Of the 126 workers killed in Britain in the year to March 2026, more died from a fall than from anything else: 31 of them. Not from towers. From ladders, roofs, the backs of lorries, open edges. The height does not have to be great. What matters is the energy a body gathers on the way down.
Falls from a height31 deaths
Struck by a moving vehicle24 deaths
Struck by a moving object21 deaths
Trapped by something collapsing18 deaths
Contact with moving machinery10 deaths
Workers killed in Britain, year to March 2026, by what happened.
The same count shows what else kills at work. Being hit by a moving vehicle, usually a forklift or a lorry on site. Being hit by something that falls or flies. Being trapped by something that collapses or tips over. Being caught in a moving machine. Falls lead the list in most years.
A fall
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A vehicle
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A machine
Which single cause killed the most workers in that year?
Being hit by a moving vehicle.
Not yet. Twenty-four, the second cause. Forklifts and lorries on site are a big killer, but falls are bigger.
Being caught in a machine.
Not yet. Ten. It is the cause people picture first when they hear factory, and it is the smallest of the five on the chart.
A fall from a height.
Right. Thirty-one of 126. It leads the list in most years, and the places are ordinary: a ladder, a van roof, a loading bay with no rail.
0 km/h28 km/h56 km/h
1 m10 m
Speed at the ground, by height of the fall.
A falling body speeds up all the way down. From one metre it hits the ground at about 16 km/h, a fast run. From two metres, about 23. From five, about 36, a car in town. The speed does not double when the height doubles: to double the speed takes four times the height.
Move the control to set how high the fall starts. The speed is worked out from the pull of gravity, with no air or soft landing in the way.
Speed when the ground is hit16 km/h
A car in a 30 zone30 km/h
1 metreA fall from 1 metre, about the height of a kitchen worktop, lands at about 16 km/h. That is the speed of a car doing 16 down your street, stopped by the ground in an instant.
Speed when the ground is hit23 km/h
A car in a 30 zone30 km/h
2 metresA fall from 2 metres, a stepladder's top, lands at about 23 km/h. That is the speed of a car doing 23 down your street, stopped by the ground in an instant.
Speed when the ground is hit28 km/h
A car in a 30 zone30 km/h
3 metresA fall from 3 metres, a single-storey roof, lands at about 28 km/h. That is the speed of a car doing 28 down your street, stopped by the ground in an instant.
Speed when the ground is hit36 km/h
A car in a 30 zone30 km/h
5 metresA fall from 5 metres, a first-floor window, lands at about 36 km/h. That is the speed of a car doing 36 down your street, stopped by the ground in an instant.
Speed when the ground is hit50 km/h
A car in a 30 zone30 km/h
10 metresA fall from 10 metres, a third-floor window, lands at about 50 km/h. That is the speed of a car doing 50 down your street, stopped by the ground in an instant.
A fall from two metres, the top of a stepladder, lands at about 23 km/h. Which of these is true?
Doubling the height to four metres would double the speed.
Not yet. Four metres lands at about 32 km/h, not 46. Speed grows with the square root of height: it takes four times the height to double the speed.
That is faster than a person can run, from a height most people would step off without a thought.
Right. Two metres is a stepladder, a van roof, a mezzanine edge. Twenty-three km/h stopped in an instant by concrete is how a stepladder breaks a skull.
Two metres is too low to do real harm.
Not yet. Many of the falls that kill start under two metres. The speed is 23 km/h, and the ground does not slow down for a short fall.
Move the control.
2 metres23 km/h
↓→
8 metres?
A fall of 2 metres lands at about 23 km/h. Four times the height doubles the speed. About how fast does a fall of 8 metres land, in km/h?
km/h
Eight is four times two.
Right. About 45 km/h, double the 2-metre speed. Eight metres is a second-floor window, and the ground arrives at the speed of a car on a main road.
Avoid itwork from the ground
↓→
Stop the falla rail
↓→
Shorten ita net
The rule for work at height has three steps: the ladder of controls again. First, avoid it: do the job from the ground if you can. Second, stop the fall: a rail, a platform with sides, a scaffold. Third, if someone can still fall, make it short and soft: a net, a harness on a short line.
Three answers to a job at the edge of a flat roof. Put them in the order the rule prefers them, best first.
Tap them in order, first to last.
From the ground→A rail→A net
Right. Avoid, then prevent, then shorten. A net is the last answer because by the time it is used, the fall has already happened; the rule wants the fall not to start.
A sign4 metres up
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How?
A shop needs a sign changed, four metres up on the front wall. Which answer is highest on the rule for work at height?
A harness clipped to the wall for whoever climbs the ladder.
Not yet. A harness shortens a fall that has already started. It is the third answer, kept for jobs where the first two cannot be done.
A better ladder, with someone holding the bottom.
Not yet. A steadier ladder lowers the chance of a fall but leaves someone four metres up with nothing between them and the pavement. A rail or platform would be prevention; this is less.
Fit the sign so it lowers on a cable, and change it from the pavement.
Right. Nobody goes up, so nobody can fall. The best answer to a fall is a job that never leaves the ground.
Lesson complete
Falls kill more workers than anything else, and a fall's energy grows with the height it starts from.