Our Ref: HSR/2/18

Head Office Circular/NP253/15a

16th December 2015
Dear
BUS DRIVERS HOURS AND BREAKS
HEALTH IMPLICATIONS OF PROLONGED SITTING
NOTICE OF REQUIREMENT TO ROTATE BUS DRIVERS DUTIES TO
ENABLE GREATER PERSONAL MOBILITY DURING SHIFTS
Being sedentary (such as sitting driving a bus) for prolonged periods has negative health
implications. Specifically, prolonged sedentary working leads to a significant increase in the
risk of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, certain cancers, depression and muscle and joint
problems.
Physiologically, sitting quickly results in electrical activity in the leg muscles shutting off, with
calorie burning dropping down to just one per minute and the enzymes that help break
down fat, reduced to 90% of normal strength.
Unsurprisingly, therefore, prolonged sitting significantly and independently increases the risk
of cardiometabolic diseases and premature mortality - with people in sedentary work
suffering twice the rate of cardio-vascular disease.
This is no longer an hypothesis - a significant amount of scientific research now exists to
substantiate these concerns. Indeed the number of studies looking at the consequences of
such methods of working on bus drivers alone is growing.
The link with heart disease is already particularly well-established. The following summaries
of researchers findings (with the full reports referenced in footnotes) are representative:
-higher risk of early onset coronary heart disease, of first clinical episodes of
coronary heart disease and of mortality observed for drivers (linked to sedentary
nature of driving)1
-hypertension rates amongst drivers greater than for control sample2
-drivers had around three times greater incidence of coronary heart disease and
higher mortality than controls3
1

Morris, J. N., Heady, J. A., Raffle, P. A. B., Roberts, C. G., & Parks, J. W. (1953). Coronary heart-disease and physical activity
of work. The Lancet, 2, 10531057 and 11111120
2

Ragland, D. R., Winkleby, M. A., Schwalbe, J., Holman, B., Morse, L., Syme, S. L., et al. (1987). Prevalence of hypertension in
bus drivers. International Journal of Epidemiology, 16, 208214
3

Rosengren, A., Anderson, K., & Wilhelmsen, L. (1991). Risk of coronary heart disease in middle-aged male bus and tram
drivers compared to men in other occupations: A prospective study. International Journal of Epidemiology, 20, 8287.

-drivers were more obese (partly arising from less physical activity) than controls4
-greater risk of coronary heart disease for drivers higher levels of obesity, blood
pressure, heart disease and triglyceride levels recorded.5
Further, prolonged periods of inactivity have negative health implications, irrespective of
how active an individual otherwise is.
The Chief Medical Officer has declared that the amount of time which an individual spends
sitting be minimised. And further that seat-based work should be regularly broken up with
either active-movement breaks (for a minimum of two minutes, at least three times per
hour).
Accordingly this letter is to formally notify you that your current arrangements for
organising bus drivers shifts and rotating duties are inadequate and that you must now take
steps to facilitate our members benefiting from intermittent and vital physical activity.
We are greatly concerned by the lifetime impact of a career spent engaged in sedentary
work and are in the process of contacting all our members to encourage health monitoring.
We look forward to reviewing your proposals on how the work patterns of our members
are to be amended. To be clear, we will not tolerate the continuation of the situation
whereby workers only receive rest breaks every x number of hours.
Yours sincerely,

Mick Cash
General Secretary

Hedberg, G. E., Jacobsson, K. A., Janlert, U., & Langendoen, S. (1993). Risk indicators of ischemic heart disease among male
professional drivers in Sweden. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health, 19, 326333.
5

Wang, P. D., & Lin, R. S. (2001). Coronary heart disease risk factors in urban bus drivers. Public Health, 115, 261264.