A sick industry?

Thursday, 04 February 2010 10:04

Shocking stats spotlight driver health

The need to check professional drivers not only for their skills but also for driver fitness has become even stronger following revelations that 35.25% of 295 drivers tested recently on one day on the N3 at Bergville were found to be chronically hyper-sensitive with highly elevated blood pressures.

This statistic, which is being followed up through more roadblocks and test centres by KwaZulu-Natal and medical authorities, was revealed at a recent workshop held by the Chemical and Allied Industries’ Association (CAIA).

Several CAIA members, who operate in the dangerous goods sector, were almost stunned at hearing this statistic, as they have to conform to the most rigid transport codes of the Safety Quality Assessment System laid down by Sasol, AECI and the likes. And that includes regular driver health checkups.

The drivers were checked on a voluntary basis – in exchange for a free meal – during a Driver Well-being Day. Many were found to be unfit in terms of health problems such as high blood pressure, diabetes, tuberculosis, eyesight and hearing disorders.

The full test results are expected to be released soon.

The need for well-skilled, healthy drivers through proper driver management was stressed by Richard Durrant and Keith McMurray, both experts on dangerous goods haulage who serve on or advise various South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), CAIA and SABS transport-related committees and are virtually doyens of the dangerous goods sector of the transport industry.

Together with medical experts such as Dr Marina Botha, clinical standards manager of Life Occupational Health, and Karien Venter, a top road and traffic researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, they discussed the various approaches and services that are available to improve driver management and help reduce the carnage on South Africa’s roads.

Venter, who currently works toward a Master’s degree in Ergonomics, stated that driver behaviour was a neglected field of research in South Africa. “Very little is known about driver behaviour except for the fact that plus-minus 90% of crashes are attributed to human error.”

According to Venter’s (2008/9) figures, 12 000 people die in road accidents in South Africa annually, costing the economy R36 billion. She made the point that for each fatality, there were about 14 serious injury cases needing attention “within a South African healthcare sector not geared to the demand”.

Venter made a strong case for the need of companies whose core business was transport to treat road safety as an occupational safety issue, as the road was a workplace after all.

This should involve every one in the company, including top management, and lead to a culture of which every employee would be proud.

This view was shared by Desire Meyer, Unitrans divisional SHERQ manager, who discussed the advantages of a company driver wellness programme (for business and the driver) by giving a case study on how it was working for Unitrans Fuel and Chemical – one of the largest dangerous goods transporters in the Southern African Development Community.

All speakers were in agreement that South Africa was lacking severely in terms of driver training, driver health screening and monitoring, as well as law reinforcement which led to road accidents that not only involved licensed but many unlicensed drivers.

Fatalities

South African drivers are reputed to be among the worst in the world, but this has yet to be proven in court. But if world road fatalities are anything to go by, there is a case building up.

Presenting the driver simulator as a fast solution toward driver training at the recent Nepad Transport Summit in Midrand, Tito Ndibongo, a director of NRV Management Solutions, quoted from the latest World Health Organization’s Global Status Report showing up South Africa in bad company.

The report, which includes 178 countries covering 98% of the population, said that over 1.2 million people die in road accidents, and between 20 and 50 million people are injured every year around the globe. These accidents cost these countries a total of US$518bn.

A point he made was that 90% of accident deaths occur in emerging and developing countries that only have 48% of the world’s vehicles. “Fifty percent of people who die in road accidents are pedestrians, motor cyclists and motorbike users,” Ndibongo said, adding that most of them were young people.

While only 11% of all fatalities, costing US$465bn, occurred in Africa, the continent had the worldwide highest fatality rate (deaths per 10 000 motor vehicles), with Ethiopia, Uganda and Malawi leading the field.

He said, however, that the fatality risk (deaths per 100 000 people) was highest in a disparate group of countries including Thailand, Malaysia, South Africa and Saudi Arabia.

Ndibongo further promoted the use of simulator training, saying students could learn two to three times faster in a simulator compared to conventional driver training. Judging by the delegates’ excitement around his exhibit at the summit – a big truck driver simulator with 180 degrees driver vision – it could be fun, too.

Udo Rypstra

< Prev

Add comment

JComments

A sick industry?

Add comment

Popular Articles