Canadian Occupational Safety

"You can get these older guys where their doctor will sign anything they want them to. So, we want to make sure we are getting a good physical and an objective view," says Taylor. "And this is good for the employee, too. If their own doctor is not being straight up with them and saying 'Listen there are some underlying health issues you need to deal with,' this is kind of a wake-up call." SMOKING The U.S. survey found more than one-half (51 per cent) of long-haul truck drivers are cigarette smokers. In Canada, 18.1 per cent of the general population are smokers, according to Statistics Canada. And the McMaster survey found 31.5 per cent of truck drivers smoke. Employers can offer smoking cessa- tion resources and counselling through their EAPs. Companies can also con- tribute to the cost of the nicotine patch or other smoking cessation aids. "It's so important for the educa- tional component to be there too. It's not just write a prescription or tell somebody to buy something off the shelf, but rather a whole program of support has to be in place," says Kurtzer. "It's not only the medication side but also the psychosocial side as well to get the drivers the assistance they need to stop smoking." Through the support of the com- pany EAP, many of Liberty's drivers have quit smoking over the past 10 to 15 years, and Taylor estimates about 15 per cent of his workforce are cur- rently smokers. SLEEP APNEA Any day now, the U.S. Department of Transportation is supposed make sleep apnea testing mandatory for truck drivers, which could include screening, confi rmation diagnostic testing and treatment. This would also be mandatory for Canadian truck driv- ers who cross the border. Sleep apnea is a disorder where the airways are obstructed and a person has pauses in breathing or shallow breaths while he sleeps. The hallmark of it is very loud snoring. At a severe rate, individuals can be waking up 30 times per hour. Sleep apnea often goes hand- in-hand with obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and a variety of other illnesses. It is estimated as many as 30 per cent of the trucking industry has sleep apnea at some level, says Kurtzer. "If you're not getting a good, deep sleep, it can be as incapacitating as being drunk. It can be that severe over time," he says. "If you're not get- ting a good sleep, you're going to be fatigued, you're not going to be alert, you're not going to be responding when there is an emergency… and the biggest problem of all is falling asleep behind the wheel." There have been several studies out of the U.S. that showed sleep apnea was a factor in a number of signifi cant acci- dents, which is why the government is looking to put this legislation in place. But drivers may object to the screen- ing because they are nervous it may result in them being out of work, says Roger Clarke, chairman of the North American Fatigue Management Pro- gram Steering Committee, who is based in Red Deer, Alta. If a driver tests positive for sleep apnea, he will need to stop driving and start using a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine. Under the proposed U.S. regulation, the driver has to use the machine for one month before he can be recertifi ed and drive again. "(Companies) need to support the drivers that have an issue so you can get them to medical facilities and address the issue and get them back on the road and being productive again," says Clarke. The CPAP machines are very common among older drivers who may be overweight, says Corkum, and they are benefi cial not only for sleep apnea. "It's a positive for all the other medi- cal conditions they might have, so it is helping them and they feel better, they're more alert, they have more energy," she says. "This is a move that's happening now and we do have com- panies that have medical plans for the purchase of a CPAP machines." If the sleep apnea is too severe, the driver may not be permitted to retain his commercial driving license. Nearly 45 per cent of the truck drivers in the U.S. survey had spent only one to six days sleeping at home at all in the past 30 days, while 18 per cent had not slept at home in the past 30 days. The McMaster survey identi- fi ed 17.2 per cent of truck drivers as having sleep problems. Liberty tries to do as much as it can to make sure its drivers get the best sleep possible. "We buy (trucks) with bigger sleepers and the best mattresses we can get. To be honest with you, when I drove for a few years, I actually slept better in my truck than I did at home," says Taylor. Fatigue is the principal cause in 31 per cent of fatal-to-the-driver large truck crashes, according to statistics from the National Transportation Safety Board in the U.S. Fatigue-related crashes may be the result of lack of sleep, extended driving hours, switch- ing day and night shifts without time to adjust and working conditions. Carriers must follow hours of service regulations. Different jurisdictions may have different hours of service restric- tions, and the various matrices for hours of service can be quite complex. Generally, truckers across Canada work 16-hour days.

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