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Aug 10, 2017

OSA DISORDER * USA: Required for truckers

* New Jersey - Trump nixes sleep testing proposal for truckers, train engineers
--- The Trump administration has withdrawn a proposed requirement for railroads and trucking companies to test employees for obstructive sleep apnea, a disorder believed to be a factor in last year's fatal train crash at Hoboken Terminal in New Jersey... In their announcement withdrawing the proposal Friday, the Federal Railroad Administration and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said they'd encourage trucking and rail companies to voluntarily screen employees involved in safety-sensitive work, such as truck drivers and train engineers, for sleep apnea... Sleep apnea is a chronic condition that degrades the quality of sleep, resulting in daytime fatigue and drowsiness. According to the National Institutes of Health, the condition often goes undiagnosed... The Federal Register said, they would not make sleep apnea screenings mandatory, as first proposed by the Obama administration in March 2016... 
(Photo by Chris O'Neil/NTSB/via AP - Hoboken, NJ, crash)   --  Bergen County, N.J., USA - USA TODAY, by Curtis Tate - Aug. 5, 2017


* Study - Truckers who slack on sleep apnea treatments crash more

 --- A recent study conducted by the University of Minnesota/Morris over 1,613 Schneider National truck drivers suffering from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) found that if drivers failed to stick with the positive airway pressure (PAP) treatment prescribed for their condition, their risk of suffering a “serious preventable crash” is five times higher compared to truck drivers who don’t suffer from OSA as well those who do but who stick with the PAP treatment... The Truckers & Turnover Project study is published May 2017, in the online scientific journal Sleep by the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC, a joint venture of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society... 
 Darien, ILL, USA - American Trucker - 10 Aug 2017

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Apr 25, 2016

TRUCKERS RULE * USA: Targets driver fatigue

* Washington - Sleep apnea screening seen as tool to reduce collisions

-- Requiring commercial truck drivers to be tested for sleep disorders could improve highway safety, but testing and managing treatment could prove an additional burden for drivers and motor carriers... Commercial vehicle drivers are not required to be screened for obstructive sleep apnea, a disorder that disrupts sleep and causes excessive daytime sleepiness, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine... The organization's Seattle-based president, Dr. Nathaniel F. Watson, is concerned about the lack of a test requirement for truckers to determine whether they have the disease... The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Federal Railroad Administration, in an effort to address the issue, announced March 8 a joint advance notice of proposed rulemaking that would require truck drivers and rail workers to be tested, evaluated and treated for sleep apnea...
Seattle, WASH, USA - Business Insurance, by Donna Mahoney - 24 April 2016

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Jun 6, 2015

TRUCKERS' SAFETY * Canada - Who is behind the sleep apnea study ?

* Ontario - The Toronto Rehabilitation Institute will be conducting a study to analyze the sleep apnea in the Canadian trucking industry
-- The institute’s partner, a company called BresoTec, is providing the home sleep-testing equipment for the estimated 1,000 participants they hope to attract for the study... A glance into BresoTec’s role in the study, and the products it manufactures and markets, reveals more about an entire sleep-testing and treatment industry that is standing by to gain from any possible government requirement... BresoTec is supplying a product called BresoDx for the study participants. The company describes it as a proprietary sleep-testing device that helps determine the prevalence and severity of apnea. The company claims its device is an alternative to expensive and time-consuming sleep testing in a laboratory... Interestingly, the company’s website address, bresotec.com, automatically redirects to another home-diagnostic product called the ApneaDx, manufactured by a company called iDapt Somno... Perhaps even more interesting, however, is that the iDapt Somno was developed by a team of scientists and engineers that include Dr. Geoff Fernie, a biomedical and mechanical engineer who also happens to be institute director at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute... 
(Photo: This motion simulator platform is one of many technological advancements to be seen in the Toronto Rehab Institute's Challenging Environment Assessment Lab)  --   Toronto, ONT, CAN - Land Line, by David Tanner - 3 June 2015

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Feb 11, 2012

TRUCKERS' APNEA * USA

* DC - OOIDA's Spencer: "Apnea suggestions ignore real safety risks"

Washington,DC,USA -Land Line, by Charlie Morasch -10 Feb 2012: -- Recommendations made last week by two FMCSA advisory panels appear to be geared toward making profits but ignore safety risks they’re intending to address, OOIDA Executive Vice President, Todd Spencer, says... The FMCSA Medical Review Board and the FMCSA Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee met jointly last week in the Washington DC-area. The joint panel was slated to discuss recommendations for sleep apnea and electronic on-board recorders... Because both boards are advisory in nature, the joint recommendations may be proposed for a rule, ignored, or amended and later presented... Spencer, a member of MCSAC, told Land Line Now, the sleep lab industry and CPAP makers appear to have found an investment target in CDL-holders... The OOIDA Foundation researched cost of sleep labs and calculated that 49 percent of the 3.5 million commercial truck drivers have a BMI of 30 or greater. If that number of drivers is required to undergo sleep lab exams, such a rule would cost truckers $5.25 billion...

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