NIOSH study reveals safety issues in long-haul trucking

New data from The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) highlights a number of important safety issues facing long-haul truck drivers (LHTDs) and their employers.

The study, published in the December 2015 issue of the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention, is the first to describe truck crashes, work-related injuries, work environments, and driver training, attitudes, and behaviors.

Approximately 1,701,500 people were employed as heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in the United States in 2012. The majority of them were long-haul truck drivers (LHTDs).

There is limited data on occupational injury and safety in LHTDs, which prompted a targeted national survey. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health conducted a nationally representative survey of 1265 LHTDs at 32 truck stops across the contiguous United States in 2010.

Data was collected on truck crashes, near misses, moving violations, work-related injuries, work environment, safety climate, driver training, job satisfaction, and driving behaviors.

Results suggested that an estimated 2.6% of LHTDs reported a truck crash in 2010, 35% reported at least one crash while working as an LHTD, 24% reported at least one near miss in the previous 7 days, 17% reported at least one moving violation ticket and 4.7% reported a non-crash injury involving days away from work in the previous 12 months.