Affiliations: Department of Management, Laval University, Québec,
QC, Canada | Department of Industrial Relations, Laval University,
Québec, QC, Canada
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Pierre-Sébastien Fournier, Ph.
D., Département de management, Faculté des sciences de
l'administration, Université Laval, Québec, Canada, G1K 7P4. Tel.: +1
418 656 2131 ext. 11311; Fax: +1 418 656 2624; E-mail:
[email protected]
Abstract: Truck driver fatigue is a major safety issue for truck drivers and
the public in general. Although training prepares drivers to effectively
operate a truck, it tends to minimize the importance of working constraints
faced daily on-the-job and thus reduces its impact on safety and effectiveness.
With experience, drivers develop skills to combat fatigue. Documenting these
skills can contribute to improved training of apprentices. An ethnographic
approach was used to better understand the real-life fatigue management skills
of truck drivers. Participant observation was used to analyze the activity of
apprentices in training and the activity of truck drivers at work. Observations
indicated that training focused on time management and regulations, but did not
prepare trainees to manage real-life constraints. Experienced drivers were not
merely managing time; rather they were managing working constraints (including
time) as a whole. To do so, they used two strategies: managing psycho-physical
transformations and dynamic work planning. By integrating psycho-physical
preoccupations into all aspects of work and by preparing future drivers to face
real-life constraints, we could better train and prepare apprentices. Drivers
do develop effective skills to combat fatigue which can improve training and
better prepare future drivers to face daily constraints. These improvements can
have a significant impact on fatigue and safety in the transportation
industry.
Keywords: Truck driver, fatigue, training, working reality, skills
