CLEVELAND, June 18 — BLET National President Dennis R. Pierce announced today that the results of a study regarding railroad worker fatigue management, sleep, and sleep disorders have been made publicly available.
The website — titled “Railroaders’ Guide to Healthy Sleep” (www.railroadersleep.org) — is the result of a collaborative project that began in 2010 between BLET, Harvard Medical School, the WGBH Educational Foundation, and the UTU. The final product reflects anonymous survey results from numerous BLET and UTU members.
The website gives members information regarding how to obtain better sleep in hopes of improving their quality of life. The website also contains videos and numerous other tools to help railroaders stay safe on the job, including instructions on how to listen to your body clock and how to recognize sleep apnea, and has an interactive feature that allows you to test your reaction time.
The website is sponsored by the Federal Railroad Administration and produced in partnership with WGBH Educational Foundation and the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center.
President Pierce thanked all BLET members who participated in the survey process, as well as National Vice President Steve Bruno and Director of Regulatory Affairs Vince Verna for their assistance on the project.
“I encourage BLET members to visit the website, especially since they had a hand in the creation of its content,” President Pierce said. “Although we know the true solution to fatigue requires an accurate lineup, it is our hope this new website will benefit our members who want more information concerning how to obtain better sleep given the challenges and barriers to quality sleep presented by working for the railroads.”
President Pierce also said that a permanent link will be added to the BLET home page, which will take visitors to the website: www.railroadersleep.org.