News Sleepy Pilots, Rail Workers and Drivers: National Sleep Foundation Poll Explores Transportation Workers’ Sleep — WB&A Market Research Conducts the 2012 Sleep in America® Annual Poll

Posted by WBA Research    Mar 05, 2012   0 comments
 
WB&A Market Research conducted The 2012 Sleep in America®annual poll for the National Sleep Foundation.  It is the first poll to ask transportation professionals, including pilots, rail workers, truck, bus, taxi and limo drivers about their sleep habits and work performance.
 
The results of the poll are striking. About one-fourth of rail workers (26%) and pilots (23%) admit that sleepiness has affected their job performance at least once a week, compared to about one in six non-transportation workers (17%).
 
Perhaps more disturbingly, a significant number say that sleepiness has caused safety problems on the job. One in five pilots (20%) admit that they have made a serious error and one in six rail workers (18%) and truck drivers (14%) say that they have had a “near miss” due to sleepiness.
 
Sleepiness has also played a role in car accidents to and from work. Pilots and rail workers are significantly more likely than non-transportation workers (6% each, compared to 1%) to say that they have been involved in a car accident due to sleepiness while commuting.
 
“Driving home from work after a long shift is associated with crashes due to sleepiness,” says Dr. Sanjay Patel, a sleep researcher at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. “We should all be concerned that pilots and rail workers report car crashes due to sleepiness at a rate that is six times greater than that of other workers.”