Ground-breaking research reveals that UK accident rateshave risen sharply over the last decade.
We urgently need government support to tackle this issue.
"We urge the UK government to adopt a National Accident Prevention Strategy (NAPS) to reduce the rising number of accidental deaths. Accidents claim over 20,000 lives annually, making them the leading cause of preventable deaths in young adults. This crisis costs billions in lost output and strains the NHS. For years, successive governments have overlooked this problem, meaning it is getting worse. Now, we urgently need the government to recognise the issue and adopt a strategy to deal with it. We will not stop until this happens.”
In partnership with: 
The ground-breaking report
We have launched a new report Safer Lives, Stronger Nation: Our Call for a National Accident Prevention Strategy that draws on research conducted over the last six months by Dr James Broun, Research Manager at RoSPA, for which he built up a unique dataset, bringing together 20 years of accident data from all four nations for the first time.
The report outlines the scale of the problem and the solutions we need to reverse rising accident figures. We want accidents to be treated as a national crisis and we urgently need the government to understand the issue and adopt a strategy to deal with it.
Key findings
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21,336 people died of accidents in the UK in 2022, the latest year for which data is available at the time of writing: 16,765 in England, 688 in Northern Ireland, 2,677 in Scotland, and 1,206 in Wales
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The per capita rate of accidental deaths has increased by 42% since 2013
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There were 741,755 hospital admissions related to accidents in England in 2022/23
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Hospital admissions data is not available in comparable formats for Scotland and Northern Ireland, but, assuming a similar rate as in England, we estimate that total admissions across the UK were over 870,000 accident-related admissions in the whole of the UK
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The per capita rate of accident-related hospital admissions in England has increased by 29% since 2002/03
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In 2019/20, we estimate that the total number of A&E attendances for accident-related injuries was 6,020,850 (27% of all attendances). Adjusting for the whole of the UK gives an estimate of 7,126,961 accident-related A&E attendances.
Recommendations for government
For years, successive governments have overlooked this problem, meaning it is getting worse. This is why RoSPA is calling for government to seize the initiative and create a National Accident Prevention Strategy – a first for the UK.
Empower individual departments or agencies to craft and implement more detailed policies
Propose ambitious and evidence-led but realistic policy interventions to reduce accident rates
Cover the core sectors directly affecting the UK economy: home, work, product, leisure and travel
Be forward-facing to address emerging challenges, like the climate crisis, the rise of AI and autonomous technology, and the gig economy
Address inequalities like deprivation, age, ethnicity and region/locality
Take a four-nations approach to data sharing and collaboration
Strengthen its data collection and publishing processes relating to accidents
We propose that the National Accident Prevention Strategy be the specific responsibility of an individual minister, ideally as their sole portfolio and with authority to attend the Cabinet and the ability to convene cross-departmental committees, meetings or working groups to ensure that accident prevention is treated holistically.
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