other industry, driven significantly by the frequency of work at height across site operations. Agriculture, forestry and fishing recorded 23 fatalities over the same period, the second highest of any sector, reflecting the combination of elevated work, machinery hazards and often remote, uncontrolled environments.
The picture differs significantly outside these traditionally high-risk environments. In health and social care, slips, trips and falls on the same level account for approximately half of all reported major injuries to employees, making the category one of the most significant causes of serious workplace harm in a sector not typically associated with falls risk.
The implication for non-construction employers is clear. The absence of scaffolding or ladders from your workplace does not mean there’s no chance of a fall. Wet floors, uneven surfaces, poor lighting and obstructed walkways present genuine hazards to workers in offices, retail environments, healthcare settings and hospitality venues alike.
Economic and productivity cost
The financial consequences of workplace injury are significant and are consistently underestimated by employers. Across all causes of work-related injury and ill health, the total annual cost to Great Britain was estimated at £22.9 billion in 2023/24. Of that, £4.3 billion is borne directly by employers, in the form of lost productivity, sick pay, staff cover, administrative burden and, in serious cases, legal costs and regulatory action.
In 2024/25, non-fatal workplace injuries alone accounted for 4.4 million lost working days. The average injury results in 6.5 days away from work. For smaller businesses in particular, a handful of incidents within a single year can have a material impact on operational capacity and payroll.
In relation to slips and trips specifically, the HSE has estimated the cost to employers at approximately £512 million per year in lost production and associated costs. This figure originates from earlier research and should be treated as a conservative historical baseline rather than a current measurement. It nonetheless illustrates the scale of financial exposure attached to incidents that many employers are inclined to dismiss as minor.
These costs do not accumulate solely from serious or reportable incidents. A worker who takes a week off following a trip over a trailing cable, a member of staff who sustains a soft tissue injury after slipping on a wet floor or a near-miss that goes unreported but signals an unaddressed hazard: each carries financial, legal and reputational implications for the employer.
What can you do?
Understanding the risks is only part of the responsibility. Ensuring your workforce has the knowledge and competence to act on them is where training becomes essential.
SSG offers two e-learning courses directly relevant to the risks covered in this article. For same-level slip and trip risks, our Slips and Trips Awareness course covers causes, legal duties, control measures and risk assessment principles. For work at height, our Working Safely at Heights Awareness course covers hazard identification, the hierarchy of control, legal duties and safe use of access equipment.
Slips and Trips e-learning - www.ssg.co.uk/courses/slips-and-trips-awareness-e-learning-with-SSG
Working Safely at Heights e-learning - www.ssg.co.uk/courses/WSAH-e-learning
How SSG can support your business
We support businesses in managing occupational health and workplace safety risks through practical training, consultancy and compliance support.