TORONTO — Sleep apnea legislation is coming down the line, warned Tammy Draper to a room of Toronto-based carriers at session put on by the Toronto Trucking Association (TTA).

Draper, a Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) with Motion Specialties, a Canadian company that provides home health care, said that this has the industry, as well as the drivers, scared.

“From the drivers’ point of view, they’re thinking ‘This is my livelihood,’ and the carrier is thinking ‘I could get sued,'” she noted. “Plus, there are the costs.”

Never mind the costs if a driver with extreme obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) nods off behind the wheel and causes an accident, the cost to simply test drivers for OSA is high. But the price for not testing your drivers could be far steeper

She pointed to Schneider National that tested 547 drivers for OSA. Of those tested, 445 were diagnosed with sleep apnea and all were treated. “Savings were impressive,” Draper said. “A 200-percent increase in driver retention, 73-percent reduction in accidents and 91-percent reduction in hospital admissions.”

Motion Specialties seems to have developed a program tailored to the trucking industry that alleviates most of, if not all, the costs associated with testing and treatment. If the treatment is conducted through Canadian companies that are registered with the Ministry of Health, like Motion Specialties, all OSA testing will be covered.