One job or two? Truck driver work, sleep, alertness and performance Hamish Mackie Work (14 hours, incl commuting) Sleep (8 hours) Life: exercise, eating recreation, chores, family, community (2 hours!!!?) Problem / Questions Study design Initial meetings with operators and day with driver to scope issues and task demands Questionnaire (225 drivers, 16% of pop) Anonymous information from operators used to validate some variables (weight, hearing etc) ‘In cab’ half-day driver interviews (15 drivers) Industry focus group for recommendations Key Findings Obesity: Nutrition/exercise Workplace injuries Work/life balance (incl working hours and fatigue) Drowsy drivers 50 45 40 % of drivers 35 30 25 drowsy now and then 20 drowsy at least "fairly regularly" 15 10 5 0 4 5 6 7 8 9 or more Hours of sleep per night • 25% of drivers report getting 4-5 hours sleep per night • 15% of drivers report feeling drowsy while truck driving on a frequent basis Log truck driver sleep, alertness and performance Loss of control log truck ‘roll-overs’ 2001-2009 55 50 45 40 No. of Crashes 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Day of Week Friday Saturday Sunday Considerations and purpose Purpose: Describe the sleep patterns of log truck drivers Determine whether sleep patterns are likely to be contributors to early working week crash risk. 7:22:00 8:01:00 8:40:00 9:19:00 9:58:00 10:37:00 11:16:00 11:55:00 12:34:00 13:13:00 13:52:00 14:31:00 15:10:00 15:49:00 16:28:00 17:07:00 17:46:00 18:25:00 19:04:00 19:43:00 20:22:00 21:01:00 21:40:00 22:19:00 22:58:00 23:37:00 0:16:00 0:55:00 1:34:00 2:13:00 2:52:00 3:31:00 4:10:00 4:49:00 5:28:00 6:07:00 6:46:00 Activity counts Study method Two main stages of data collection: 1) Validation of a sleep diary using activity monitors (12 drivers, both sleep diary and activity monitor for 1 week) 2) A survey of drivers (45 drivers, 7-day sleep diary only plus questions) 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 Time Findings Summary of Sleep diary results for each night of the week Night Time to bed (average) Time asleep (average) Time wake (average) Total Sleep duration (average) Rating of sleep (average)* Monday 8:15 PM 8:40 PM 3:02 AM 6hrs 17min 3.4 Tuesday 8:15 PM 8:37 PM 2:54 AM 6hrs 17min 3.6 Wednesday 8:20 PM 8:39 PM 2:49 AM 6hrs 16min 3.5 Thursday 8:45 PM 9:00 PM 3:28 AM 6hrs 31min 3.7 Friday 9:45 PM 10:15 PM 6:40 AM 8hrs 39min 4.1 Saturday 9:02 PM 9:33 PM 6:17 AM 7hrs 48min 3.7 Sunday 8:08 PM 8:37 PM 2:55 AM 6hrs 29min 3.5 * 1 = very bad, 5 = great Findings Number of weekday driver nights Summary of Sleep diary results for week nights 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Generally recommended hours sleep per night Hours sleep (per night) Belenky et al. (2003), J Sleep Res, 12, 1-12 Questionnaire results Times of the week (Monday am, Monday pm, Tuesday am etc) drivers felt they were at most risk of tiredness, fatigue or loss of attention 75 70 tiredness risk 65 60 55 50 45 40 Mon am Mon pm Tues am Tues pm Wed am Wed pm Thurs Thurs Fri am Fri pm am pm Questionnaire results Comments from those who ranked Mondays or Tuesdays as times of high risk for tiredness, fatigue or loss of attention : Questionnaire results What could be done to make tiredness or fatigue less of a problem for log truck drivers?: Solution mentioned Less hours Regular start times higher wages later start Eat well / stay healthy (+ provision) Take breaks More sleep Improve scheduling Awareness/encouragement Log book pressure Stimulants Education public Manage weekend Places to pull over and socialise longer breaks Better roads Count 12 7 7 4 4 4 4 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Conclusions Not enough sleep Work during risky hours Weekend/weekday transition problems? Current working hours related to many driver issues Sleep Work (14 hours, incl (8 hours) commuting) Life: exercise, eating recreation, chores, family, community (2 hours!!!?) Thank you