Mortality in unionized truck drivers

To determine occupational mortality in the Central States Teamster population, all death certificates for a three-month period in 1976 were collected and coded. With the exception of respiratory tract cancer and motor vehicle accident deaths, mortality rates were lower than those found in the U.S. population and comparable to those found in other employed populations. It was not possible to separate the effect of cigarette smoking from environmental exposure to explain the excess respiratory tract cancer death. Unexpectedly, the majority of accident mortalities occurred away from work rather than at work.