“But, overall,” Aquila insists, “truckers care as much about health and fitness as it would appear—hardly at all. I guess you could say ‘the proof is in the pudding’…and the cheeseburger, and the bacon.” Though such sentiments may seem flip, for some, they are reality. One participant in a 2010 study of Canadian truckers said “if you’re a truck driver, you’re not going to be in the best of health… A lot of guys just come to accept it.”
Nevertheless, trucker health “is a public policy issue,” according to Siphewe Baleka, a Yale athlete and former driver for Springfield, MO-headquartered Prime, Inc., who now runs the company’s fitness program. “If you’re driving in Idaho and you’re obese and sleepy because of sleep apnea and you have an accident, your health is relevant to the public.” Indeed, several accidents caused by driver fatigue garnered nationwide attention in the past year.
Corporate health and wellness programs
Baleka says most health and wellness programs are not designed for a trucker’s lifestyle nor are drivers given the tools they need to stay healthy, which he likens to sending an astronaut into space without a space suit.
Helping employees of any profession stay healthy or lose weight makes economic sense, as it can decrease covered medical, sick day, short-term disability, and worker compensation claims. Additionally, recruiting and training new drivers only to find they cannot pass required medical exams adds to these costs. Using a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention obesity cost calculator, Prime Inc. found the cost associated with its overweight drivers was $6 million annually, directly impacting the company’s independent operators in lost time, wages, healthcare, and insurance costs.
Health and fitness programs also may help attract younger drivers. Gold’s Gym International Inc. began offering discounted fitness programs for truckers and bus drivers earlier this year, available at the fitness chain’s 100-plus locations across the nation. Another way to get truckers interested is to initiate competitions and fitness challenges like Prime’s Skimble Workout Trainer smart phone app. The app includes thousands of free workouts, some of which were created by Baleka.
In early 2015 Prime had 2,157 active drivers enrolled in its on-the-road health and fitness program or 34.6 percent of the fleet. The company also offers an incentive to lose weight—a quarterly cash prize drawing of $1,000 that increases to $5,000 and $10,000 as the group’s collective body mass index is reduced. Baleka says the company’s approach to health and fitness has benefited both recruitment and retention: “We don’t have a shortage of drivers.”
