Truck driving in Australia is the “deadliest profession” according to Safe Work Australia. With up to 330 people killed each year in truck crashes on Australian roads, these deaths amounting to 30% of all worker fatalities.

While many factors contribute to safety on the road, driver health and fitness to drive is an important consideration. Drivers must meet certain medical standards to ensure their health status does not unduly increase their crash risk.

Commercial vehicle drivers generally spend considerable time on the road, thus increasing the likelihood of a motor vehicle crash. Crash data identifies that commercial vehicle drivers are more than twice as likely to be involved in a fatal crash compared with other drivers.  On the other hand, crashes involving private vehicle drivers are likely to have less severe consequences. Therefore to ensure that the risk to the public is similar for private and commercial vehicles drivers, the medical fitness requirements for the latter must be more stringent. This is required in order to reduce and minimum the risk of crash due to long-term injuries or illnesses.

A commercial vehicle driver’s medical is required for drivers of:

• Drivers of ‘heavy vehicles’, ie those holding or applying for a licence of class MR (medical rigid), HR (heavy ridged), HC (heavy combination) or MC (multiple combination)
• Drivers carrying public passengers for hire or reward (bus drivers, taxi drivers, chauffeurs, drivers of hire cars and small buses, etc)
• Drivers carrying bulk dangerous goods
• Drivers subject to requirements for basic of advanced fatigue management under the National Heavy Vehicle Accreditations Standard
• Other driver categories that may also be subject to the commercial vehicle standards as a result of certification requirements of the authorising body or as required by specific industry standards, for example, driving instructors and members of Trucksafe.

Occuhealth’s comprehensive Commercial Vehicle Driver’s Medical assessment includes urine drug screening and alcohol testing. Medicals can be tailored to meet individual client’s needs plus medical assessments can be performed in Belmont or Mandurah. For more information, Occuhealth on +61 8 9537 5700. 

For more information: Assessing Fitness to Drive 2016 (as amended up to August 2017), a joint publication of Austroads and the national Transport Commission (NTC): https://bit.ly/1YsrKtJ