Production, 29, e20180091, 2019 DOI: 10.1590/0103-6513.20180091 ISSN 1980-5411 (On-line version) Systematic Review This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 1. Introduction Every day, people die as a result of occupational accidents or work-related diseases. In total, it reaches more than 2.78 million deaths and some 374 million non-fatal work-related injuries and illnesses each year (International Labour Organization, 2017). The human cost of this daily adversity is vast, and the economic burden of poor occupational safety and health practices is estimated at 3.94% of global Gross Domestic Product each year (International Labour Organization, 2017). Globally, among all, unintentional injuries represent a major public health problem and a leading cause of deaths (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). After road traffic injuries, falls represent the second leading cause of unintentional injury deaths worldwide. An estimation is a number of 646 000 fatal falls and some 37.3 million non-fatal falls each year, severe enough to require medical attention (World Health Organization, 2017). The construction industry represents the most influential group in these numbers, with around 21.4% of USA’s workers fatalities, where the leading causes were falls (38.8%) (Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 2017) and around 31% of UK’s workers fatalities, where the primary cause of falls from height (20%) (Bomel, 2003). The severity of fall-risk was investigated in many studies, analyzing the risk depending on occupation, age and location (Beavers et al., 2006; Dong et al., 2009; Johnson et al., 1999). Some went further, analyzing heights from which people mostly fell, the type and value of projects where fall-accidents mostly occurred (Huang et al., 2003; Kang et al., 2017). Falls from height: analysis of 114 cases Tomi Zlatar a * , Eliane Maria Gorga Lago a , Willames de Albuquerque Soares a , João dos Santos Baptista b , Béda Barkokébas Junior a  a Escola Politecnica, Universidade de Pernambuco, Recife, PE, Brasil b Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal *tomi.zlatar@gmail.com Abstract Paper aims: To study fall-accident cases in order to analyze the commonly missing or not adequately applied risk management measures (RMM) and its consequences depending on falling height. Originality: First study to analyze failed RMM for preventing falls from height. Research method: The study reviewed court cases published by the journal “Safety & Health Practitioner”. NIOSH recommendations were used to define RMM to apply to this study. Main findings: Finally, in 98% of analyzed cases, the fall from height was a result of several non-adequate or missing RMM: in 81.6% procedures of work, 65.8% guardrails and edge protection, 60.5% risk assessment, and 60.5% platforms or scaffolds. It can be concluded that falls from height pose a significant risk for workers, which could be prevented by adequately apply RMM. Implications for theory and practice: The focus in the prevention of falls should be given on most common RMM. Keywords Injury. Fall accidents. Risk control. Workplace fatalities. Safety in construction. How to cite this article: Zlatar, T., Lago, E. M. G., Soares, W. A., Baptista, J. S., & Barkokébas Junior, B. (2019). Falls from height: analysis of 114 cases. Production, 29, e20180091. https://doi.org/10.1590/0103-6513.20180091. Received: Oct. 11, 2018; Accepted: Apr. 10, 2019.