OGP drives toward greater safety on the road

		With driving related incidents again topping the list of fatalities amongst OGP member companies and their contractors in the annual global safety report, the OGP will be staging an international conference in Cairo this November in an attempt to focus the global upstream industry's attention on improving the safety performance across every transport discipline.

Although the percentage of fatalities attributed to driving related incidents fell from 33% in 2003 to 22% in 2004, that still accounts for 26 deaths on the road, bringing the number of fatalities from driving incidents since 1998 to a total of 183.

With predictions from the World Health Organisation that road deaths will become the second biggest global killer by 2010, the E&P industry has revised its safety guidelines on land transportation with recommendations that these be adopted across all companies and their contractors on and off road. Some of the recommendations are basic legal requirements in many developed countries, including compulsory wearing of seatbelts and a ban on drivers using CB radios or mobile phones while driving.

Companies are being asked to question whether or not a journey is essential, to assess risk factors such as terrain, weather, festivals and holidays and their impact on the driving of other road users, and to examine where alternative transportation routes present lower risk alternatives. The importance of adequate driver training, qualification and licensing is a key focus of the report which calls for a review of company polices and standards related to driving as well as improvement in terms of defensive driving skills and regular refresher training.

Without first hand experience of some of the driving habits, concerns and cultures in many developing countries, it can be difficult to appreciate the scale of the problems on the road. Margaret Stevenson, Project Administrator at Exploration Logistics has teams of specialist driver trainers supporting oil, gas and other international companies in the development of driver safety schemes, particularly in remote or developing environments.

She explains, "In Egypt for example, a driver can gain his HGV licence having proven his ability to drive forward and stop. But what happens when you ask him to reverse round a corner? Traffic signals that should automatically bring everyone to a halt often have little, if any, impact on the traffic flow. Many incidents are caused simply by drivers not understanding the capabilities of their vehicles, knowing when to put an off road vehicle into four wheel drive or where and when to adjust tyre pressure."

The OGP hopes that the combination of the publication of the new guidelines and the industry focus in Cairo next month will help get better management and training programmes into gear.

Copies of the OGP Safety report and the Land Transportation safety recommended practice can both be downloaded free of charge at www.ogp.org.uk/publications.

Additional information on the transportation conference in Cairo is available from gillian.smith@ogp.org.uk.