The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) announced the launch of the North American Fatigue Management Program website, www.NAFMP.com.
The NAFMP website represents the culmination of a decade of research, development and testing of a comprehensive fatigue management program, ATRI said. Substantial financial and in-kind support was provided by NAFMP partners including ATRI, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Transport Canada, Alberta Motor Transport Assn., Alberta Occupational Health and Safety, Alberta Transportation, Alberta Workers Compensation Board, Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail du Québec and Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec.
NAFMP provides a comprehensive approach to commercial driver fatigue management including:
- Online fatigue management training for drivers, drivers’ families, carrier executives and managers, dispatchers and shippers/receivers;
- Information on how to develop a corporate culture that facilitates reduced driver fatigue;
- Information on sleep disorders screening and treatment;
- Driver and trip scheduling information;
- Information on fatigue management technologies.
The NAFMP website also includes a return-on-investment calculator that allows motor carriers to estimate the cost-benefit of deploying the NAFMP in its entirety or select components in a customized program.
All of the NAFMP information and training is available on the website free of charge for interested parties.
ATRI will manage the NAFMP website on behalf of the NAFMP partners.
“It is rewarding to see ATRI’s 10-year involvement in the research and development of the NAFMP come to fruition,” said ATRI President Rebecca Brewster. “The NAFMP website will be a one-stop shop for carriers of all sizes to address the important issue of driver fatigue.”
American Trucking Assns. leaders praised the American Transportation Research Institute and its government and industry partners for their work in launching the North American Fatigue Management Program.
“This program is a great example of industry organizations and regulators stepping forward to identify, provide and promote real solutions to improving the safety of our nation’s highways,” said ATA President and CEO Bill Graves. “ATA has long believed that looking holistically at alertness and fatigue management, rather than relying on a prescriptive Band-Aid approach provided by the current hours-of-service regulatory system, is the best way to address the complex issues of human alertness and fatigue.
“Last week, we saw yet another new set of even more prescriptive hours-of-service rules go into effect,” Graves said. “Such rules originated in the 1930s and while their basis may represent the best thinking and analysis of that time, in light of the research and work that ATRI and others have done, it is clear that an hours-of-service approach is insufficient relative to the more progressive and comprehensive strategies laid out here to promote driver alertness.”
