FRA Urges the Importance of Testing Train Operators for Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea has been fingered in the deadly September Hoboken NJ Transit crash.
FOX’s Alex Hein with details on the safeguards regulators are drafting in your “Housecall for Health”:
This is Housecall for Health.
Railroads across the country are being urged to test train operators for obstructive sleep apnea after federal regulators found the engineer in September’s deadly New Jersey commuter train crash had the fatigue-inducing disorder.
The Associated Press reports that the Federal Railroad Administration will issue a safety advisory this week stressing the importance of sleep apnea screening and treatment. Metro North found that one in nine of its engineers suffers from sleep apnea.
NJ Transit already tests for sleep apnea, but updated its rules last week to prevent diagnosed engineers from operating trains unless they’re being treated.
The advisory is considered a stopgap measure while regulators draft rules to require sleep apnea screening. But that process could take years to pan out.
Airline pilots with sleep apnea aren’t allowed to fly unless they’ve been treated, and regulators are pushing for bus and truck drivers to get tested as well.
For more on this story, check FOXNewsHealth.com.
Housecall for Health, I’m Alex Hein, FOX News.
