Editorial: Poor Driver Health a Serious Problem

This Editorial appears in the May 16 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

Quite often when we use the word “health” in stories, it refers to company profits, freight demand or the economy at large. Similarly, many of our stories involving truck drivers have to do with pay and turnover. That is what you expect from a business-to-business publication.

However, it’s the issue of driver health and wellness that continues to garner more attention than ever before. Health and wellness ranked No. 7 on the American Transportation Research Institute’s 2015 survey of critical issues facing the trucking industry, the highest in the history of the list.

The seriousness of driver health was underscored in a survey released May 11 by HireRight, which found one in five truckers who exit the industry were flagged for health problems.

“Driving is a physically demanding profession and getting proper rest, eating right and maintaining an exercise routine is a challenge due to the nature of the job,” said Steven Spencer, managing director of transportation and health care for HireRight.

For years, studies have shown obesity rates are far more prevalent among longhaul truck drivers than the U.S. population as a whole. One result of the difficult lifestyle and poor health of truckers is a higher prevalence of sleep apnea, which nearly one-third of truckers may suffer from, studies have found.

As a result, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is considering proposing sleep-apnea testing requirements, along with the Federal Railroad Administration. The National Transportation Safety Board has already recommended that the Department of Transportation address sleep-apnea screening and treatment for transportation workers.

FMCSA and FRA are holding three listening sessions to solicit information on the prevalence of moderate- to-severe obstructive sleep apnea, the first of which was wrapping up as this edition of Transport Topics went to press.

To help get our readers caught up, TT has scheduled a LiveOnWeb on May 18 on health and wellness.

FMCSA’s Chuck Horan will join us in-studio to discuss sleep apnea. Longtime truck driver Ralph Garcia and driver trainer Siphiwe Baleka also will be with us live.

Among the other highlights is a pre-recorded interview with Celadon Group Chairman and CEO Paul Will on how the company’s investment in wellness programs over the past decade has offered a significant return on investment.

Further information on the full program can be found at liveonweb.ttnews.com. We hope you will join us.