Safety and Health at Work

Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute, Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (산업안전보건연구원)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

Presenteeism and Traffic Accident Among Taxi Drivers: A Prospective Cohort Study in Japan

  • Makoto Okawara (Department of Environmental Epidemiology, Institute of Industrial Ecological Sciences, University of Occupational and Environmental Health) ;
  • Kei Tokutsu (Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, School of Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health) ;
  • Keiki Hirashima (Department of Environmental Epidemiology, Institute of Industrial Ecological Sciences, University of Occupational and Environmental Health) ;
  • Tomohiro Ishimaru (Department of Medical Humanities, School of Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health) ;
  • Yoshihisa Fujino (Department of Environmental Epidemiology, Institute of Industrial Ecological Sciences, University of Occupational and Environmental Health)
  • Received : 2023.11.01
  • Accepted : 2024.04.15
  • Published : 2024.06.30
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

Background: Traffic accidents involving professional drivers have serious societal repercussions. Unique occupational stressors and health risks exacerbate the likelihood of traffic accidents among professional drivers. This study explores the association between presenteeism-impaired work performance due to working while unwell-and traffic accident risk among professional taxi drivers in Japan. Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted from June 2022 to February 2023, involving taxi drivers from a single company in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Presenteeism was assessed using the Work Functioning Impairment Scale (WFun). Primary outcome involved the number of self-reported minor traffic accidents. The incidence rate ratio (IRR) of minor traffic accident occurrences was estimated using a Poisson regression analysis, adjusted for confounders including sex, age, and driving experience. Results: Of 838 targeted drivers, 435 were included in the analysis. Higher baseline work functioning impairment was associated with a significant trend of increasing IRR of minor traffic accidents (p for trend = 0.045). A dose-response relationship was seen between the degree of presenteeism and incidence rate of minor traffic accidents. Conclusion: Higher levels of presenteeism were associated with an increased risk of traffic accidents among taxi drivers. The findings underscore the need for socio-economic support and prioritized health management to mitigate traffic accident risk among professional drivers. This study highlights the importance of managing non-critical health issues alongside serious health conditions for safer driving practices among professional drivers in Japan.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This study was funded by a research grant from the University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan. The funder is not involved in any part of preparing, conducting, writing, and submitting the manuscript.

