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Philips Respironics launches sleep apnea awareness program

Royal Philips Electronics announced a program targeted at the trucking industry to increase awareness of a potentially serious disorder called Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) that can negatively affect drivers and impact trucking companies.


Introduced by Philips Respironics, which makes products for the treatment of OSA, the Sleep Well, Drive Safe program is designed to educate trucking company owners and create greater awareness of possible ways to reduce drowsy driving.


OSA is a condition in which the upper airway repeatedly collapses during sleep, causing a decrease in, or absence of, airflow and disruptions in a person's sleep cycle. This can lead to daytime fatigue, increased drowsiness and lack of energy. A research study on sleep apnea sponsored by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the American Transportation Research Institute of the American Trucking Associations found that 28.1 percent of those studied, holding a commercial driver's license, had some form of sleep apnea.


The Sleep Well, Drive Safe program is designed to help trucking companies achieve a reduction in driver turnover, liability premiums and costs related to motor vehicle accidents due to fatigue attributable to OSA. The program incorporates five elements: Education, Screening, Testing, Therapy and Compliance.


Philips Respironics, a global leader in the sleep therapy and diagnostics market, is working with sleep labs and home care providers to successfully execute this program for trucking companies.


The program is supported with a web site, www.philips.com/trucking, which provides additional information for trucking company owners, safety directors and drivers.


"We hope that this program will increase awareness of OSA and get a majority of drivers tested and treated within the trucking industry," said Chick Maffei, manager of National Key Accounts (Special Initiatives) at Philips Respironics.


"There are a large number of OSA sufferers who go undiagnosed and untreated and they present a potential risk for being drowsy drivers. Our goal is to help provide a safer working environment for truckers and, ultimately, safer highways for everyone."