Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Fire Fighters and EMS ... - NAEMT

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<strong>Effects</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Sleep</strong> <strong>Deprivation</strong> on Fire Fighters and EMS Responders NTSB: Trucker had little sleep before crash that killed 7 kids On Wednesday, January 25, 2006 at 3:25 PM a Union County, Florida school bus was transporting nine children home from school. The driver stopped at an approved stop going north, with lights flashing and stop arm extended. A Pontiac Bonneville was traveling behind the bus and carrying seven occupants. The Pontiac stopped behind the bus. A 2004 Freightliner 18-wheel semi trailer truck loaded with bottled water was going northbound on the road and failed to stop. It struck the Pontiac, over riding it, and both hit the bus. With the Pontiac still under the bus, both vehicles traveled through a ditch. The Pontiac became dislodged and engulfed in flames. The semi’s cab separated from the truck and ended on its side. The school bus rotated counterclockwise and traveled in reverse northbound until its end collided with trees. The crash pushed the car 272 feet and the bus 328 feet. Three children in the bus were ejected onto the roadway. All the passengers in the Pontiac were killed, and the bus driver, truck driver and all nine students in the bus were transported to local hospitals. The truck had an unobstructed view <strong>of</strong> the stopped vehicles, which were visible for 1400 feet on that stretch <strong>of</strong> road. The 31-year-old truck driver had been awake for 34 hours. He was a legally licensed driver, working for Crete Carrier based in Lincoln, Nebraska. Toxicology tests <strong>of</strong> the driver were negative. The driver had eight prior traffic violations, including speeding, driving with a suspended license and operating a motor vehicle in an unsafe condition. All <strong>of</strong> the Pontiac’s occupants were children or adolescents. Five <strong>of</strong> the seven killed passengers were children from one family. The oldest teenager was driving the car, and the youngest was 20 months old. The children’s 62-year-old grandfather died <strong>of</strong> a heart attack after learning <strong>of</strong> their death. The two other children killed were from another family, cousins <strong>of</strong> the first. The parents <strong>of</strong> those two killed children are suing the driver and the trucking company. Approximately 10 months after the accident, the driver was charged with seven counts <strong>of</strong> vehicular homicide and seven counts <strong>of</strong> manslaughter by culpable negligence (www.news4jax.com/print/6721777/detail.html). <strong>of</strong> sedating medications and longer duration drives (Stutts et al., 2003; McCartt et al., 2000). A NTSB study <strong>of</strong> fatal truck accidents found that one third <strong>of</strong> fatigued drivers also were impaired by alcohol and/or drugs. A comprehensive list <strong>of</strong> the alcohol and drug testing rules published by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) and the Department <strong>of</strong> Transportation (DOT) applicable to CDL drivers and their employers is available online at the FMSCA website. 31
<strong>Effects</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Sleep</strong> <strong>Deprivation</strong> on Fire Fighters and EMS Responders Although driver simulations can not reproduce all the unique considerations and tasks <strong>of</strong> driving, they allow study <strong>of</strong> specific variables and their impact on abilities. Simulations generally involve lane tracking, maintaining a constant speed and reaction time, along with monitoring brain waves for evidence <strong>of</strong> momentary brief episodes <strong>of</strong> sleep (Moller et al., 2006). Several studies have shown that sleep deprivation impairs alertness and results in more lateral deviations during driving (O’Hanlon & Volkerts, 1986; O’Hanlon et al., 1995; Ramaekers & O’Hanlon, 1994). This finding may explain the observation that sleeprelated crashes frequently involve leaving the road or hitting an obstacle, with no corrective reaction from the driver (Horne In 2002 the National <strong>Sleep</strong> Foundation and a coalition <strong>of</strong> other organizations, federal agencies and corporations convened a national summit and initiated the drowsydriving.org website. Additional action items included research, public policy and educational programs to combat the problems <strong>of</strong> fatigued driver impairment. & Reyner, 1995). When studied in driving simulators, the worst drivers among truckers are those who routinely got less than five hours <strong>of</strong> sleep per day (Pack et al., 2006). Although it is well established that the longer CMV operators spend behind the wheel, the more likely they are to crash (Campbell, 2005; Jovanis, 2005), how long to allow behind the wheel is controversial. Beginning in the 1970s, the DOT conducted three multimillion dollar studies, and data from nearly 1,000 truck crashes were assessed. The risk <strong>of</strong> crashing increased as hours <strong>of</strong> driving increased, and there was a more than 15-fold increase in the risk after more than 13 hours awake, compared to the first hour <strong>of</strong> driving (US DOT, 2000). Recent studies have confirmed a 10 percent increase after driving 10 hours, and a 25 percent greater risk after driving 12 hours (Tucker 2000). One <strong>of</strong> the contentious aspects <strong>of</strong> the 2003 rules was the eleventh hour <strong>of</strong> driving. As an example <strong>of</strong> how difficult it is to identify precise limits for long work hours, two expert investigator groups (the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute) reached different and incompatible conclusions about the eleventh hour. The Pennsylvania team found that the eleventh hour <strong>of</strong> driving posed a significant crash risk, while the Virginia Tech investigators could detect no statistical difference between the tenth and eleventh hours <strong>of</strong> driving. To help decide the issue, an economic perspective was added, and the FMCSA estimated that a ten hour driving limit would save no more than 9.3 lives per year compared to an 11 hour limit, but at an annualized net cost <strong>of</strong> $526 million. In other words, a 10 hour driving limit would cost more than $63 million per life saved. 2.10 Higher-Risk Drivers: Obstructive <strong>Sleep</strong> Apnea As discussed in Section 5, one <strong>of</strong> the means to reduce fatigue-related incidents and work related accidents in general is to identify higher risk employees. <strong>Sleep</strong> disorders, such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), are a well accepted cause <strong>of</strong> increased daytime sleepiness, and importantly their presence increases the risk <strong>of</strong> crashing. In the early 1990s, Haraldsson and others (1990) published a study showing that those with untreated OSA had a seven-fold increase in single car crashes, and when controlled for miles driven, that number was almost 12 times greater than controls. Others have confirmed those findings (Teran-Santos et al., 1999). <strong>Sleep</strong> apnea is assessed in a sleep laboratory by measuring breathing, airflow and brain waves while an individual sleeps (Figure 2.1). Among those with OSA, brief spells <strong>of</strong> apnea or times when breathing stops, may occur during sleep due to the temporary collapse <strong>of</strong> tissues at the 32
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