The new truck driver medical standards will improve safety and reduce costs, the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Trucking Association, Christopher Melham, said today.
Mr Melham was speaking at the NSW Road Freight Forum in Sydney, held by ATA member association Road Freight NSW.
The medical standards are used by doctors conducting medicals for driver licensing and accreditation schemes such as the ATA’s TruckSafe program. The new version of the standards will come into force on 1 October.
Mr Melham said the new version included important changes to the standards for sleep apnoea. Sleep apnoea is a breathing disorder that occurs when people are asleep. Road users with sleep apnoea are 2-7 times more likely to have accidents than other drivers.
“The ATA has argued for many years that the approach to sleep apnoea in the medical standards is flawed,” Mr Melham said.
“Drivers are asked to self-report their level of sleepiness using a questionnaire, which then is used to calculate their risk of sleep apnoea.
“But we know that questionnaires are extremely subjective and underestimate the number of drivers who are at risk. An Australian study of 325 long distance truck drivers found that more than 40 per cent were likely to have undiagnosed sleep apnoea. Only 12 per cent would have tested positive for sleep apnoea on the questionnaire.
“As a result of work by the ATA, the new standards include a clear warning to doctors that they should not rely solely on subjective questionnaires to rule out sleep apnoea. They need to make a clinical judgement.
“It’s critical that drivers with sleep apnoea are diagnosed and get treatment. It’s a road safety issue and a quality of life issue as well. People who get treated say they have started waking up refreshed for the first time in years.”
Mr Melham said the new standards included an important change to the hearing section, to clarify when drivers should be referred for audiometry testing to assess their hearing.
“In the discussions about the new standards, the ATA pointed to cases where drivers have been routinely sent off for audiometry even when it wasn’t necessary. This just added to the cost of getting a medical.
“The new standard makes it clear that doctors should only refer drivers for audiometry if they have doubts about their hearing.”
Mr Melham said the new standards also set out a clear process to enable safe, experienced drivers to continue driving, even if their hearing loss with hearing aids exceeded the allowable threshold.
“The ATA is aware of cases where highly experienced truck drivers had to stop working because they could not meet the hearing requirements in the medical standards, even with hearing aids,” he said.
“The new standards make it clear that these expert drivers can be individually assessed for their ability to keep driving safely.
“The assessment could include a specialist considering the driver’s medical and driving history, the driving task and any assistive devices like extra mirrors that could be used. It could also involve a practical driver assessment.
“Taken as a whole, the new medical standards will improve safety, reduce the cost of driver medicals and help some of the industry’s safest and most experienced drivers stay on the road.
“The standards are an important win for the ATA, our members and Australia’s truck drivers,” he said.
The standards were developed by the National Transport Commission and Austroads, and published as Assessing Fitness to Drive.