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Addressing sleep apnea in public transit operations


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#1 CNJRoss

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Posted 29 June 2017 - 05:11 AM

Metro Magazine "Safety Corner" blog, 6/28/17:
 

Addressing sleep apnea in public transit operations

 

 

In 2015, the total economic impact from U.S. motor vehicle accidents was estimated at $26.2 billion, and AAA research attributes about 21% of fatal crashes to drowsy drivers. Furthermore, recent numbers from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics indicate that 247 rail passengers were killed in 2015. What’s worse is that many of these accidents are avoidable, and are linked to a very treatable disorder called sleep apnea.

 

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Sleep apnea in public transit operation
With Americans boarding public transportation 35 million times per weekday, their lives are in the hands of the transit employees and operators who must work together to get passengers to their destinations safely. The idea of a train or bus operator experiencing extreme exhaustion or falling asleep on the job is especially concerning, as lapses in concentration or falling asleep can result in injury or death for others. Here’s a video that shows how tired driving can be just as dangerous as driving under the influence.

Frost & Sullivan and the AASM estimate that undiagnosed OSA cost the U.S. economy about $150 billion, with much of that cost coming in the form of workplace accidents and motor vehicle accidents.

 

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#2 CNJRoss

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Posted 26 September 2017 - 08:23 AM

Progressive Railroading, 9/22/17:

 
NTSB to combine reports on NJ Transit, LIRR accidents; engineers had sleep apnea

 

092217-NJ-Transit-Hoboken-Terminal-crash

A NJ Transit Pascack Valley Line train collided at the NJ Transit Hoboken Terminal on Sept. 29, 2016. A bumping post of an adjacent track is in the foreground. Photo – NTSB photo by Chris O'Neill

 

The operators of two commuter trains involved in separate New York City-area crashes in the past year were both suffering from undiagnosed sleep apnea, according to records made public yesterday by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

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The board also is preparing a Special Investigation Report and will make recommendations focused on the findings from both accidents. The commonalities of the incidents — both involving bumping post collisions at the end of a track in a terminal — warrant one discussion of related safety issues, NTSB officials said in a press release.

 

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#3 KevinKorell

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Posted 09 November 2017 - 11:44 AM

ABC News, 11/8/17:

 


 

44 train engineers diagnosed with sleep apnea, sidelined

 


Dozens of New Jersey Transit train engineers were sidelined because testing imposed after a deadly rail crash found they suffered from sleep apnea.

 

The transit agency screened 373 engineers for sleep disorders, and 57 were taken out of service until a full study could be conducted.

 

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Kevin Korell


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#4 CNJRoss

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Posted 14 November 2018 - 01:39 PM

Railway Age, 11/5/18:
 

A failure to communicate—again

 

Written by Doug Riddell

 

 

2622159_110917-wpvi-apnea-engineers-5am-

I began using a CPAP machine in 2008—four years before I retired from my career as a locomotive engineer—and I continue to do so religiously. I didn’t have to be badgered or threatened. It wasn’t made a condition of my continued employment. My motive was and remains strictly self serving: I want to live.

 

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In addition to diet, exercise, regular doctor visits and medication, my cardiologist also wisely ordered a study that disclosed I had obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). It was explained to me that not only did I stop breathing frequently during the night, but as a result, I wasn’t truly getting my rest, no matter how long I slept.

 

This was long before sleep disorders were found to have significantly contributed to incidents involving a couple of early morning commuter services as well as a number of freight train collisions that occurred for no apparent reason other than human error. Sleep studies are now mandatory, but as so often happens in our industry, when implementing new regulations, the manner in which the issue is presented to employees can and does evolve into just another divisive barrier that separates management from employees, if allowed to do so. It’s perceived as just another rule to be used to make workers fear for the loss of their livelihood. An increasing portion of the workforce is former military personnel, accustomed to taking orders without question, but even they become apprehensive and suspicious.

 

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