by Dave Elniski, B.Sc., ATCL, CTSP
June, 2021
The original version of this essay won the 2021 OHS Healthy Workplaces Award from the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Extension and has been re-published with their permission.
Do you think that the North American long-haul trucking industry is a leader in worker mental health wellness? Do you think trucking effectively helps mentally-stressed workers? I do not. I do, however, believe trucking can improve. In this essay, I will describe why I believe long-haul trucking is so full of anger and stress and then present solutions to improve the mental health of workers.
A Personal Story: Anger in Kalispell, Montana
The majority of my working life has been spent in the trucking industry: first as a driver, and now as a transportation safety professional. Trucking has been good to me. I have enjoyed regular employment, career advancement, and seen wonderful sights across North America. Trucking has a dark side, though. I have seen it sap workers’ vitality, leaving them burnt out, stressed, and isolated.
One night early into my career, I stopped for the night at a truck stop near Kalispell, Montana. While completing my post-trip inspection, another driver walked up to me and asked how I was doing. Halfway through my answer, he began to vent about his week and how upset he was with his employer. He spoke about their broken promises to get him home, and said he was leaving their truck at this truck stop and catching a flight home. He left the truck stop via taxi. A week later I was through the area again and saw his rig and load still sitting there. I remembered the tension in his face and the tight-chested way he had described his frustrations. While part of me secretly criticized him for unprofessionally abandoning his company’s property, I was interested in knowing what pressures would drive someone to end their employment that abruptly.
This was not an isolated incident. As I spent more time as a driver, I began to see unexpressed negative emotions leading to angry outbursts as a standard occurrence. I had many working days where I myself felt reduced to the unit number on the truck after being pushed to and sometimes past my legal driving limits. Given the pressures workers face in this industry, it seemed as though such feelings and outbursts (and their fallout) were just a part of doing business in trucking.
I applaud organizations that consider emotional health in their safety programs. Sometimes, these organizations may not even consider emotional well-being to be a safety issue, but rather as just a nice way to do business.
Researcher and author Dr. Brené Brown has researched and written extensively on how individuals can improve their emotional intelligence. In Dare to Lead, she shows how leaders can lead from a place of emotional intelligence (Brown, 2018). I believe that many businesses around the world see that the emotional well-being of their employees positively correlates with productivity and safety.
However, I do not think that the trucking industry is anywhere near the leading edge of addressing psycho-social and mental health concerns. As an illustration, the Alberta Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) premium rate is the dollar amount payable to WCB per $100 of payroll, and this number increases with WCB’s perception of risk. General Trucking’s 2021 premium rate is 35% higher than that of Logging/Woodland Operations ($4.38 and $3.25 respectively; WCB Alberta, 2020). Given the hazards workers face in industries like logging, I see this as evidence that occupational health and safety (OH&S) concerns within the trucking industry have not been addressed as effectively as other high-risk industries. Given the long days and isolation that characterize the working environments of many truckers, I believe that mental health concerns are also not being adequately addressed.
Why is There So Much Anger in Trucking?
I have many personal stories of workers overflowing with anger in the trucking industry. Some resulted in physical health problems, others in career-ending substance-abuse, and many more in poor decision-making while angry. Where does all of this anger come from? I believe it comes from the toxic combination of demanding working conditions, isolation, and a lack of courage amongst leaders to engage with workers emotionally.
Demanding Working Conditions. Solo entrepreneurs and small companies dominate trucking’s North American history (Rubak, 2005). This is different from the histories of industries like mining and railroading: these industries often started with large corporations and investments. Until the end of the 1970s, most trucking was economically regulated to a high degree by the federal governments in both Canada and USA (Belzer, 2000). Regulation limited competition and created carrier entrance barriers. In the early 1980s, Canada and the USA deregulated trucking, introducing general carriers to the already-deregulated world of agricultural trucking (Hamilton, 2008). Competition increased, leading to wage reduction and worsening work conditions (Belzer, 2000).
While strong regulations helped improve working conditions in mining and railroading, deregulation decreased collective bargaining power in trucking, crippling a major source of safety reform. I believe that the current fiercely-competitive nature of trucking – coupled with minimal enforcement of OH&S regulations due to the transient nature of most truck drivers’ workplaces – has pressured companies to reduce safety expenditures.
