Accident patterns by time-of-day and day-of-week of injury occurrence

Abstract

Mason, K., 1979. Accident patterns by time-of-day and day-of-week of injury occurrence. Journal of Occupational Accidents, 2: 159–176. Using Workers' Compensation Board's claims experience for the years 1971–1974 it is discovered that, with respect to hour of working day and day of working week of injury occurrence, there are definite patterns in the numbers of injuries reported, and that these patterns differ in unexpected ways for strain injuries and non strain injuries. In particular, it is observed that there are many more strain injuries reported as having occurred on Monday morning than would be expected from the patterns exhibited by the rest of the data. This excess of Monday morning strain claims is estimated to total between one and two percent of all claims. The phenomenon is analysed by industrial, occupational and individual factors.