'Morningitis' a real safety risk

The analysis of more than 20 years of workers compensation statistics has revealed that "morningitis' is a real workplace safety risk.

Dr Eric Wigglesworth, who completed the research, will present his findings at the Safety In Action Conference on 20 March next year.

"There are more injuries on Mondays than on Tuesdays than on Wednesdays than on Thursdays than on Fridays for all sorts of groups," he told Safety Solutions.

As yet, there are no theories as to why workers are more likely to be injured early in the week, or why injuries occur more in the mornings than afternoons.

"But this research does mean we can be sure it's not because workers are taking advantage of the system," Wigglesworth said. He hopes the new findings will prompt a "flurry' of studies to answer such questions.

According to Wigglesworth, past research into this area focused on smaller numbers and concentrated on the so-called "Monday morning excess' attributed to workers who suffered a weekend sprain or strain and came in to work on Monday to claim an injury at work.

"The results of this study show these spurious claims actually represent just a tiny 1% of claims," he said.

The current level of research includes claims across all industries " blue and white collar, male and female. "I am drilling deeper into the data and expect to have even more insight into how it affects different industries to present at Safety In Action," Wigglesworth said.

Wendy Cramer, Editor