With record heat torching virtually every corner of the country, it is important to fully understand what you can do to protect you and your equipment from the higher temperatures and humidity.
Heat exhaustion and heat stroke are created when our body is unable to regulate our heat production at a safe level. The first step is to recognize the signs and symptoms for these conditions.
According to the National Safety Council, heatstroke is the most serious and life-threatening heat-related illness. In certain circumstances, your body can build up too much heat, your temperature may rise to life-threatening levels, and you can become delirious or lose consciousness. If you do not rid your body of excess heat fast enough, it "cooks" the brain and other vital organs. It is often fatal, and those who do survive may have permanent damage to their vital organs.
Symptoms of heatstroke:
- The victim's body feels extremely hot when touched.
- Altered mental status (behavior) ranging from slight confusion and disorientation to coma.
- Conscious victims usually become irrational, agitated, or even aggressive and may have seizures.
- In severe heatstroke, the victim can go into a coma in less than one hour. The longer the coma lasts, the lower the chance for survival.
What to do?
- Move person to a half-sitting position in the shade.
- Call for emergency medical help immediately.
- If humidity is below 75%, spray victim with water and vigorously fan. If humidity is above 75%, apply ice packs on neck, armpits or groin.
Heat exhaustion is characterized by heavy perspiration with normal or slightly above normal body temperatures. It is caused by water or salt depletion or both (severe dehydration). Heat exhaustion affects workers and athletes who do not drink enough fluids while working or exercising in hot environments.
Symptoms of heat exhaustion include:
- Severe thirst, fatigue, headache, nausea, vomiting and sometimes diarrhea.
- The affected person often mistakenly believes he or she has the flu.
- Uncontrolled heat exhaustion can evolve into heatstroke.
- Profuse sweating
- Clammy or pale skin
- Dizziness
- Rapid pulse
- Normal or slightly above normal body temperature
What to do?
- Sit or lie down in the shade.
- Drink cool water or a sports drink.
- Stretch affected muscles.
- If persistent, gently apply wet towels and call for emergency medical help.
Heat cramps are painful muscular spasms that happen suddenly, affecting legs or abdominal muscles. They usually happen after physical activity in people who sweat a lot or have not had enough fluids.
These conditions can be further escalated by your physical condition. People at a greater risk for heat exhaustion and heat stroke are those with heart disease, skin diseases, endocrine disorders such as diabetes or hyperthyroidism, high blood pressure, insomnia, or that are overweight.
What can you do to prevent heat related diseases?
- Be prepared and use common sense.
- Limit your exposure to direct sunlight as much as possible. Drink more fluids (non-alcoholic); do not drink fluids that contain caffeine or large amounts of sugar. Sport drinks are good as they replace electrolytes and salt in your body. Avoid extremely cold fluids as these can cause stomach cramps. Drink often throughout the day 4-6 ounces at a time.
- Wear light-weight, light-colored and loose-fitting clothing that does not create a safety hazard for your work environment. If outdoors, wear a hat to reduce direct exposure to the sun.
- Avoid hot foods and heavy meals. They add heat to your body.
- Consider packing a cooler with water for the day. Also, keep an umbrella in the truck if you are operating in extreme conditions (desolate, desert, etc.), this will allow you to move to an area with breeze and still be protected from the sun.
Next month, we will take a look at how to ensure your truck is ready for the high heat. Until then, stay cool and safe.
Article provided by the National Private Truck Council as one of their monthly safety letters for truck drivers.
Driving Ambition is a premier CDL truck driver staffing company serving Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, and Tennessee. Since 2001, we have specialized in matching safe, experienced CDL drivers for our customers and great job opportunities for our professional truck drivers.
Our commitment to safety and building solid working relationships with both customers and CDL drivers has allowed us to earn an unparalleled reputation with our Proven Drivers and Exceptional Service.
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Driving Ambition is proud to be a sponsor of the Indiana Motor Truck Association’s Spring Council Conference. The annual Conference, put on by the Safety & Maintenance Council, will be held on Wednesday and Thursday, May 9-10, at the Sheraton Indianapolis Hotel at Keystone Crossing.
