Project Proposal
Health and Wellbeing for Taxi and
Private Hire Drivers
Impact Factors
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Vibration
Sedentary role
Isolation
Environmental factors – eating, toilet facilities
Hours of work
Customer factors –violence, aggression, theft,
drink/drugs, unpredictability
• Driving risks
Risk Factors
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Road vibrations over extended period can impact physical health
Sitting for long periods has implications for posture, musculoskeletal damage,
lack of exercise, blood pooling to the legs, vein damage.
Isolation can cause stress, or inhibit normal stress management solutions
Exposure to airborne vehicle pollutants, especially in large cities
Manual handling of loads, luggage and wheelchair users.
Limited options for healthy eating, exercise, variety, toilet facilities, hand
washing, and basic good practice for health
Potential for violence or confrontation, and/or psychological damage from the
potential for violence
Self-employed status limits support – no sick-pay, no redundancy, longer hours
means more income, but no limits to hours
Lack of interaction with colleagues can cause or exaggerate social problems
Self-employment inhibits complaints about conditions or hours
Potential effects
• WBV (whole body vibration) damage
• Mental health problems, stress, anger, instability, incremental
problems over time
• Prevalence of cancer –especially bowel and stomach
• Prevalence of CPD and other lung diseases
• Increased likelihood of drug or alcohol dependency
• Increased likelihood of liver and kidney problems, eg diabetes.
• Sleep disorders
• Musculoskeletal disorders caused by cramped conditions and
poor posture, or handling of loads or wheelchair users
• Injury from motor vehicle accidents
Wider impacts
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Cost to health services
Potential danger to other road users
Negative media attention, possibly impact licensing authorities
Impacts to individuals and families
– Mental health –divorce, break-ups, breakdowns
– Potential for violence or stress-induced issues
– Unlimited hours of work for drivers can limit family time and quality of time
spent with family
– Physical ill-health or death of a member of the family
– Financial consequences of ill-health – no sick pay for self-employed
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Damage to the perception of the trade – poor conditions deter new
entrants, and limit applications from women and younger people
Potential partnerships
involved
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PCTs, or Health Action Teams
Licensing
Environmental health (or similar)
Unions, and Unionlearn
Merseytravel/Merseylearn
People 1st
Taxi Operators
Mental health support agencies
notes
• At 3.30am in the city centre, a police officer
has protective clothing, helmet, special
training, baton, CS gas, radio, toilet facilities,
regular breaks, phone, and works as part of a
trained team.
• A taxi driver may have none of these, but be
in the same place at the same time