Falls from height: would simpler reporting improve statistics?

14 Feb 2024

The Access Industry Forum (AIF), the forum that represents the principal work at height trade associations and federations, is calling for clearer reporting of workplace accidents in a bid to save lives.

The AIF believes a simplified system of reporting would more accurately reflect the cause of workplace accidents so that informed, preventative measures can be implemented to address the cause of fall from height incidents.

HSE statistics published in July 2023 report that over 5,000 people in Great Britain were injured at work in 2022 due to a fall from height. Forty people also lost their lives. These incidents are required by law to be reported by employers through the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR). It is known that there is substantial underreporting of non-fatal falls from height for all workers, particularly the self-employed, who were found to report just 12% of workplace incidents.

In addition to employer reported RIDDOR incidents, the HSE estimates the scale of non-fatal workplace injury using their preferred source, the self-reported Labour Force Survey (LFS). According to the LFS, the number of falls over the last 10 years may be up to 425,000.

Along with the lives, families and businesses affected by these accidents, up to 992,000 working days were lost through non-fatal falls from height in Great Britain last year alone.

Not only that, the total cost of non-fatal falls in 2022/23 is estimated to be over £770 million, made up of costs to the employer and the individual, government tax losses and benefit payments.

These figures have been consistent over recent years, with no signs of improvement.

Research undertaken by the AIF found that limited data collected on the circumstances surrounding accidents, coupled with a problematic reporting system, make it difficult to pinpoint the underlying causes of falls from height and identify whether they are related to issues such as faulty equipment, lack of training, or negligence.

The AIF is renewing its call for a simplified system of reporting to more accurately reflect the cause of workplace accidents so that informed, preventative measures can be implemented to address the cause of fall from height incidents.

Unlike most other types of workplace injuries, the consequences of a fall from height are usually life-changing for the person involved, with many unlikely to return to their previous occupation, as well as having long-term consequences for employers, colleagues and families.

The AIF actively supports the work of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Working at Height, which brought together MPs and stakeholders from across industry at its meeting in Westminster in December. They discussed how government and business can work together to ensure technological and regulatory progress can be made to make the UK the safest country in the world for those working at height.

The APPG on Working at Height aims to address falls from height with four requests:

Simplified reporting – help everyone to focus on positive change.
Everyone playing their part.
Embracing technology to stop falls.
Raise awareness of the consequences of falls and objects falling from height.

Peter Bennett OBE, AIF Chair, said:

“There is much work still to be done to ensure those who have to work at height do so in as safe an environment as possible. Very little information is provided on the circumstance around non-fatal and fatal incidents, with current reporting focused on the type of incident as opposed to what caused it in the first place. This needs to change if we are to see a decrease in the number of people who tragically lose their lives while working at height, and those who suffer the life-changing consequences of a fall from height.”

What is work at height: a lack of understanding
There appears to be a lack of clarity over what is considered 'work at height', leading to a failure to put in place precautions.

The term actually means work in any place where, if no precautions were in place, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury (for example, a fall through a fragile roof). The Work at Height Regulations 2005define ‘at height’ as a place at which a person could be injured falling from, even if it is at or below ground level. You are working at height if you:

Work above ground/floor level;
Could fall from an edge, through an opening or fragile surface; or
Could fall from ground level into an opening in a floor or a hole in the ground. Working at height can also (but not always) include work below ground such as in basements and cellars.

Working at height does not include:

Walking up and down the staircase in an office.
Working in the upper floors of an office block or a Portakabin.
An operator sitting in a seat on an excavator.
Sitting in a chair.

Work at height also does not include a slip or a trip on the level, as a fall from height has to involve a fall from one level to a lower level, nor does it include walking up and down a permanent staircase in a building. The key point is that workers don’t need to fall far to be seriously injured or even killed.

Common causes of work at height accidents
There are common causes of falls from height which are not being addressed sufficiently to reduce the number of falls.

Roof work is high risk and falls from roofs, through fragile roofs and fragile roof lights are the most common causes of workplace death and serious injury. As well as in construction, these accidents also occur on roofs of factories, warehouses and farm buildings when roof repair work or cleaning is being carried out.

Contrary to popular belief, ladders and stepladders are not banned under health and safety law. The law calls for a sensible, proportionate approach to managing risk, and ladders can be a sensible and practical option for low-risk, short-duration tasks, although they should not automatically be your first choice. There are simple, sensible precautions you should take to stay safe when using portable leaning ladders and stepladders in the workplace.

Another risk of working at height is equipment falling from height. You may think that the impact of dropped items is less severe, but this too can be fatal. Any number of injuries, from fractures to paralysis and death, can be caused by dropping items from relatively low heights.

International Workplace’s Working at Height: A Manager’s Guide looks at the definition of working at height and advises how managers can more effectively control it.

Our Working at Height Awareness course helps learners understand the dangers associated with working at heights and implement ways to minimise and control the risks. Find out more here.