Diabetes in the UK – a crisis for commercial road transport

A report published today, ahead of Diabetes Week, 9-15 June, highlights a major, under-recognised health and safety crisis facing the UK’s commercial road transport industry: the unchecked rise of type 2 diabetes among professional drivers.

This new report – Hiding in Plain Sight: The UK Diabetes Crisis – A Call to Action to the Road Transport Sector – has been developed by the Diabetes Safety Organisation in partnership with the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety and the National Highways Driving for Better Business Programme. It highlights that thousands of commercial drivers may be unknowingly living with type 2 diabetes, with all the associated risks that brings to driving for work.

Diabetes is a condition that significantly impairs concentration, reaction times, and long-term wellbeing – all of which should worry those who manage employees who drive for work, for obvious reasons.

With the transport sector facing record levels of absenteeism, early retirement and workforce shortages, the report warns that failure to act risks undermining both public safety and national logistics resilience.

Diabetes in the workforce

There’s no escaping the fact. Type 2 diabetes is a national health crisis and, despite the millions of pounds invested by the NHS and health sector on
diabetes prevention, the rate of type 2 diabetes is increasing.

The number of people with diabetes has doubled over the last 15 years, and the number exiting the workforce due to diabetes increased by 79% last year.

Diabetes is a safety issue that employers cannot afford to ignore.

One startling fact is that people who drive for a living are twice as likely to develop diabetes.

An RHA survey estimates as many as 2 in 5 employees in road transport have diabetes. The short-term complications of diabetes, including hypoglycaemia (hypos), hyperglycaemia, and other associated effects, can impact driver performance and judgement, and in certain cases, cause complete incapacitation of the driver.

The report highlights that 58% of those surveyed said they’d had a non-severe hypo at work. 17% said they’d had a severe hypo, with one person reporting they had lost consciousness.

Half of all people with diabetes experience nerve damage to their feet. Of course, this is particularly relevant when it comes to looking at a driver’s fitness to drive – nerve damage can affect how pressure is applied to a pedal in a vehicle, and can create pedal confusion. Drivers with both diagnosed and undiagnosed nerve damage lost control three times more than other drivers in driving simulations.

Driver Retention – Employer Responsibilities

According to this report, around 38% of employees with diabetes aged 45-64 exit the workforce prematurely due to complications around diabetes. Employees will often give a different reason for leaving, such as heart disease, but heart disease is a known complication of diabetes.

Diabetes is a known and foreseeable risk in the workplace. Employers that do not put in place measures to identify and mitigate workplace diabetes risk may face criminal charges or an unlimited fine, or both – which would not be covered by insurance.

There are a number of DVLA regulations related to driving with diabetes, but the good news is that diabetes safe measures which help to mitigate and reduce workplace diabetes risk are generally reasonable and practicable for any employer to implement.

The full report and Executive Summary of Hiding in Plain Sight: The UK Diabetes Crisis – A Call to Action to the Road Transport Sector, is available for download at: diabetessafety.org/hiding-in-plain-sight/