LONDON, Ont. — Healthy Trucker, in partnership with Morneau Shepell, will be launching the first assistance program for professional truck drivers called the Healthy Trucker Assistance Program (HTAP).

This new assistance program will help fleets decrease traffic incidents and driver turnover by focusing on reducing major health risks that effect drivers like depression, sleep apnea, and obesity.

“Earlier this year, WSIB started offering services that covers chronic mental stress predominantly caused by a substantial work-related stressor,” said Glenn Caldwell, vice-president of sales at NAL Insurance. “The HTAP program which can now be purchased by all owner-operators provides them with the support they need to help underlying issues that increased a driver’s stress level, work related or not. Everything from trouble with their spouse at home, to debt issues, to frustration with dispatchers at work can cause a driver to have difficulty looking after their health.”

Studies show that trucking industry has some major driver health issues that are increasing our driver shortage. Some of these driver health issues are:

• Over 28% suffer from mild to severe sleep apnea (ATRI, 2002)
• Between 15%-24% suffer from depression (M. Shatell, 2012)
• More than 69% are classified as obese (National Institute of Health, 2014)
• 22% have hypertension (National Institute of Health, 2014)
• 51% are smokers (National Institute of Health, 2014)
• 14% have diabetes (National Institute of Health, 2014)

The HTAP is a trucking specific assistance program that will focus on providing over the phone and in-person assistance for drivers about health (both physical and mental), finance, family, work, and life.

“It’s our goal to create a better work life balance for professional truck drivers,” said Aaron Lindsay, v.p. of marketing at Healthy Trucker. “These men and women are faced with some tough obstacles… spending time away from family, loads of paperwork, demanding schedules and too much alone time. We want to be there to take some of this stress away so that our members can do what they do best… drive safely!”

“Working with Healthy Trucker allows us to reach independent contractors and company drivers in a new way. Healthy Trucker recognizes the unique challenges drivers face and the HTAP will provide drivers with accessible, flexible and impactful support. We are confident that this new assistance program will improve engagement and the health of drivers,” commented Greg Schneider, account executive at Morneau Shepell.

For more information, please visit www.healthytrucker.com or call 1-855-422-8333.