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“The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.”
– Colin Powell
Chairman, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1989-93
Drivers' Health Joins List of Key Retention Issues
Question: What weighs 240 pounds, has a 90 percent chance of taking medication for high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol or heart problems and likely suffers from sleep apnea?
Answer: The average American male truck driver.
That’s the not-so-pretty picture that emerged from a survey of 2,000 truck drivers conducted by the Professional Drivers Medical Depots (PDMD).
According to the PDMD survey, nearly 65 percent of truck drivers rate their health as fair or poor – with 85 percent citing their top concerns as heart disease or diabetes. Additionally, 70 percent of drivers are at high risk for sleep apnea. The study also shows that a driver’s Body Mass Index is a good predictor for this ailment.
The alarming sleep apnea results triggered a sleep-related study of truck drivers.
Given the ongoing driver shortage and the obvious desire to keep its drivers healthy and happy and thus, boost retention rates, many carriers now consider health care a critical part of a driver’s compensation package. To that end, a growing number of companies are adding wellness programs, free health screenings, fully equipped gyms at selected terminals and other health-oriented benefits to their arsenal of driver recruitment and retention tools.
“Heart disease and diabetes are often interrelated, and as you can imagine, given some of their occupational risks, the numbers are even higher for professional drivers than among the average population,” says Dr. John McElligott, chairman and CEO of PDMD. “And without regular medical care, these conditions, which could be diagnosed, monitored and treated, are often left until it is too late.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that carbon monoxide from vehicle exhaust is the most common occupational exposure contributing to heart disease. Other factors such as sporadic shift work that disrupts natural circadian rhythms, heavy tobacco use and exposure to smoke, regular exposure to the extreme heat and cold, and too little physical activity can contribute to an abundance of cardiovascular disease among the drivers.
PDMD is working to establish a national system of health care clinics at truck stops and travel centers across the country, so that drivers can more easily access health care while on the road. PDMD recently celebrated the grand opening of its latest facility at the Petro in West Memphis, AR.
