Abstract
PurposeAccidents are more likely to occur during the morning hours of Mondays (Monday effect). This might be due to a higher level of cognitive failure on Monday morning at work.MethodsIn a pilot actigraphy study across one working week, we explored this Monday effect and regressed daily self-reported workplace cognitive failure on weekdays (Monday versus other days), background social stressors at work, delayed sleep onset and sleep duration. Diary data were gathered from 40 full-time employees.ResultsConfirming our assumptions, results revealed work-related cognitive failure and sleep-onset latency on the previous night to be higher on Mondays compared to other workdays. Work-related cognitive failure correlated positively with delayed sleep-onset latency and background social stressors. In multilevel regression analysis, Monday significantly explained variations in workplace cognitive failure. The addition of background social stressors at work and sleep-onset latency to the regression model showed unique contributions to the prediction of workplace cognitive failure. No significant two-way or three-way interactions between working days, sleep-onset latency or sleep duration, and background social stressors were found.ConclusionPeak levels of cognitive failure on Monday morning and the association of cognitive failure with social stressors at work contribute to understanding the mechanisms involved in the increased prevalence of occupational accidents on Monday morning. Occupational safety interventions should address both social stressors at work and individual sleep hygiene.
Highlights
Safety at work varies across weekdays, and Mondays often show peaks in work accident rates
Based on the Crain’s model, objectively assessed sleep-onset latency and background social stressors should limit self-regulatory resources, including working memory function and attentional control that result in workplace cognitive failure that increases accident risk [13, 19]
In line with that model, objectively assessed longer sleep-onset latency preceded higher workplace cognitive failure, and background social stressors were positively associated with workplace cognitive failure
Summary
Safety at work varies across weekdays, and Mondays often show peaks in work accident rates. Wigglesworth [1] analysed data from 750,000 compensation claims on occupational injuries in Queensland, Australia between 1968 and 1988 and found what he called a Monday effect peak in accidents in men and women, i.e. accident rates are decreasing on all other days of the week, with Friday rates being a third lower than Monday rates. This is reflected in more recent data [2, 3]. In 2017, the number of accidents at work in Switzerland was 42,227 (19.7%) on Mondays and fell continuously over the weekdays to Fridays to 36,067 (16.9%) [5].
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