CarriersEdge, a provider of online driver training for the trucking industry, has added new training courses on mental health challenges and personal security issues for truck drivers. According to CEO Jane Jazrawy, the courses address essential topics often overlooked due to their difficulty.
Top-performing fleets in TCA’s Best Fleets to Drive For program have training programs in place to address these topics, leading CarriersEdge to create formalized online courses available through their monthly subscription service.
Commercial truck drivers face social isolation, long shifts, sleep disruptions, stress, and other job challenges, leading to burnout and loneliness – mental health issues that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds more than 50% of the U.S. population will experience at some point in their lifetime.
One in five Americans will experience a mental illness in any given year. Truck drivers are particularly susceptible to mental health issues, with a 2017 CDC report showing transportation professionals had the fourth-highest suicide rate among occupational groups.
New Courses
The new course, “Mental Health,” increases awareness of mental health challenges, provides solutions to improve well-being, and enables drivers to:
- Explain the difference between good mental health and mental illness.
- List common mental health challenges for professional drivers.
- Describe how lifestyle choices affect mental health.
- List methods to support good mental health on the road.
“There is still a stigma around mental illness, making it hard for people to speak up,” said Jazrawy. “This course is a resource for drivers to identify and work through mental challenges and for fleet managers to monitor and discuss these issues.”
Personal Security: According to Verisk and CargoNet, cargo theft incidents in the transportation industry are rising. In 2022, 1,778 incidents were reported in the US, an increase of 15% from 2021. CarriersEdge’s new course, “Personal Security,” is designed to help increase a driver’s awareness of threats and provide information on how to de-escalate potentially dangerous situations. At the end of the course, drivers will recognize threats, explain cargo theft prevention, and know when to use self-defense. This course is now available to customers at no extra charge as part of the CarriersEdge monthly subscription service.
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