New medical standards looming

New truck driver medical standards will improve safety and reduce costs, says ATA

Speaking at the recent NSW Road Freight Forum in Sydney, the CEO of the Australian Trucking Association, Christopher Melham, said the looming new medical standards for truck drivers would improve safety and reduce costs.

Used by doctors when conducting medicals for driver licensing and accreditation schemes, the new standards will come into effect from October 1.

Mr Melham said that the new standard's focus on sleep apnoea was especially welcome.

"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 would also allow safe, experienced drivers with hearing loss that exceeded the allowable threshold to continue working, where possible.

"The new standards make it clear that these expert drivers can be individually assessed for their ability to keep driving safely," he said.

"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 were developed by the National Transport Commission and Austroads.

Click here to view the new standards.

New medical standards looming

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