The
Trump administration is making a controversial decision to scrap Obama-era
plans that require all truck, train and bus operators be screened for
sleep apnea.
Sleep Apnea: a common
disorder in which you have one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths
while you sleep.
Sleep apnea typically
is a chronic condition that disrupts your sleep. When your breathing pauses or
becomes shallow, you’ll often move out of deep sleep and into a light sleep.
As a result, the
quality of your sleep is deprived, which makes you tired during the day. Sleep
apnea is a leading cause of extreme daytime sleepiness.
THE POSSIBLE DANGER
The elimination of
the rule, part of the White House’s push to slash federal regulations, has
reignited a debate over how to balance safety concerns with regulatory relief.
Safety advocates
warn that killing the proposal could put lives at risk at a time when traffic
deaths are already climbing at historic rates. Fatalities in large truck
crashes have increased by 20 percent since 2009.
GROWING ALARM
The most recent
safety efforts for sleep apnea awareness came in the wake of reports of a New
Jersey Transit train crash. The train crashed into a crowded station platform
and killed one woman. The conductor had severe sleep apnea, but wasn’t
diagnosed until a month after the crash.
The incident was
just the latest example of an untreated sleep disorder being a factor in a
fatal crash. This condition has also been linked to a 2013 Metro-North
derailment in New York and a deadly 2000 tractor-trailer crash in Tennessee.
REGULATIONS
While airplane
pilots with sleep apnea cannot even fly until they have been fully treated for
the condition, it wasn’t until the Obama administration that formal federal
mandates were in the works to ensure those operating planes, rails, buses and
trucks were properly screened.
The FRA and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration recently announced, however, that
they would be vacating plans to require sleep apnea screening and treatment for
all rail and truck operators.
Safety advocates
argue that there is no enforcement mechanism or recourse if a company chooses
not to screen and treat its employees for the condition.
FUTURE OF OTHER SAFE
TY RULES
The reversal is intensifying
concern that other safety rules could get caught in the crosshairs of President
Trump’s effort to reduce regulations.
The White House put
out an executive order in January requiring agencies to revoke two regulations
for every new rule they want to issue, with exceptions for emergencies and
national security.
Some rules in the
pipeline that safety advocates worry could now be on the chopping block include
a proposal requiring electronic speed limiters for large trucks and buses and a
plan requiring all future vehicles to have safety signaling and communication
technology.
Call TRUSKETT with any legal questions regarding wrecks or falls and more!
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