This informative, two-day Conference will feature a variety of critical transportation-related topics, including:
- Driver Recruitment & Retention – presented by Jeremy Reymer, President & CEO of Driving Ambition
- Driver Wellness – presented by Chuck Gillespie, Program Director for Wellness Council of Indiana
- Cargo Theft – presented by Ari Berlin, Federal Bureau of Investigations
- FMCSA Update (CSA, EOBRs, HOS, and Sleep Apnea) – Kenneth Strickland, Division Administrator for FMCSA
- Fuel / Energy Price Advisory – presented by Jack Hunter, Risk Management Consultant for INTL FCStone, Inc.
- Alternative Fuels – Panel discussion led by Kellie Walsh, Greater Indiana Clean Cities Coalition
- Maintenance Compliance – presented by Michael Irwin, DEKRA Automotive North America, Commercial Fleet Performance Systems
- Indiana Transportation Projects – Keith Bucklew, Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT)
The Spring Council Conference begins in the afternoon on Wednesday, May 9, followed by an Awards Dinner featuring key-note speaker Rob Abbott, VP of Safety Policy for ATA. The Conference will end before noon on Thursday, May 10.
At only $80 for IMTA members to attend (only $130 for non-members), this is an incredible value!
For more information, and to register online, click here.
Register now and join us for this important industry update!
Driving Ambition is a premier CDL truck driver staffing company serving Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Since 2001, we have specialized in matching safe, experienced CDL drivers for our customers and great job opportunities for our professional truck drivers.
Our commitment to safety and building solid working relationships with both customers and CDL drivers has allowed us to earn an unparalleled reputation with our Proven Drivers and Exceptional Service.
The FMCSA recently announced two upcoming events that will take them on the road to talk directly with drivers about the new medical certification process and how it will affect them.
These “road shows”, titled “What’s New in Commercial Driver Medical Certification”, will be held in Indianapolis, IN (July 21) and in Jessup, MD (August 18).
Mary Gunnels, Ph.D., FMCSA director of the Office of Medical Programs, and Dr. Benisse Lester, the agency’s chief medical officer will present the program for truck drivers. Gunnels and Lester will discuss the importance of driver medical examinations, certification, and share the latest news on driver health and safety. Other likely topics will deal with sleep apnea, the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners, and the issuance of new medical standards.
"Do you have questions or comments for FMCSA? Share what is on your mind at a listening session. This is your chance to tell FMCSA what you think," reads an announcement for the upcoming meetings.
Driving Ambition is a premier CDL truck driver staffing company serving Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Since 2001, we have specialized in matching safe, experienced CDL drivers for our customers and great job opportunities for our professional truck drivers.
Our commitment to safety and building solid working relationships with both customers and CDL drivers has allowed us to earn an unparalleled reputation with our Proven Drivers and Exceptional Service.
At the first ever Sleep Apnea & Trucking Conference, held in Baltimore, MD, a sold out crowd of trucking industry leaders, sleep medicine professionals, regulators and vendors gathered to discuss solutions for the serious problem of sleep apnea in trucking. The two-day event was hosted by the American Sleep Apnea Association (ASAA) and co-sponsored by the American Trucking Associations (ATA) and the FMCSA.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), the most common category of sleep-disordered breathing, is a condition where airways become obstructed while sleeping, typically resulting in "hypoxia" or low blood oxygen levels at night. The obstruction leads to interruptions in breathing lasting several seconds at a time, loud snoring, and non-restful sleep. OSA has been demonstrated to significantly increase safety and health risks, leading to extreme daytime sleepiness.
Medical research has shown that OSA is a significant cause of motor vehicle crashes (resulting in a two- to seven-fold increased risk). Studies also suggest that commercial motor vehicle (CMV) operators have a higher prevalence of OSA than the general population. According to FMCSA research, around 30 percent of drivers suffer from mild to severe sleep apnea.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) renewed its campaign to broaden the use of sleep disorder screening across all modes of transportation - air, rail, marine, and trucking - as part of a long-term effort to significantly reduce the negative effects of fatigue. According to NTSB Vice Chairman Christopher Hart, fatigue and sleep apnea are major problems of the trucking industry and regulators need better awareness and better treatments to address the problem properly.
