Collecting Health and Safety Information in a Mobile and Hard-to-Reach Population: Surveying Long-Haul Truck Drivers

• Activity Number: 508
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 5, 2009 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Social Statistics Section
• Author(s): Karl Sieber*+ and Jan Birdsey and Guang-Xiang Chen and Edward Hitchcock and Jennifer Lincoln and Cynthia Robinson
• Companies: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Keywords: transportation ; truck driver ; public health ; safety ; prevalence

Abstract

Enhancing public health and safety of transportation workers is one goal included in the U.S. Department of Transportation's 2006--2010 Strategic Plan. To measure progress toward this goal, baseline data to determine prevalence of health and safety conditions can be collected in a survey. In the case of long-haul truck drivers, information on presence of health conditions such as diabetes, fatigue, or sleep disorders, as well as risk factors in the truck driver's working environment will be collected. Design of the survey is complicated due to factors such as the mobile nature of the population and lack of a suitable sampling frame. One approach to surveying this population is to conduct an intercept survey, conducting in-person interviews at locations where truck drivers might stop. Approaches to the design of surveys in this mobile and hard-to-reach population are presented.