Project Proposal Health and Wellbeing for Taxi and Private Hire Drivers

1. Project ProposalHealth and Wellbeing for Taxi and Private Hire Drivers

2. Impact Factors • Vibration • Sedentary role • Isolation • Environmental factors – eating, toilet facilities • Hours of work • Customer factors –violence, aggression, theft, drink/drugs, unpredictability • Driving risks

3. Risk Factors • Road vibrations over extended period can impact physical health • Sitting for long periods has implications for posture, musculoskeletal damage, lack of exercise, blood pooling to the legs, vein damage. • Isolation can cause stress, or inhibit normal stress management solutions • Exposure to airborne vehicle pollutants, especially in large cities • Manual handling of loads, luggage and wheelchair users. • Limited options for healthy eating, exercise, variety, toilet facilities, hand washing, and basic good practice for health • Potential for violence or confrontation, and/or psychological damage from the potential for violence • Self-employed status limits support – no sick-pay, no redundancy, longer hours means more income, but no limits to hours • Lack of interaction with colleagues can cause or exaggerate social problems • Self-employment inhibits complaints about conditions or hours

4. Potential effects • WBV (whole body vibration) damage • Mental health problems, stress, anger, instability, incremental problems over time • Prevalence of cancer –especially bowel and stomach • Prevalence of CPD and other lung diseases • Increased likelihood of drug or alcohol dependency • Increased likelihood of liver and kidney problems, eg diabetes. • Sleep disorders • Musculoskeletal disorders caused by cramped conditions and poor posture, or handling of loads or wheelchair users • Injury from motor vehicle accidents

5. Wider impacts • Cost to health services • Potential danger to other road users • Negative media attention, possibly impact licensing authorities • Impacts to individuals and families • Mental health –divorce, break-ups, breakdowns • Potential for violence or stress-induced issues • Unlimited hours of work for drivers can limit family time and quality of time spent with family • Physical ill-health or death of a member of the family • Financial consequences of ill-health – no sick pay for self-employed • Damage to the perception of the trade – poor conditions deter new entrants, and limit applications from women and younger people

6. Potential partnerships involved • PCTs, or Health Action Teams • Licensing • Environmental health (or similar) • Unions, and Unionlearn • Merseytravel/Merseylearn • People 1st • Taxi Operators • Mental health support agencies

7. notes • At 3.30am in the city centre, a police officer has protective clothing, helmet, special training, baton, CS gas, radio, toilet facilities, regular breaks, phone, and works as part of a trained team. • A taxi driver may have none of these, but be in the same place at the same time