title: Risks endemic to long-haul trucking in North America: strategies to protect and promote driver well-being.
abstract: Long-haul truck drivers in North America function in a work context marked by excess physical and psychological workload, erratic schedules, disrupted sleep patterns, extreme time pressures, and these factors' far-reaching consequences. These work-induced stressors are connected with excess risk for cardiometabolic disease, certain cancers, and musculoskeletal and sleep disorders, as well as highway crashes, which in turn exert enormous financial burdens on trucking and warehousing companies, governments and healthcare systems, along with working people within the sector. This article: 1) delineates the unique work environment of long-haul truckers, describing their work characteristics and duties; (2) discusses the health hazards of long-haul trucking that impact drivers, the general population, and trucking enterprises, examining how this work context induces, sustains, and exacerbates these hazards; and (3) proposes comprehensive, multi-level strategies with potential to protect and promote the health, safety, and well-being of truckers, while reducing adverse consequences for companies and highway safety.
authors: Department of Public Health Education of the School of Health and Human Sciences, University of North Carolina Greensboro.
authors: Yorghos
authors: Y
authors: Apostolopoulos
authors: Community Psychology doctoral program, Wichita State University.
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Lemke
authors: Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Hospitality, and Tourism, Bryan School of Business and Economics of the University of North Carolina Greensboro.
authors: Sevil
authors: S
authors: Sönmez
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001334:Automobile Driving; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D015984:Causality; D005221:Fatigue / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D018986:Motor Vehicles; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D009656:North America / Q000453:epidemiology; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational
keywords: excess driver morbidity; highway safety; long-haul truckers; prevention and protection strategies; work environment