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A 12-year study of more than 120,000 insurance claims has revealed one of the unhealthiest and deadliest jobs in the country, with workers in the profession 13 times likelier to die at work than other Australians.
The Monash University analysis of workers’ compensation insurance claims from 2004 to 2015 found truck drivers were more likely to suffer illnesses, psychological stress, and other injuries than any other male-dominated occupations, with claims adding up to more than 1 million lost weeks of work over the 12-week period.
The landmark study also revealed musculoskeletal injury as the most common injury, accounting for 60% of all claims and resulting in about five weeks off work for many, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
While vehicle crashes accounted for more than three quarters of fatalities, it made up less than 17% of the overall burden of injury and disease when measured as weeks lost from work. The remaining 83% was due to musculoskeletal and psychological stress, falls, slips, trips, and other factors.
Alex Collie, study leader and professor from the Monash School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, said truck driving posed many health risks due to “long working hours, lots of sitting, poor nutrition, social isolation, shift work, time pressure, low levels of job control, all in addition to the risk of road crashes.”
Study findings also showed that older drivers have a higher rate of neurological conditions, including hearing loss, compared with the other age groups, and that 24 locations, including the border between Victoria and NSW, had more than twice the average rate of work‑related injury and disease in truck drivers, SMH reported.
