The UK onshore wind sector has recorded its lowest incident rates to date, despite a significant rise in industry activity during 2024, according to new data published by SafetyOn.
The sector logged 654 reported incidents over the year, an 8% increase from 2023. However, this occurred alongside a 17% rise in hours worked, reaching a total of 8.8 million. As a result, key safety metrics showed improvement, with the Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) falling to 0.27 and the Lost Time Injury Frequency (LTIF) dropping to 0.08 — both the lowest figures since SafetyOn began reporting.
Lost work day incidents declined sharply by 59%, down from 17 in 2023 to seven in 2024. It marks the first time this metric has fallen into single digits. No fatalities were recorded for the second consecutive year.
“These figures reflect the industry’s continued focus on health and safety performance, even as the pace of development accelerates,” SafetyOn said in its report.
High potential incidents decreased by 8% to 97, representing just 15% of all reported cases — the lowest proportion since 2020. Hand injuries were down 15%, while incidents involving hand and power tools dropped by 71%.
However, not all trends were positive. Manual handling injuries became the most common incident type, and incidents related to access and egress more than doubled. There was also a 75% increase in incidents involving falling objects.
SafetyOn noted that these evolving risks would require “renewed industry attention” to ensure continued safety performance as the sector grows.
The report offers a snapshot of a maturing onshore wind industry that continues to scale up operations while making progress in reducing safety risks for its workforce.