Isolation. Many people have had to confront isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Limited social gatherings and workers sent home has led to increased levels of negative emotions which often manifest as outward and inward anger (Kulkarni, 2020). In trucking, this sort of isolation is not new. While the travel associated with trucking may often be romanticized by the uninitiated, the truth is most truck drivers are people trying to make a living and would prefer to be able to spend more time with friends and family.
Lack of Courage in Leadership. Being able to express oneself emotionally in a professional setting takes courage. When I speak to a colleague who is upset, it is easier to wall myself off emotionally and offer a fake smile with platitudes until the encounter is over. However, this approach helps no one. When I mindfully engage with the other person and try to truly empathize with what they are feeling, the encounter is always more meaningful and productive. Yet this is a harder approach to take. I think many leaders in trucking either lack the skills or are too afraid to truly communicate with their colleagues or direct reports. Unfortunately, a lack of courage in this setting only deepens feelings of loneliness and perceived isolation.
Solutions
I have identified mental stress problems in the long-haul trucking workplace. Now I will present three solutions.
1 – Merge Transportation Safety and Occupational Health & Safety
In Alberta, the Traffic Safety Act (TSA) outlines safety regulations for commercial vehicle operators (Province of Alberta, 2020). From my experience, trucking companies tend to measure safety performance in terms of compliance with such regulations. Trucking companies also fall under occupational health and safety (OH&S) regulations yet may pay little attention to these obligations. Focus is often only on safe driving and reducing vehicle insurance rates.
Oftentimes, companies segregate transportation safety and OH&S programs, placing greater emphasis on the former. From a business and public safety perspective, this is understandable: there are greater safety and financial risks when trucks are in motion on a public highway. However, Alberta WCB premiums for General Trucking have risen 31% between 2015 and 2021 (WCB Alberta, 2020), and these premiums account for the many injuries that occur outside of driving: falls, lower back strains, hearing loss, and more. OH&S-focused initiatives can help with these costs.
Transportation-specific safety programs address the safety concerns associated with driving, but do not adequately address the health risks that arise from non-driving tasks. When the number of injuries that occur from collisions are compared with the number of injuries that occur from non-driving duties, non-driving activities result in more injuries to drivers (Dick et al., 2006). A trucking company safety program incorporating OH&S and transportation concerns can not only better address these non-driving injuries, but now also has the framework to systematically address mental health issues.
2 – Use Technology to Eliminate Inefficiency but Not Humanity
Trucking is constantly adopting new technology. Onboard data recording devices communication systems are digitizing trucking. Hours of service recording must soon be done with an electronic logging device for most Canadian truck operators just like how it is currently required to be done in the USA (Transport Canada, 2020).
Technology is neither good or bad. Good and bad come into play when we, as a society, decide how we will use the technology. I believe that many trucking companies have used technology to improve their on-highway safety and dispatch communication, but that this has been done at the expense of driver mental health.
Isolation is detrimental to mental health and can increase negative emotions like anger. Increased levels of anger and frustration not only damage mental health but also create their own safety concerns. Technology that increases a driver’s perceived level of isolation is a hazard to both mental health and safety.
I have worked for companies that have eliminated voice (phone) contact between the office and the drivers, choosing instead to use screen-based dispatch systems like email. Personally, this sort of communication made me feel less connected to my employer and more like a number. While screen- and text-based communication are useful tools, I believe it can be harmful to a driver’s mental health when they are their only sources of social interaction in the workplace.
3 – Nurture Healthy Boundaries and Support Courageous Leadership
In her book Dare to Lead, Dr. Brené Brown states that boundary-setting is one of the best ways to create a kind and compassionate workplace (2018). A person can set their own boundaries by speaking up for themselves and telling others how they expect to be treated. A company can create boundaries with clear expectations, job descriptions, and pay deals that accurately reflect all of the different tasks within a job.
