Fleetworthy Solutions, a company that provides fully managed safety and compliance services as part of its mission to help motor carriers surpass DOT regulatory requirements, announced a new Sleep Apnea Management offering.
The managed service handles driver screening, sleep diagnosis, education and training, equipment provisioning, document tracking, and ongoing usage monitoring for sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea affects roughly 20 million Americans. Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is the most common form of sleep apnea for truck drivers which is caused by partial or complete blockage of the airway passage.
Many large-truck crashes have been directly attributed to obstructive sleep apnea. According to Harvard University’s Graduate School of Public Health, untreated drivers with OSA have a 500 percent higher risk of crashing than truckers without the sleep disorder.
Currently the DOT does not require sleep apnea screening since the Trump administration cancelled the proposed requirement as part of a larger effort to reduce transportation regulations. Many leading carriers are moving forward with their own OSA safety initiatives, however.
“Fleetworthy Solutions dedication to motor carrier safety made it impossible for us to ignore that 1 in 4 drivers likely have sleep apnea. We are fulfilling an obligation to our customers and demonstrating our commitment to the trucking industry by providing a turn-key Sleep Apnea Management service,” said Michael Precia, chief executive of Fleetworthy Solutions.
Undiagnosed and untreated sleep apnea poses serious liability and risk to the fleet should a driver be involved in a DOT-reportable crash where ‘Driver Fatigue’ is a determinant in the cause.
Fleetworthy says that pricing and details can be requested online, over the phone, or by sending an email to [email protected].