According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), 138 people were killed in the workplace over a 12-month period between 2023 and 2024. Of these, 50 suffered fatal falls whilst working at height. That’s almost 37% of all work-related deaths in the UK. It’s our job at Altus Safety to reduce those numbers to 0 and prevent health and safety failures in the workplace, which is why we set up as working at height safety experts in the first place. We want to make a difference to the safety of your workers who are at significant risk due to their line of work. But in order to do that, we all need to understand how these falls from height occur, so we can do everything in our power to prevent it.

Below we’ll look at the main causes of falls from height and explore what you can do as an employer or site owner to ensure the safety of everybody working at height under your instruction.

The Problem With Understanding Falls From Height

If you’re a company who deals with working at height regularly - such as a business in the construction industry or manufacturing industries - then you’ll know that there are certain reporting procedures that need to be followed when a fall from height (or any workplace injury or incident for that matter) occurs at your site.

The problem with this reporting method is that the form you are required to fill in by law doesn’t actually ask for details about the cause of the accident - it simply asks about the injuries sustained (which can be serious when falling from a height, including head injuries, spinal injuries, and in the worst cases, workplace deaths) and the type of accident, but the cause doesn’t need to be investigated and reported. This is something most businesses would do after the fact to prevent a similar incident in the future, but no official reporting is required.

So what does that mean for researching our post today? Well, we’ve had to rely on our own experiences as height safety professionals who have all heard the horror stories about, and seen the result of, falls from height in the workplace.

In putting together this blog post, we’ve spoken to our team members on the ground to better understand not just the injuries and the incidents at work, but the causes, too. And here’s everything we’ve found about occupational accidents from a height and how those falls occurred.

The Main Causes Of Falling From Height At Work

The following are how most falls from height occur in the UK workplace. We’ll explore each one in greater depth below:

Improperly installed equipment
Unsafe equipment
Employer negligence
Inadequate training/User fault
Environmental factors

If you want to prevent falls in the workplace then you need to identify potential hazards to reduce height accidents. A thorough risk assessment to prevent height injuries resulting in death and non-fatal falls is one of the best things you can do. The second best thing? Keep reading on to learn more about the leading cause of falls from a height in the UK so you can be prepared.

Improperly Installed Equipment

A huge cause of falling from height is actually the equipment that’s designed to keep at height workers safe. Specifically when that equipment isn’t installed correctly. Users can only use equipment in the way they’ve been taught and, with the proper working at height training, they might well be using the equipment in the safest way possible.

But what happens when that equipment isn’t installed in the right way? It’s a very real risk when you ask for support in making your site safe. Some installers can make mistakes and things like guardrails, mobile man anchors, fall restraint systems, and caged access ladders can fail. In dangerous areas like construction sites and on tall commercial buildings, these mistakes can be deadly.

That’s why you need the help of a reputable installer. The single best way to prevent this cause of falls from a height is to pick a household name with a reputation for excellence. We don’t like to brag, but at Altus Safety you’ll find exactly that. Safe installations are our priority, and we take them incredibly seriously.

Unsafe Equipment

Equipment can be installed perfectly, but if it isn’t maintained properly, checked before and after each use, and carefully monitored, then height safe equipment can become life threatening and lead to a fatal injury for one of your workers.

Ultimately, it’s your responsibility as the site owner and manager to ensure that all equipment provided to your workers is fit for use - this is a key point of all the height regulations you're bound by in order to protect your employees and ensure they can work safely at a height.

At Altus Safety we offer a full range of testing and inspection services. If you want to prevent faulty equipment from causing an accident at your site, reach out for our support today.

Employer Negligence

This one will probably jump out to you as a business/commercial site owner. But the one thing that can make a real difference to the frequency of accidents at work in the UK is you. You, and the actions you do or don’t take to protect the safety of your workers.

Put simply, if you fail to provide workers with the proper height safety and access equipment - causing them to carry out work in an unsafe manner - then you are solely to blame for any accidents that follow. There are plenty of lawsuits that highlight exactly that.

But don’t panic. All you need to do is be a proactive employer with height safety. Invest in the right equipment, make sure it’s maintained by the professionals, and spend time training your workers to use the equipment in the proper manner. It’s that simple - and we make it even simpler if you choose us for all your height safety needs.

Inadequate Training/User Fault

With the best will in the world, experienced workers who are used to working at height can still make mistakes that lead to a fall from height. Mistakes happen. But the chance of those mistakes happening can be greatly reduced with the right training - knowledge is power after all.

We’re proud to offer comprehensive working at height training via our Altus 360 Program, where we support site owners and business managers in making sure their workers are up to snuff with all the latest advice and guidance whilst working at height. Contact us today to find out more about our training services.

Environmental Factors

Of course, not everything in life can be controlled. The weather is one of those things. Sometimes conditions will change unexpectedly whilst a person is working at height, with strong winds or heavy rain making their work even more dangerous. In these situations, they need to be able to assess the situation with confidence in their knowledge and training. Getting it wrong could cause an accident.

Whilst you can’t control the weather as a site manager, you can control how your workers are prepared to respond. Make sure you give them the skills and training they need to assess whether it is safe to work in certain weather conditions or not - and make sure they know they have your full support if they decide to call it quits for the day. We can help deliver situational training to your workers if you need further support.

How Do Most Falls From Height Occur: Next Steps

There are a range of factors that can cause a fall from height - many of which we haven’t even explored here today. But really, the point isn’t to know every possible cause to prevent them, but to simply know that you can prevent them.

With the right training, safety equipment, and regular maintenance and testing of both worker knowledge and the equipment and height safe systems in place, you can substantially reduce the risk of falls from a height at your workplace or commercial site. At Altus Safety we pride ourselves on being one of the UK’s leading height safety system providers for those working at height and our Altus 360 training program is unrivaled in the industry in terms of depth and quality. If you want to make falls from height less likely, then speak to one of our experts today.