If we’re going to keep showing up through life’s ups and downs, we need to look after ourselves – and each other – along the way.
That is not always easy in an industry like ours, where long hours, stress, shifting schedules and everyday pressures can make it all too easy to put health on the backburner.
But that is exactly the thinking behind Truck Week 2026’s Personal Preventative Maintenance campaign: a practical, industry-shaped call to stop putting our own health last.
The campaign is aimed right across the sector – whether you are behind the wheel, in the depot, the warehouse, the workshop, the factory or the office.
As the campaign material puts it, your body is your prime mover. Service it.
The campaign focuses on five simple areas to start with:
- Pressure Gauge – blood pressure and cholesterol
- Bodywork – skin check
- Fuel System – bowel screening (45+)
- Oil Analysis – prostate
- Steering & Alignment – mental health
Personal Preventative Maintenance is a Truck Week initiative developed by HVIA, in partnership with the Australian Skin Cancer Foundation, Get Yourself Checked, the Heart Foundation, Healthy Heads in Trucks & Sheds and SiSU Health Group.
This campaign has been shaped by the realities of life and work across the transport and logistics sector, where health can too easily slip behind the next job, the next deadline or the next run.
A message grounded in experience
For former transport operator, ATA Chair and Healthy Heads in Trucks & Sheds director Geoff Crouch, that conversation is deeply personal.
Geoff knows what it is to put things off. He also knows what it is to get a second chance.
He recalls his first heart attack at just 39 years of age. He had the symptoms, but not the one many people associate most strongly with a heart attack: chest pain.
He felt unwell, had pain in his jaw and arm, and spent the night assuming it would pass.
It was only after initially declining an appointment with a locum doctor, then changing his mind, that he went in and was told he had in fact suffered a major heart attack – what they call a widow-maker, or a silent heart attack.
Then, just three years ago, he found himself back at the GP with blood pressure “through the roof” and other symptoms he could have downplayed.
This time, he did not pretend everything was fine. He told the truth, followed the advice he was given, and ended up undergoing a double bypass – but he came through it.
That lived experience shapes the way he talks about health now.
“It’s not a badge of honour to say that: oh, I don’t go to doctors, I haven’t been to a doctor in years,” Geoff says. “That’s not a badge of honour. That’s a death warrant.”
Moving past the myths
It is a striking line, but it lands because it speaks directly to an attitude many in this industry recognise. Stoicism can be a strength. So can resilience. But those traits can also become excuses for delay, denial or unnecessary risk.
That is especially true when outdated assumptions and myths remain in circulation.
Geoff is blunt about that too, particularly around men’s health.
“Blokes are terrified of the dreaded finger up the bum; there needs to be education,” he says. “It’s a blood test, people!”
That matters because prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers affecting Australian men – but when detected early, it’s highly treatable.
At the same time, this campaign is not about lecturing people or pretending access is always simple.
Don’t wait for the perfect time
Truck Week recognises that circumstances vary widely.
Some people have supportive employers. Some do not. Some can get in to see a trusted GP quickly. Others are juggling long hours, changing schedules, family pressures, distance from home, or the simple reality that a booked appointment can fall apart when work shifts unexpectedly. Those barriers are real, and the campaign needs to be honest about them.
That is why the message is broader than just “see your GP”.
Your GP or health professional is the best place to start. Don’t wait for the perfect time. Use the next chance you get.
That next chance might be your regular doctor. It might be another GP. It might be a health check, a screening test, a telehealth consult, or simply taking the first available appointment instead of putting it off again.
What employers can do
The same practical mindset applies to employers.
Geoff is clear that health cannot be treated as entirely an individual issue when businesses also shape the environment people work in. Operators may not be able to solve everything, but they can make it easier – or harder – for people to act.
“Do not put obstacles in the way of our employees getting medical checks,” he says.
That is not just a moral point. It is a practical one. Healthier people are more likely to stay safer, work better and remain in the industry longer.
Geoff puts it in simple terms when talking about scheduling around medical appointments: “What’s more important, that one trip or someone’s life?”
The next step is ours
That question goes to the heart of the campaign.
Personal Preventative Maintenance is not about perfection. It is not about asking everyone to suddenly become health fanatics.
It is not about ignoring the pressures people are under. It is about moving past the mythology that says you should only act when something becomes impossible to ignore.
In an industry that prides itself on keeping Australia moving, this is a reminder that staying fit for work and fit for life starts with not leaving your own warning lights unattended.
Truck Week’s Personal Preventative Maintenance campaign sets out five simple checks as a starting point. The next step is ours.
Your GP or health professional is the best place to start. Don’t wait for the perfect time. Use the next chance you get.