Hart proposed that the FMCSA incorporate new sleep disorder suggestions in an online medical examiner book. He also said he believes FMCSA will complete a revised examination report form by September to include the assessment of sleep disorders and publish a best practices guide for examiners.
Currently, there are few rules in transportation addressing OSA. In trucking, FMCSA asks about sleep disorders, OSA, daytime sleepiness, and snoring on the questionnaire completed by commercial truck drivers undergoing examination for medical certification. Further, the FMCSA Medical Review Board in 2008 recommended that the adminstration require OSA screening for all drivers with a body mass index (BMI) over 30, but the FMCSA has yet to act on that recommendation.
Regulators say that sleep disorders are big problems of the trucking industry. FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro, who spoke at the Conference, said that fatigue-related crashes need to be reduced in the trucking industry, and that more research, programs, events, and targeted outreach and intervention will reduce drowsy driving accidents. "We consider fatigue to be a high risk behavior, something we're addressing as part of our core mission to reduce severe and fatal crashes involving commercial motor vehicles," said Ferro. "We know sleep apnea contributes to fatigue, that it interferes with safe driving. Thus sleep apnea is a threat to safety."
Over twenty speakers spoke at the two-day conference. Among them was R. Clay Porter, partner, Dennis, Corry, Porter & Smith, LLP. Mr. Porter examined the potential legal ramifications of drivers with sleep apnea on the road. While sleep apnea has not become a major player in the realm of truck litigation, it is "going to be part of this legal landscape sooner rather than later." Recommendations have already been made placing drivers, employers, and physicians on notice about this problem, along with proposed specific steps that should be taken to reduce preventable accidents attributed to OSA. In addition, existing case law exists to frame an argument for punitive damages for employers, and criminal convictions for employees and employers if OSA problems are ignored or hidden. The word to the wise is "deficio gero vestrum periclitatus", which roughly translates to "fail to act at your peril."
Those unable to attend the sold-out conference can purchase the Resource Toolkit, a comprehensive manual with materials on sleep apnea and trucking, which will be available after the conference at http://www.satc2010.org/. You can also click here for a variety of sleep apnea treatment options from the ASAA.
Driving Ambition is a premier CDL truck driver staffing company serving Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Since 2001, we have specialized in matching safe, experienced CDL drivers for our customers and great job opportunities for our professional truck drivers.
Our commitment to safety and building solid working relationships with both customers and CDL drivers has allowed us to earn an unparalleled reputation with our Proven Drivers and Exceptional Service.
The American Trucking Association (ATA) is co-sponsoring the first-ever national conference on sleep apnea and commercial motor vehicle drivers on Wednesday, May 12, 2010, at The Westin Baltimore Washington Airport - BWI in Baltimore. The conference will feature presentations and panel discussions that focus on providing a common understanding of sleep apnea diagnosis and treatment, clarifying current and proposed regulations, establishing an ongoing forum of experts to generate guidance for improvements, and providing trucking management with the resources to improve employee health and safety.
The illness afflicts at least 20 million Americans - equal to or more than asthma or diabetes - yet more than 85% remain undiagnosed, according to the American Sleep Apnea Association (ASAA), which is co-hosting the ATA's sleep apnea conference. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a condition in which an individual's airway is blocked while sleeping, typically resulting in frequent breathing interruptions lasting from 10 seconds to more than a minute at a time, loud snoring and non-restorative sleep. One controlled study found that people with OSA have a six times greater risk of being involved in a traffic crash and a seven times greater risk of having multiple crashes.
"Sleep apnea is a major problem in the truck driver community," said Dana Voien, President of SleepSafe Drivers. He said sleep apnea affects about 6% to 12% of the adult male population, but 28% to 30% of truck drivers - a factor he ties to the unusually high obesity rate among drivers. In addition to being a potential safety risk on the highway, drivers with sleep apnea face a long list of increased health risks, including hypertension, diabetes, memory loss, chronic fatigue, obesity, and a doubling of the chance of heart attack and stroke.
The one-day conference will be preceded by a reception and keynote address from NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman on May 11, 2010.
For more information, visit http://www.satc2010.org/.
Driving Ambition is a premier CDL truck driver staffing company serving Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Since 2001, we have specialized in matching safe, experienced CDL drivers for our customers and great job opportunities for our professional truck drivers.
