Occupational injuries by hour of day and day of week: a 20-year study.
OBJECTIVE
To examine by hour of day and day of week the 750,000 compensation claims that were lodged by male workers in Queensland, Australia, during the 20-year period from 1968 to 1988, including an investigation into some possible reasons for the increased number of claims on Mondays and the reduced number of claims on Fridays.


METHODS
The study was based on the collection entitled Industrial Accident Statistics (Bulletin 79), published annually by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Queensland office. This was the only State collection to include data on compensated injuries categorised by hour of day and day of week. There was no Australia-wide dataset of compensated occupational injuries.


RESULTS
Compensation claims were not evenly distributed through the working week. There were more injuries on Mondays (23.6% of the total) than on Tuesdays (21.8%), than on Wednesdays (20.3%), than on Thursdays (18%), than on Fridays (16.3%). There were more injuries in the mornings than in the afternoons for every day of the working week.


CONCLUSIONS
This study confirms the existence of a steady reduction in workers' compensation injury claims on successive days of the working week. One possible explanation for this finding is offered as a basis for further research into the reasons for this trend. Hopefully, the results of these and later studies may suggest remedial measures that will help reduce the number of occupational injuries.
Wigglesworth
Eric
E
Monash University Accident Research Centre, Victoria. ericwigg@bigpond.net.au
D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011793:Queensland / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D014942:Workers' Compensation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data