Millions of working days are being lost in the construction industry due to preventable injuries, highlighting a significant but overlooked productivity challenge
Analysis of data from the Health and Safety Executive shows that an estimated 79,000 construction workers are currently suffering from work-related ill health, whilst construction continues to record one of the highest non-fatal injury rates in the UK economy.
Crucially, construction also has the highest rate of work-related musculoskeletal disorders of any major UK industry, with around 2,000 cases per 100,000 workers – approximately 70% higher than the all-industry average.
Preventable injuries are costing the industry around £1.4bn
HSE estimates place the annual cost of workplace injuries and ill health in construction at £1.4bn, driven by lost output, project delays, and reduced workforce capacity.
Musculoskeletal disorders alone account for 27% of all work-related ill health cases and 20% of all working days lost due to ill health, underlining their disproportionate impact on productivity.
Building on this, analysis by Intasite estimates that between 1.1 and 1.4 million working days are lost in construction each year due to musculoskeletal disorders alone.
While safety in construction is often framed around major incidents and fatalities, the data points to a more persistent and systemic issue: everyday injuries that accumulate over time and quietly erode the industry’s ability to deliver.
Preventable injuries are causing a huge delay to construction projects
As the issue is prevalent across the construction and building trades, the workers most affected are those critical to project delivery.
Absences from preventable injuries reduce the available workforce, increase reliance on temporary labour, and place additional pressure on projects already operating at capacity.
Despite long-term improvements in workplace safety, progress on work-related ill health has largely stalled, with current rates now broadly in line with pre-pandemic levels.
How can the industry prevent the loss of its workforce to ill health?
The underlying causes of these injuries include manual handling, repetitive tasks, and physically demanding working positions. They point to systemic issues in how work is planned, communicated, and executed.
Danielle Croce, director at Intasite, explained: “Many of the injuries leading to lost working days could be avoided with better planning, onboarding and clearer communication on site.
“A huge proportion of this lost time stems from issues that arise before a worker even sets foot on site. If inductions and other aspects of onboarding are inconsistent, safety information isn’t clearly understood, or compliance isn’t properly verified, the risk is effectively built into the project from day one.”
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