Our commitment to safety and building solid working relationships with both customers and CDL drivers has allowed us to earn an unparalleled reputation with our Proven Drivers and Exceptional Service.
Debbie Hersman, the new chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), recently spoke out on the Board's support for mandatory electronic onboard recorders (EOBRs) in all trucks. Outfitting all commercial trucks with EOBRs will allow for the monitoring of driver hours and fatigue, which contributes to many truck-involved accidents.
"Fatigue is actually one of the most insidious issues in the transportation industry. Transportation is a 24/7 operation and fatigue has been on our most-wanted list of transportation safety improvements," Hersman said.
In addition, she said, "We investigate accidents on a regular basis where we find two sets of logbooks. "We think that if you want to raise the standard for the industry and level the playing field for all drivers, that you've got to have an honest way of accounting the hours that people are working."
NTSB has no regulatory authority, so Hersman said the board relies on agencies adopting its safety recommendations.
Driving Ambition is a premier CDL truck driver staffing company serving Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Since 2001, we have specialized in matching safe, experienced CDL drivers for our customers and great job opportunities for our professional truck drivers.
Our commitment to safety and building solid working relationships with both customers and CDL drivers has allowed us to earn an unparalleled reputation with our Proven Drivers and Exceptional Service.
A recent study has confirmed that obesity-driven testing strategies identify CDL drivers with a high likelihood of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and suggests that mandating OSA screenings could reduce the risk of truck crashes.
"Truck drivers with sleep apnea are much more likely to fall asleep at the wheel, and the condition is increasingly common as Americans become more obese," said the study's senior author, Stefanos N. Kales, MD. "Additionally, we found that drivers who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea frequently underreport symptoms and diagnoses and often do not follow through with sleep study referrals and sleep apnea treatment."
OSA is a syndrome characterized by sleep-disordered breathing, resulting in excessive daytime sleepiness, sleep attacks, psychomotor deficits, and disrupted nighttime sleep. It increases the risk of a vehicular accident by two- to seven-fold, and is common among truck drivers. Approximately 2.4 - 3.9 million licensed commercial drivers in the U.S. are expected to have OSA. In addition to being unrecognized or unreported by drivers, OSA often remains undiagnosed by many primary care clinicians despite the fact that OSA increases the risks of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and heart disease.
The study, funded in part by the FMCSA and published by the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, has significant policy ramifications, as the FMCSA is already deliberating recommendations to require sleep apnea screening for all obese drivers based on body mass index or "BMI" (BMI is calculated based on height and weight). The Administration requires medical certification of licensed commercial drivers at least every two years. These occupational medicine exams present a unique opportunity for detecting OSA as part of determining a driver's safety behind the wheel.
"OSA screenings of truck drivers will be ineffective unless they are federally mandated or required by employers," said Dr. Kales. In the future, the FMCSA may consider the recommendation as part of a comprehensive medical rulemaking.
Click here for a Body Mass Index Calculator
Driving Ambition is a premier CDL truck driver staffing company serving Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Since 2001, we have specialized in matching safe, experienced CDL drivers for our customers and great job opportunities for our professional truck drivers.
Our commitment to safety and building solid working relationships with both customers and CDL drivers has allowed us to earn an unparalleled reputation with our Proven Drivers and Exceptional Service.
Investigations have found that tens of thousands of CDL truck drivers remain on the road, despite medical conditions that should disqualify them. Last month reporters found several instances where medically unfit drivers had caused fatal crashes. The driver in one fatal Ohio crash had 27 different prescription drugs in his cab, although none were detected in his blood. His medical certificate had expired just a week earlier.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported in 2007 that truck drivers' heart attacks or other physical impairments were responsible for some 4,000 serious truck crashes from April 2001 through December 2003, while another 5,000 were caused by drivers falling asleep. Researchers estimate that more than 28 percent of all truckers suffer from sleep apnea to some degree.
Last summer, congressional investigators reported that one out of three medical certificates examined at roadside stops could not be verified -- either the doctors who signed the certificates could not be found or they denied ever conducting an exam claimed by a driver.
