Research gaps and needs for preventing worker fatigue in the transportation and utilities industries.

Background: The transportation and utilities industries include establishments engaged in the movement of passengers and freight, or the provision of public power, water, and other services. Along with the warehousing industry, they make up the US National Occupational Research Agenda's Transportation, Warehousing and Utilities (TWU) industry sector. In 2018 the sector composed 5% of the US workforce, with approximately 8 million workers.

Truck driver reported unrealistically tight delivery schedules linked to their opinions of maximum speed limits and hours-of-service rules and their compliance with these safety laws and regulations.

Objectives: The study objectives were to examine U.S. long-haul truck drivers (LHTDs)' opinions on their safety needs and to assess the associations of driver reported unrealistically tight delivery schedules with: (1) their opinions on their compensation, maximum speed limits, and Hours-of-Service (HOS) regulations, and (2) their behaviors of noncompliance with these safety laws and regulations.

A Descriptive Study of Musculoskeletal Injuries in Long-Haul Truck Drivers: A NIOSH National Survey.

Long-haul truck drivers are significantly affected by musculoskeletal injuries with incidence rates 3.5 times higher than the national average. Yet, little is known about injuries that affect long-haul trucks drivers.

A Pilot Study of Healthy Living Options at 16 Truck Stops Across the United States.

Purpose: There is a growing body of evidence that the built environment influences diet and exercise and, as a consequence, community health status. Since long-haul truck drivers spend long periods of time at truck stops, it is important to know if this built environment includes resources that contribute to the emotional and physical well-being of drivers.

Setting: The truck stop environment was defined as the truck stop itself, grocery stores, and medical clinics near the truck stop that could be accessed by a large truck or safely on foot.

NIOSH national survey of long-haul truck drivers: Injury and safety.

Approximately 1,701,500 people were employed as heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in the United States in 2012. The majority of them were long-haul truck drivers (LHTDs). There are limited data on occupational injury and safety in LHTDs, which prompted a targeted national survey.

Vital signs: seat belt use among long-haul truck drivers--United States, 2010.

Background: Motor vehicle crashes were the leading cause of occupational fatalities in the United States in 2012, accounting for 25% of deaths. Truck drivers accounted for 46% of these deaths. This study estimates the prevalence of seat belt use and identifies factors associated with nonuse of seat belts among long-haul truck drivers (LHTDs), a group of workers at high risk for fatalities resulting from truck crashes.

National Survey of US Long-Haul Truck Driver Health and Injury: health behaviors.

Objective: To compare selected health behaviors and body mass index (modifiable risk factors) of US long-haul truck drivers to the US working population by sex.

Methods: The National Survey of US Long-Haul Truck Driver Health and Injury interviewed a nationally representative sample of long-haul truck drivers (n = 1265) at truck stops. Age-adjusted results were compared with national health surveys.

Obesity and other risk factors: the national survey of U.S. long-haul truck driver health and injury.

Background: Drivers of heavy and tractor-trailer trucks accounted for 56% of all production and nonsupervisory employees in the truck transportation industry in 2011. There are limited data for illness and injury in long-haul truck drivers, which prompted a targeted national survey.

Methods: Interviewers collected data during 2010 from 1,670 long-haul truck drivers at 32 truck stops across the 48 contiguous United States that were used to compute prevalence estimates for self-reported health conditions and risk factors.

Occupational exposures to respirable crystalline silica during hydraulic fracturing.

This report describes a previously uncharacterized occupational health hazard: work crew exposures to respirable crystalline silica during hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing involves high pressure injection of large volumes of water and sand, and smaller quantities of well treatment chemicals, into a gas or oil well to fracture shale or other rock formations, allowing more efficient recovery of hydrocarbons from a petroleum-bearing reservoir. Crystalline silica ("frac sand") is commonly used as a proppant to hold open cracks and fissures created by hydraulic pressure.

Environmental risk factors and work-related lower respiratory symptoms in 80 office buildings: an exploratory analysis of NIOSH data.

Background: We evaluated relationships between lower respiratory symptoms and risk factors for microbiological contamination in office buildings.

Methods: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health collected data from 80 office buildings during standardized indoor environmental health hazard evaluations. Present analyses included lower respiratory symptom-based outcome definitions and risk factors for potential microbiologic contamination.

Historical risks of tuberculin skin test conversion among non-physician staff at a large urban hospital.

Background: Nosocomial transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis among workers at a 1000-bed inner-city hospital led to an extensive evaluation of this risk among workers with potential exposure to TB patients or laboratory specimens.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study to determine the incidence and risk of tuberculin skin test (TST) conversions among workers employed 1/1/90 to 9/30/92.

Results: Personal, community, and occupational risk factors were evaluated in 2,362 workers with potential M.

Hearing protector use in noise-exposed workers: a retrospective look at 1983.

Although hearing protectors have been available for more than 60 years, little field surveillance has been done to assess their appropriate wear in noisy occupational environments. This study examined historical field survey data to determine whether workers use hearing protection when exposed to loud noise. Data from the 1981-83 NIOSH National Occupational Exposure Survey were analyzed to determine whether workers in noise greater than or equal to 85 dBA were using hearing protection.