ACS offers apnea reporting service at TA, Petro locations

ACS said its new sleep apnea reporting service “helps carriers better address the problem of sleep apnea, a widespread, chronic condition that disrupts sleep and causes driver fatigue.

The Trucker News Services

5/27/2010

DALLAS — Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (ACS), A Xerox Company, Tuesday announced it is working with two popular highway travel centers to help the commercial trucking industry improve highway safety by monitoring driver fatigue.

“With this service, carriers can help prevent accidents by pinpointing at-risk drivers who suffer from sleep apnea,” stated an ACS news release.

ACS said its new sleep apnea reporting service “helps carriers better address the problem of sleep apnea, a widespread, chronic condition that disrupts sleep and causes driver fatigue.

“The National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) recently recommended sleep apnea screening for commercial drivers, but — until now — it was difficult for carriers to collect data from drivers on the road.”

Through ACS’ new system commercial drivers may submit sleep data at TravelCenters of America (TA) and Petro Stopping Center locations by using the ACS TripPak Truck Stop SCANNING network.

“With this service, carriers can help prevent accidents by pinpointing at-risk drivers who suffer from sleep apnea,” said Kelley Walkup, division vice president and general manager for ACS. “Most fleets lack the national infrastructure to collect and evaluate the treatment information from drivers on the road, so we see considerable demand for this type of end-to-end sleep apnea compliance reporting system.”

Sleep apnea can be treated by a commonly used device called the auto-titrating positive airway pressure machine (APAP). Last year ACS partnered with Sleep Pointe to help carriers collect and evaluate sleep apnea treatment information from APAP machines. By establishing the reporting service at TA and Petro locations carriers can better monitor the safety of their fleets, the release said.

TA and Petro locations will phase in the sleep apnea data reporting in waves to accommodate the needs of fleets signed up for the solution. The first two fleets to implement the new solution are Prime Inc. of Springfield, Mo., and Crete Carrier Corp. of Lincoln, Neb. Eventually, all 187 TA and Petro company-operated locations will offer the complete compliance reporting service.

The Trucker staff may be contacted to comment at editor@thetrucker.com.