Inaction could cost truckies their lives: Study

If nothing is done to improve the health of Australia's male truck drivers, 6067 lives and AU$2.6 billion in productivity could be lost over the next 10 years, Monash University-led research has found. Researchers have also found that inaction could cost an estimated $485 million in healthcare costs and 21,173 lost years of life due to work-related diseases or injury in the truck driving industry. Published in The Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation , the study found that while the transport and logistics industry contributed significantly to the Australian economy, few studies had explored the economic and clinical burden attributed to poor truck driver health. In 2020 the industry, which contributed an estimated 7.4% (AU$122.3 billion, dollars) of gross domestic product (GDP) to Australia's economy in 2015-16, employed about 380,000 workers. Researchers estimated the work-related mortality burden among truck drivers, using modelling to simulate the Australian male working-age population (aged 15-65) from 2021-2030. The approach employed is believed to be the first to explore the economic implications of the current state of driver health and wellbeing. Researchers used data from the Driving Health study and other published sources to estimate work-related mortality and associated productivity loss, hospital and medication costs.