Worldwide, construction is a branch of the economy characterised by a high level of employee safety risks and a high accident rate. In Poland, over the last 20 years, the number of victims and the frequency of accidents in the construction industry have shown a decreasing tendency, but they are subject to large fluctuations. Current accident reporting methods focused on rigidly classified circumstances and root causes do not facilitate drawing general conclusions for the purpose of prediction. The paper presents an analysis of the number and characteristics of construction site accidents of the years 2015-2017 using data from reports of the National Labour Inspectorate. The preliminary analysis of available nationwide sources confirmed that every year nearly 50% of accidents that occur during construction works are falls from height. The analysis is intended as a starting point for further research on factors and causes of accidents at work in construction.