Britain's most dangerous jobs, by the numbers
Employer-reported workplace injuries from the HSE's RIDDOR system: which industries hurt the most workers, what kinds of accident do it, and where in Britain it happens.
How to read the rates: across the sectors listed, the average reported-injury rate is 283 per 100,000 workers — so a sector at double that is a genuine outlier, not noise. If you work in one of the top five, your employer’s risk assessments should reflect it; if you’ve been hurt, the sector context supports your claim.
Most dangerous industries, ranked by injury rate (2024/25)
| # | Category | Reported injuries | Rate per 100,000 workers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities | 1,831 | 785 |
| 2 | Transportation and storage | 7,698 | 649 |
| 3 | Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 726 | 523 |
| 4 | Activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies | 259 | 453 |
| 5 | Manufacturing | 8,853 | 363 |
| 6 | Construction | 3,726 | 280 |
| 7 | Human health and social work activities | 11,157 | 260 |
| 8 | Accommodation and food service activities | 3,786 | 249 |
| 9 | Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles | 6,674 | 215 |
| 10 | Arts, entertainment and recreation | 1,372 | 201 |
| 11 | Public administration and defence; compulsory social security | 4,095 | 159 |
| 12 | Other service activities | 932 | 158 |
| 13 | Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply | 260 | 153 |
| 14 | Education | 5,009 | 151 |
| 15 | Administrative and support service activities | 1,518 | 136 |
| 16 | Information and communication; financial and insurance activities; real estate activities; professional, scientific and technical activities; administrative and support service activities | 2,596 | 41 |
| 17 | Information and communication | 466 | 35 |
Kinds of workplace accident
| # | Category | Reported injuries |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Slips, trips or falls on same level | 18,051 |
| 2 | Injured while handling, lifting or carrying | 10,012 |
| 3 | Other kind of accident | 7,155 |
| 4 | Struck by moving, including flying/falling, object | 6,054 |
| 5 | Acts of violence | 5,900 |
| 6 | Falls from a height | 4,684 |
| 7 | Strike against something fixed or stationary | 2,189 |
| 8 | Contact with moving machinery | 2,088 |
| 9 | Struck by moving vehicle | 1,264 |
| 10 | Injured by an animal | 738 |
| 11 | Exposure to, or contact with, a harmful substance | 564 |
| 12 | Trapped by something collapsing/overturning | 202 |
| 13 | Contact with electricity or electrical discharge | 150 |
| 14 | Exposure to fire | 119 |
| 15 | Exposure to an explosion | 36 |
Injuries by region
| # | Category | Reported injuries | Rate per 100,000 workers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North East | 2,720 | 254 |
| 2 | East Midlands | 4,965 | 244 |
| 3 | Yorkshire and The Humber | 5,393 | 232 |
| 4 | West Midlands | 5,435 | 218 |
| 5 | North West | 6,783 | 215 |
| 6 | East | 5,426 | 212 |
| 7 | South West | 5,163 | 211 |
| 8 | South East | 7,403 | 186 |
| 9 | London | 7,041 | 158 |
Where workers get hurt most: local authorities ranked by injury rate
| # | Category | Reported injuries | Rate per 100,000 workers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blaenau Gwent | 100 | 479 |
| 2 | Argyll and Bute | 107 | 469 |
| 3 | North Ayrshire | 147 | 397 |
| 4 | Halton | 153 | 379 |
| 5 | North Lincolnshire | 234 | 377 |
| 6 | South Lanarkshire | 355 | 354 |
| 7 | Redcar and Cleveland | 126 | 346 |
| 8 | Midlothian | 93 | 343 |
| 9 | Blackburn with Darwen | 197 | 336 |
| 10 | Northumberland | 360 | 332 |
| 11 | East Riding of Yorkshire | 370 | 331 |
| 12 | Powys | 143 | 320 |
| 13 | Angus | 115 | 320 |
| 14 | Denbighshire | 125 | 315 |
| 15 | Na h-Eileanan Siar | 28 | 315 |
| 16 | Merthyr Tydfil | 72 | 314 |
| 17 | Bridgend | 160 | 313 |
| 18 | Clackmannanshire | 47 | 312 |
| 19 | Renfrewshire | 196 | 306 |
| 20 | Neath Port Talbot | 153 | 303 |
| 21 | North Northamptonshire | 395 | 302 |
| 22 | Westmorland and Furness | 293 | 300 |
| 23 | North Somerset | 199 | 300 |
| 24 | Vale of Glamorgan | 118 | 297 |
| 25 | Newport | 223 | 297 |
Hurt at work? The data is on your side
These are RIDDOR reports — injuries employers are legally required to report to the HSE. The real total is far higher: many workplace injuries never get reported. If you’ve been injured at work and it wasn’t your fault, your employer’s insurance exists precisely for this — see our accident at work claims page for how a claim works and what it can cover, on a no win, no fee basis.
Source: HSE statistics tables (2024/25), Open Government Licence. Journalists and researchers are welcome to reuse these figures with a link to this page.
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