Employers are being urged to introduce company-wide fatigue risk management strategies after a European report found that almost a third of drivers have fallen asleep while driving at least once in the past year.

The European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) report also found that around two-thirds of professional drivers regularly feel tired when driving (66% of bus and coach drivers; 60% of truck drivers).

The ETF says that despite the recognition of fatigue as a risk factor for accidents, and despite the existence of legislation on driving times and rest periods, driver fatigue remained a “widespread and structural” problem in the road passenger and freight transport sector in Europe.

And it isn’t pointing the blame at drivers – but at employers.

“Fatigue is never the driver’s fault: poor working conditions create fatigue,” the ETF says.

“Long hours for low wages, unpredictable working time, virtually no real breaks, bad sleep and rest facilities, inadequately equipped vehicles, all while slaloming buses full of passengers and trucks filled to the brim with goods through heavy traffic.”

“All this adds up to driver fatigue, endangering the safety of drivers and other road users, increasing the risk of accidents on EU roads.”

Particularly important countermeasures identified by this study are a reduction in working time and improved recording of working time.

“Our data analysis shows a correlation between poor documentation of working time and driver fatigue. In companies that rigorously document working hours, drivers are less affected by fatigue,” the report states.

“But drivers are frequently instructed to register working time as break or rest time. This affects not only the wellbeing of the drivers, but also their pay. And it ultimately affects road safety.”

Recommendations in the report include:

• to guarantee fair wages – current extremely low wages force drivers to work longer hours to make a decent living
• to ensure that drivers are remunerated for all work-related tasks, which is not always the case
• to stop plans to make driving and rest time rules more flexible in freight and passenger transport
• to put eliminating driver fatigue at the core of the EU road safety strategies
• to ensure that professional drivers’ pay, working time and rest conditions are properly enforced
• to ensure that derogations from rules are done by the book, and not to permanently extend drivers’ hours, keep them away from home and worsen rest conditions.

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