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Key findings from the Health and safety in highways report 2026
Oliver Revolta, Researcher & Copywriter
A consolidated view of safety across highways
Most organisations know where the risks sit in highways work. The harder question is how consistently those risks are being managed under tight delivery pressure – and how impactful failures can be.
The Re‑flow Health and Safety in Highways Report 2026 provides a clearer view of how those risks are being recorded, applied, and controlled across the sector. It spans everything from site‑level failures and reporting practices to incursions, worker abuse, and the systems used to manage them.
The report draws on recent incident data, industry discussions, and supply chain input – and sets out the latest updates in a quick‑to‑read format.
What the report covers
The Health and Safety in Highways Report 2026 focuses on five core areas:
• Safety failures and their impacts
• Gaps in reporting and visibility
• Incursions into live roadworks
• Worker abuse across the network
• The role of technology in managing risk
These are the issues shaping how work is planned, delivered, and controlled across the sector.
They highlight how improving safety outcomes directly supports more consistent standards across projects, teams, and supply chains.
Key findings for 2026
Repeated, avoidable failures continue to appear in serious incidents
Recent HSE cases show that many incidents stem from familiar issues:
- Gaps in traffic management and site segregation
- Incomplete or outdated risk assessments
- Equipment used without basic safeguards
- Shortfalls in training and supervision
This is reflected in enforcement data, with over £33 million in HSE fines issued and multiple fatalities recorded.
The report focuses on how and why these failures are still breaking down in practice.
Reporting does not capture the full picture of risk
The effectiveness of any safety process depends on what gets recorded.
Across highways, the report highlights inconsistencies in how incidents are captured and acted on:
- Around 40% of supply chain vehicles fail basic legality checks, with around 85% of issues linked to simple faults such as tyres, lighting, or load security.
- The result is a partial view of performance – where underlying issues are not always visible until they escalate.
Incursions remain a persistent and unpredictable risk
Incursions into live works continue to be recorded at scale across the network.
- Recent data showed 5,899 incursions recorded in a year, including 144 in a single month.
- While protection measures and technology are improving, the report highlights the challenge of managing risks that are often outside direct operational control.
Worker abuse is widespread but still underreported
The report also brings together industry input on abuse faced by operatives.
Key themes include:
- Regular exposure to verbal and physical abuse
- Initiatives such as RAISE, which aim to build a geographical database of incidents and improve collaboration across the sector.
Why this report matters for delivery
Across different sites, contracts, and teams, processes exist, standards are defined, and controls are in place – but they are not always applied, recorded, or followed through in the same way, particularly under pressure.
The report shows how that inconsistency plays out in practice. In construction, avoidable errors account for around 21% of project value, and 39% of injuries occur during rework – linking day‑to‑day delivery pressures directly to both safety outcomes and commercial impact.
Trusted sources
The Re‑flow Health and Safety in Highways Report 2026 draws on data and guidance from the Health and Safety Executive, National Highways, and the Supply Chain Safety Leadership Group.
It also incorporates official UK road safety statistics, industry webinars, enforcement case studies, emerging initiatives such as the Home Safe and Well programme, and first‑hand commentary on abuse and incursions from influential figures at RAISE.
For a complete view of the data, case studies, and impacts download the Health and Safety in Highways Report 2026 now.
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