Truck drivers are frequently asked to perform tasks for which they are not specifically compensated. An owner-operator may be told that they have to wait a long time to load and that the wait time is just part of the load. Company drivers who are paid by the mile may be told they have to tarp a load, and not be given any extra pay for this time-consuming task. For many, these pay deals feel unfair regardless of their business justification. From a wellness leadership perspective, I call these pay deals unkind.
Long-haul trucking is an industry which already has many intrinsic mental health risk factors like isolation and difficult working conditions. When there is also an unpredictable and unclear pay deal, feelings of being undervalued may arise. Companies can help address their mental health concerns by creating detailed and specific pay deals and job descriptions and then making sure they stick to them. Deviation from a job description is a broken promise. Leaders and workers must also be encouraged to speak in emotionally intelligent terms. Leaders cannot be afraid to hear the frustration of one of their workers, and they need to be able to see emotionally-charged conversations as valuable feedback, not as nuisances.
Summary
The trucking industry needs to recognise the role that anger, stress, and other negative emotions play in worker health and performance. Anything that impairs rationality and negatively affects a person’s behaviour is a safety hazard, so these negative emotions need to be treated like the safety hazards they are instead of as an unalterable part of the industry’s culture. Trucking may always be a challenging environment in which to promote wellness leadership, but I am confident that improvements can be made. Trucking has an aging workforce, and future recruitment may have a difficult time battling attrition (Canadian Trucking Alliance, 2016); companies need to address wellness problems if they hope to attract and retain labour.
North America relies on trucking companies to keep essential goods moving. Trucking companies rely on their workers to fulfill this responsibility. Now it is time to create a trucking industry where workers can rely on their employers and each other to help ease some burdens of the job.
References
Belzer, M.H. (2000). Chapter 3 The road from institutional to market regulation. In Sweatshops on Wheels. Oxford University Press.
Belzer, M.H. (2000). Chapter 6 Labor market failure and the role of institutions. In Sweatshops on Wheels. Oxford University Press.
Brown, B. (2018). Dare to lead: Brave work. Tough conversations. Whole hearts. New York: Random House.
Canadian Trucking Alliance. (2016). CTA Study: Truck Driver Shortage Accelerating. Retrieved December 16, 2020 from http://cantruck.ca/truck-driver-shortage-accelerating-according-to-new-cta-study/#:~:text=The%20study%20estimates%20that%20the,and%2065%20years%20of%20age.
Dick, V., Hendrix, J.W., & Knipling, R.R. (2006). New Hours-of-Service rules: trucking industry reactions and safety outcomes. Transportation Research Record, No. 1966, Pp. 103-109, 2006a.
Hamilton, S. (2008). Chapter 7 Agrarian trucking culture and deregulatory capitalism, 1960-80. In Trucking Country: The Road to America’s Wal-Mart Economy. Princeton University Press.
Kulkarni, K. (2020). COVID-19: The stages of isolation, and how to cope. Monash University. Retrieved December 18, 2020 from https://lens.monash.edu/@coronavirus-articles/2020/04/28/1380214/covid-19-the-stages-of-isolation-and-how-to-cope
Province of Alberta. (2020). Commercial vehicle certificate and insurance regulation, AR314/2002. Under the Traffic Safety Act. Alberta Queen’s Printer.
Rubak, P.M. (2005). Big Wheels Across the Prairies: A History of Trucking in Alberta Prior to 1960. BWATP Publisher.
Transport Canada. (2020). Electronic Logging Devices – What you need to know. Retrieved December 18, 2020 from the Transport Canada website at https://tc.canada.ca/en/road-transportation/electronic-logging-devices/electronic-logging-devices-what-you-need-know#what-is-electronic-logging-device
Workers’ Compensation Board Alberta. (2020). Premium Rate Manual. Retrieved December 16, 2020 from the Workers’ Compensation Board website at https://rm.wcb.ab.ca/WCB.RateManual.WebServer/?sector=6&rateGroup=456102&industryCode=50714
Next month’s blog:
“Trucks ARE for Girls” by Ellen Voie
Guest essays invited: This website invites submission of guest essays/blogs for publication in coming months. Contact Dr. Ron Knipling at rknipling@verizon.net for information on editorial guidelines and evaluation criteria.