References

  1. Lim SM, Chia SE. The prevalence of fatigue and associated health and safety risk factors among taxi drivers in Singapore. Singapore Med J 2015;56:92-7. 
  2. Lam LT. Environmental factors associated with crash-related mortality and injury among taxi drivers in New South Wales, Australia. Accid Anal Prev 2004;36:905-8. 
  3. Dalziel JR, Job RF. Motor vehicle accidents, fatigue and optimism bias in taxi drivers. Accid Anal Prev 1997;29:489-94. 
  4. Wang Y, Li L, Prato CG. The relation between working conditions, aberrant driving behaviour and crash propensity among taxi drivers in China. Accid Anal Prev 2019;126:17-24. 
  5. Chen C-F. Investigating the effects of job stress on the distraction and risky driving behaviors of food delivery motorcycle riders. Saf Health Work 2023;14:207-14. 
  6. Crizzle AM, Bigelow P, Adams D, Gooderham S, Myers AM, Thiffault P. Health and wellness of long-haul truck and bus drivers: a systematic literature review and directions for future research. J Transport Health 2017;7:90-109. 
  7. Michon JA. A critical view of driver behavior models: what do we know, what should we do? In: Evans L, Schwing RC, editors. Human behavior and traffic safety. Boston, MA: Springer US; 1985. p. 485-524. 
  8. Australian Transport Safety Bureau StaffDobbie K, Williamson AM. Fatigue related crashes: an analysis of fatigue related crashes on Australian roads using an operational definition of fatigue. trid.trb.org 2002; 2002. 
  9. Philip P, Vervialle F, Le Breton P, Taillard J, Horne JA. Fatigue, alcohol, and serious road crashes in France: factorial study of national data. BMJ 2001;322:829-30. 
  10. Lyznicki JM, Doege TC, Davis RM, Williams MA. Sleepiness, driving, and motor vehicle crashes. Council on scientific affairs, American medical association. JAMA 1998;279:1908-13. 
  11. Baba M, Miyama G, Sugiyama D, Hitosugi M. Influence of workplace environment, working conditions and health status of taxi drivers on vehicle collisions or near-miss events. Ind Health 2019;57:530-6. 
  12. Ishimaru T, Arphorn S, Jirapongsuwan A. Hematocrit levels as cardiovascular risk among taxi drivers in Bangkok, Thailand. Ind Health 2016;54:433-8. 
  13. Platek AE, Szymanski FM, Filipiak KJ, Kotkowski M, Rys A, Semczuk-Kaczmarek K, Adamkiewicz K. Prevalence of hypertension in professional drivers (from the RACER-ABPM Study). Am J Cardiol 2017;120:1792-6. 
  14. Burton WN, Pransky G, Conti DJ, Chen C-Y, Edington DW. The association of medical conditions and presenteeism. J Occup Environ Med 2004;46:S38-45. 
  15. Ishimaru T, Kubo T, Honno K, Toyokuni Y, Fujino Y. Near misses and presenteeism among paramedics. Occup Med 2019;69:593-7. 
  16. Fujino Y, Uehara M, Izumi H, Nagata T, Muramatsu K, Kubo T, Oyama I, Matsuda S. Development and validity of a work functioning impairment scale based on the Rasch model among Japanese workers. J Occup Health 2015;57:521-31. 
  17. Chimed-Ochir O, Mine Y, Okawara M, Ibayashi K, Miyake F, Fujino Y. Validation of the Japanese version of the CDC HRQOL-4 in workers. J Occup Health 2020;62:e12152. 
  18. Makishima M, Fujino Y, Kubo T, Izumi H, Uehara M, Oyama I, Matsuda S. Validity and responsiveness of the work functioning impairment scale (WFun) in workers with pain due to musculoskeletal disorders. J Occup Health 2018;60:156-62. 
  19. Tokutsu K, Kawazoe S, Katsuki A, Muramatsu K, Makishima M, Kubo T, Yoshimura R. Validity and responsiveness of the work functioning impairment scale in workers with depression. J Occup Environ Med 2019;61:e523-7. 
  20. Nagata T, Fujino Y, Saito K, Uehara M, Oyama I, Izumi H, Kubo T. Diagnostic accuracy of the Work Functioning Impairment Scale (WFun): a method to detect workers who have health problems affecting their work and to evaluate fitness for work. J Occup Environ Med 2017;59:557-62. 
  21. Hemp P. Presenteeism: at work-but out of it. Harv Business Rev 1 Oct 2004. Available: https://hbr.org/2004/10/presenteeism-at-work-but-out-of-it. [Accessed 2 November 2023]; 1 Oct 2004. 
  22. Burton WN, Conti DJ, Chen CY, Schultz AB, Edington DW. The role of health risk factors and disease on worker productivity. J Occup Environ Med 1999;41:863-77. 
  23. Higgins JS, Michael J, Austin R, Akerstedt T, Van Dongen HPA, Watson N, Czeisler C, Pack AI, Rosekind MR. Asleep at the wheel-the road to addressing drowsy driving. Sleep 2017;40. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsx001. 
  24. Dawson D, Searle AK, Paterson JL. Look before you (s)leep: evaluating the use of fatigue detection technologies within a fatigue risk management system for the road transport industry. Sleep Med Rev 2014;18:141-52. 