Under current law, commercial drivers are required to carry a copy of their medical certificate with them as proof of having passed the exam. But state regulators have no way to verify the information on the document in real time. In Ohio, for instance, commercial driver's licenses are issued by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, but medical certification is handled by the state Public Utilities Commission. "We have no means to verify a certificate when we have a driver stopped alongside the road for an inspection," said PUC official Milan Orbovich. "We have a big level of concern."
Federal officials say that out of 3.4 million roadside inspections in 2007, there were more than 145,000 citations issued to drivers who did not have a copy of their medical certificate, more than 42,000 who had expired certificates and another 4,300 with improper certificates. Blank medical-certificate cards are easily downloaded from government Web sites, and there are no safeguards to keep a driver from filling out his or her own medical papers. They can pick a doctor's name from the phone book, sign the certificate themselves and look up the medical provider's license number online.
Under rules adopted in January, the FMCSA will require drivers to send a copy of their medical certificates to state driver-licensing agencies. Those agencies will then merge the medical information on an electronic record in the national commercial-driver-license database. This new regulation is to be fully up and running in 2012. The three-year delay is needed to give state DMVs time to set up new recordkeeping and storage systems. Once it's in place, the system will make it much harder for drivers to either falsify exams or "doctor shop" for examiners who will pass over problems that should keep them from behind the wheel of 80,000-pound rigs.
The new system is not foolproof, but it will be a considerable improvement and be safer for both the truckers and the motorists with whom they share the roads.
Have you experienced any "sleep disorders, pauses in breathing while asleep, daytime sleepiness, loud snoring?"
This single question is currently the extent of identifying commercial drivers with sleep apnea.
This is why federal safety officials announced last month an aggressive new stance in identifying sleep apnea that would affect CDL drivers.
In a letter to the FMCSA, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended that the agency implement a program to identify commercial drivers at high risk for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The NTSB also recommended that drivers be required to provide evidence that they've been evaluated for OSA and treated if necessary.
The NTSB also wants the FMCSA to distribute guidance to commercial drivers, employers and physicians on identifying and treating OSA.
The FMCSA is already considering a rule to tighten its standards for medical certification of commercial drivers.
Last year, the FMCSA Medical Review Board recommended the FMCSA require screening for OSA for drivers with a Body Mass Index over 30, but the agency has not acted on it.
It is unclear how soon the changes in regulations might take place or how such changes might be received by the trucking industry.
Driving Ambition is a premier CDL truck driver staffing company serving Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Since 2001, we have specialized in matching safe, experienced CDL drivers for our customers and great job opportunities for our professional truck drivers.
Our commitment to safety and building solid working relationships with both customers and CDL drivers has allowed us to earn an unparalleled reputation with our Proven Drivers and Exceptional Service.
More than 20 million Americans suffer from a potentially fatal sleep disorder and most of them are not aware they have a problem. Yet the consequences of untreated sleep apnea can be severe, ranging from unexplained fatigue to heart disease, hypertension, stroke, even premature death.
The disorder is a common cause of automobile and on-the-job accidents. Mood disorders, sexual dysfunction and cognitive difficulties can also result from untreated sleep apnea.
People with sleep apnea stop breathing repeatedly while sleeping, sometimes as often as 100 times in an hour. This disruption deprives a person of both sleep and oxygen and triggers the body's stress response. Over time this leads to high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.
Do you snore? Are you often tired during the day? Are you overweight? Loud, heavy snoring is the hallmark of sleep apnea and the sleeping partners of those affected are often the first to notice. Other signs of sleep apnea are high blood pressure and physical abnormality in the nose, throat or other parts of the upper airway. Sleep apnea may also be genetically based.
The good news is that treatment is available. Behavior therapy, mechanical devices, such as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), oral appliances and surgery are all used to treat the problem.
For an in-depth overview of sleep apnea, how if affects CDL drivers along with various ways to detect it and treat it, visit the Sleep Apnea page of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute's website by clicking here.
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Driving Ambition is a premier CDL truck driver staffing company serving Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Since 2001, we have specialized in matching safe, experienced CDL drivers for our customers and great job opportunities for our professional truck drivers.
Our commitment to safety and building solid working relationships with both customers and CDL drivers has allowed us to earn an unparalleled reputation with our Proven Drivers and Exceptional Service.