Perhaps American employers should lobby for a new holiday. Call it "Murdering Monday." And have it fall in September.
This is the implication from a neat bit of numbers crunching performed by Vocativ, which describes itself as "a new type of media company, bringing audiences hidden perspectives, unheard voices and original ideas from around the world via the Deep Web."
This particular perspective was dredged up not from the Deep Web, but from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Vocativ looked at some preliminary stats produced by the BLS that reflected annual workplace injuries and deaths. Vocativ's analysis showed that more workplace murders occur on Mondays than any other day of the week, and that Mondays in September are the most likely days for a workplace murder to occur.
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The stats also revealed that most workplace murders are intentional shootings of a worker. In 2013, 397 folks died of gunshots on the job. Other forms of murder included:
- Stabbings: 38
- Beatings: 20
- Bombings: 2
- Combination of the above: 10
Who's wreaking all this havoc in the workplace? Most of the perps aren't employees. Here's the breakdown as reported by Vocativ:
- Employees: 70
- Random assailants, including robbers: 198
- Partners, spouses and family members: 28
- Students: 2
While the number of murders at work was down significantly last year from 2012's 475, it still outpaced other causes of death, including:
- Accidental death caused by machinery: 353
- Exposure to electricity, weather, or drugs and alcohol: 330
- Fire or explosion: 148
- Chemical incident: 137
If you fear being murdered at work, you might want to consider this list of occupations that are most prone to Murdering Monday syndrome:
- Production and transportation: 50
- Management: 51
- Retail sales workers: 42
- Law enforcement: 30
- Food preparation: 29
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