  25. Dawson D, Sprajcer M, Thomas M. How much sleep do you need? A comprehensive review of fatigue related impairment and the capacity to work or drive safely. Accid Anal Prev 2021;151:105955. 
  26. Connor J, Whitlock G, Norton R, Jackson R. The role of driver sleepiness in car crashes: a systematic review of epidemiological studies. Accid Anal Prev 2001;33:31-41. 
  27. McNicholas WT. Sleepiness behind the wheel and the implementation of European driving regulations. Sleep Med Clin 2021;16:533-43. 
  28. Bonsignore MR, Lombardi C, Lombardo S, Fanfulla F. Epidemiology, physiology and clinical approach to sleepiness at the wheel in OSA patients: a narrative review. J Clin Med Res 2022;11. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11133691. 
  29. Saleem S. Risk assessment of road traffic accidents related to sleepiness during driving: a systematic review. East Mediterr Health J 2022;28:695-700. 
  30. Duffy JF, Zitting K-M, Czeisler CA. The case for addressing operator fatigue. Rev Hum Factor Ergon 2015;10:29-78. 
  31. Weaver MD, Barger LK. Chapter 37 - sleep health as an issue of public safety. In: Grandner MA, editor. Sleep and health. Academic Press; 2019. p. 489-99. 
  32. Dawson D, Reid K. Fatigue, alcohol and performance impairment. Nature 1997;388:235. 
  33. Lamond N, Dawson D. Quantifying the performance impairment associated with fatigue. J Sleep Res 1999;8:255-62. 
  34. Williamson AM, Feyer AM, Mattick RP, Friswell R, Finlay-Brown S. Developing measures of fatigue using an alcohol comparison to validate the effects of fatigue on performance. Accid Anal Prev 2001;33:313-26. 
  35. Ulfberg J, Carter N, Edling C. Sleep-disordered breathing and occupational accidents. Scand J Work Environ Health 2000;26:237-42. 
  36. Vaezipour A, Oviedo-Trespalacios O, Horswill M, Rod JE, Andrews N, Johnston V, Delhomme P. Impact of chronic pain on driving behaviour: a systematic review. Pain 2022;163:e401-16. 
  37. Okawara M, Nagata T, Nagata M, Otani M, Mori K, Fujino Y. Association between the course of hypnotics treatment for insomnia and work functioning impairment in Japanese workers. PLoS One 2020;15:e0243635. 
  38. Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Basic survey on wage structure. In: Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare website [Internet] 17 Mar 2023 [cited 17 Oct 2023]. Available: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/database/db-l/ordinary2020.html; 17 Mar 2023. 
  39. Portal Site of Official Statistics of Japan website(e-Stat). Basic survey on wage structure. In: Portal Site of Official Statistics of Japan website [Internet] 17 Mar 2023 [cited 17 Oct 2023]. Available: https://www.e-stat.go.jp/stat-search/files?page=1&toukei=00450091&tstat=000001011429; 17 Mar 2023. 
  40. Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Questionnaire survey on the working conditions and other aspects of taxi drivers (Overview) (in Japanese). In: Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare website [Internet] 11 Nov 2005 [cited 17 Oct 2023]. Available: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/houdou/2005/11/h1111-2a1.html; 11 Nov 2005. 
  41. Hitosugi Masahito, Yamauchi Shinobu, Hasegawa Momoko, Takasou Marin, Miyama Genta, Koseki Takeshi. Survey for taxi drivers regarding the health-related vehicle collisions and preventive measures (in Japanese). J Jpn Counc Traffic Sci 2015;15. https://doi.org/10.24597/jcts.15.2_50. 
  42. Johns G. Presenteeism in the workplace: a review and research agenda. J Organ Behav 2010;31:519-42. 
  43. Aronsson G, Gustafsson K. Sickness presenteeism: prevalence, attendance-pressure factors, and an outline of a model for research. J Occup Environ Med 2005;47:958-66. 
  44. Sverke M, Hellgren J, Naswall K. No security: a meta-analysis and review of job insecurity and its consequences. J Occup Health Psychol 2002;7:242-64. 
  45. Aronsson G, Gustafsson K, Dallner M. Sick but yet at work. An empirical study of sickness presenteeism. J Epidemiol Community Health 2000;54:502-9. 
  46. Ikezoe H. Work-life balance in Japan: outline of policies, legal system and actual situations. Jpn Labor Rev 2014;11:108-24. 
  47. Ministry of Land. Infrastructure, transport and tourism, Japan. Council for countermeasures on traffic accidents caused by health-related factors in commercial vehicles (in Japanese). In: Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism website [Internet] Feb 9.2023 [cited Oct 16.2023]. Available: https://www.mlit.go.jp/jidosha/jidousya_ansei.html.