Senior Reporter
FMCSA Medical Review Board to Offer Sleep Apnea Recommendations
Specifically, the board will make suggestions to the agency on the disposition of comments from medical professionals and associations, as well as from safety advocacy, labor and industry groups. Its suggestions also will be based on written comments filed with the FMCSA-Federal Railroad Administration’s March 10 advance notice of proposed rulemaking on safety-sensitive rail personnel and CMV drivers with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea.
“Additionally, the MRB will review its previously issued report on obstructive sleep apnea from 2012 to determine whether the report should be updated based on any changes to medical standards and practice or the comments received at the listening sessions and to the docket,” said an FMCSA announcement expected to be published in the Federal Register on Aug. 9.
The two-day board meeting, planned for Aug. 22-23 in Arlington, Virginia, will be open to the public, and the public will be allowed to comment during the proceedings, FMCSA said.
The review board is composed of five medical experts who each serve two-year terms.
A provision in the 2005 transportation law, known as SAFETEA-LU, requires the secretary of transportation, in consultation with the medical review board and the agency’s chief medical examiner, to establish, review and revise “medical standards for operators of commercial motor vehicles that will ensure that the physical condition of operators of commercial motor vehicles is adequate to enable them to operate the vehicles safely.”
Earlier this year, FMCSA and FRA issued the ANPR as a first step to consider whether to propose requirements specifically on sleep apnea.
The agency has cited estimates that 22 million men and women could be suffering from undiagnosed OSA, a respiratory disorder characterized by a reduction or cessation of breathing during sleep that can lead to unintended sleep episodes and deficits in attention, concentration, situational awareness, memory and the capacity to safely respond to hazards when performing safety-sensitive service.
“The collection and analysis of sound data on the impact of OSA must be our immediate first step,” FMCSA Administrator Scott Darling said in March. “We call upon the public to help us better understand the prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea among commercial truck and bus drivers, as well as the safety and economic impacts on the truck and bus industries.”
