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The 126 workers killed in work-related accidents in 2025/26 is provisionally the lowest number recorded in a single year excluding some years that were impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) latest annual work-related fatal injuries, published this month. However, while the latest (provisional) figure compares positively with the 217 fatalities in 2005/06 and 495 in 1981, the injury rate for the number of fatalities per 100,000 workers in all industries for 2025/26 is only slightly lower than the annual average rate for the five years spanning 2021/22 to 2025/26 (0.37 per 100,000 workers, compared to 0.39 per 100,000 workers, respectively). As the HSE acknowledges itself, over the long-term, the rate of fatal injury to workers has reflected a downward trend, though the rate of decline has slowed in recent years.