It was a suggestion by the medical advisory board. It hasn't (to my knowledge) been made into a RULE. The OBJECT of the "suggestion" is to force drivers to have a "sleep study" done (better have HEALTH INSURANCE and it better not be OBAMASURANCE), as a means of verifying that the overweight driver suffers from sleep apnea (and therefore is not getting enough rest to drive safely) and needs one of those cool-looking, somewhat EXPENSIVE sleep apnea machines - whose headgear is ALL the FASHION RAGE at the moment. Every Walgreens in town has a "sleep apnea gear" display. It's the current "in vogue" disease - you're NOT COOL unless you have it.
Most people recognize this is as the SCAM it is - to foist additional expenses on companies and drivers for expensive sleep studies and machines (more $$ for the medical professionals). FMSCA hasn't acted on the recommendation yet, and has apparently been getting a TON (pardon the pun) of negative feedback. Sleep Apnea is one of those "catch-all diagnoses" - where some people TRULY have a health issue caused by it, and a LOT MORE are incorrectly diagnosed or so borderline that a correct diagnosis is so difficult they're lumped in with positive test results anyway (and forced to be LABLED by the insurance/medical industries as such - watch your RATES SKYROCKET and OBAMASURANCE determine that you are no longer worthy of treatment as you are too much of a BURDON ON SOCIETY NOW).
Some trucking companies (Prime has it on their website) are not accepting drivers OVER a certain BMI (for Prime it's 39). Step on a scale at orientation - fail - sent HOME. Funny though, most Prime drivers I've spoken with know folks that are WAY BIGGER than a 39, that are STILL DRIVING. While it is TRUE, that folks with OBESITY (and I'm 5'5"/270lbs so, that INCLUDES ME) are at greater risk for other health issues (hypertension, diabetes to name a few) - as long as they (meaning ME) are monitored via YEARLY (EVEN THOUGH I HAVE A 2 YEAR DOT MED CARD) physicals to ensure blood pressure and sugar are being maintained, then they should really stop hassling drivers about their weight and stop THREATENING THEIR ABILITY TO WORK by the size of their waists...
Rick
edit: Added later - Then again - if you look at the
RESULTS of this study performed by the FMCSA, it found (and I quote); "results from this study showed that the presence and severity of sleep apnea in commercial truck drivers are not good predictors of motor vehicle crash involvement. In other words, no compelling statistical evidence was found that supports the hypothesis that sleep apnea increases crash risk among commercial drivers. Furthermore, there was no evidence from the data used in this study to suggest that crash risk is impacted before and after drivers are diagnosed with sleep apnea." So WHY are they STILL MESSING WITH US - unless it's just to force US to pour more of our hard earned $$ into the medical providers pockets...