Logo

Journey Management

About Journey Management

Journey management refers to a process of planning and undertaking journeys in an organised fashion. It is a process which is usually implemented as a control measure as a result of a risk assessment, where a hazard such as remoteness is identified between the start and endpoints of a journey, for example, between the accommodation and worksite, and it is decided that the best way to control the risk is to implement journey management. In other words, we are saying that allowing people to meander off to a work site in their own time, via whatever route they decide, in vehicles in any condition, and with whatever communication and safety equipment they feel like carrying, if any, poses an unacceptable level of risk, and instead we are going to formalise the journey for safety or security reasons.

If you implement one or more items from the left column, then you are implementing some form of journey management already.

Journey Management No Journey Management

Team members depart at a designated time Team members meander off to the destination in their own time

Team members travel in designated vehicles Team members travel in the most convenient or comfortable vehicle

Teams travel in groups for mutual support Team members can travel individually as normally nothing goes wrong

Team members follow a designated route Team members find their own way

A communications plan is in place and tested Communications are figured out en route

Vehicles are inspected for condition and safety The vehicles was fine yesterday so it should be fine today

Potential problems have pre-planned actions Problems are figured out as they happen

An overdue team members triggers a response No news is good news

Why should I use journey management?

Duty of care Workplace starts at the start of the journey

Safe way to start the day. Starting the work day in a safe and organised fashion sets the standard early for the rest of the day.

Takes care of routine tasks early A systematic start to the day takes care of some essential but often neglected tasks. For example, we know that fire extinguishers and first-aid kits should be checked at a regular interval, but without journey management, would someone take time out of their day to check these items? Probably not.

Time-savings and increased productivity Reduce lost team members. Team members arriving on time. Rotating team members – standardised way of doing things.

Standardisation Implementing journey management standardises an important part of operations across an organisation leading less confusion, especially in organisations with mixed teams rotating in and out of an area.

When should I implement journey management?

There is no hard and fast rule on when you should implement journey management unless it is mandated already in your organisation, or legislation requires it in your jurisdictions. In some sectors, such as the natural resources, journey management is expected. In those organisations where journey management is already implements, it is often not implemented correctly, and may require a review and rewrite of the policy. Often, this is due to the fact that journey management prevents things going wrong, which creates the perception that it is not needed, because things hardly ever go wrong.

Journey Management Procedure

Planning a journey management procedure requires a similar process that is applied to development of processes for regular tasks. While the individual steps of the task may vary, or in the case of journey management, the route, the procedure should be generally the same across all journeys which is why it warrants its own procedure. The journey management procedure should be controlled document in the organisation's document library and reviewed in accordance with the organisation's document review process (generally every 12-months). When reviewing the journey management procedure, the reviewer should have access to the organisation's incident register to compare journey-related near-misses and incidents, to inform and guide changes to the journey management procedure.

One of the most common problems seen in journey management procedures is failure to implement the procedure properly. The most concise procedure is pointless if no one implements it. Turning documents into action is a challenge faced by all risk managers in an organisation.

Journey Management Plans

Plan the journey's route

Risk assessment journey

Risk Assessment

Vehicle accidents kill more aid workers each year than anything else

Heirachy of control - eliminate the need for the journey

Decision Points

Decision points a simple points where decisions need to be made. In journey management this is normally something as simple as a road junctions where depending on the decision made, the traveller will be going the right way or the wrong way. We make lots of low-level subtle decision points every day which normally go unnoticed because the consequences of making the wrong decision probably won't put your life or safety at risk. Other decision points that may endanger your life are so obvious that one could argue it is not really a decision.

Environments

Risks

Communications

Read more Communication

Navigation

Safety Equipment

Vehicle Tracking

Manual Tracking

Automated Tracking

Convey Procedure

Convoy procedure refers to a procedure for undertaking a journey with more than one vehicle travelling in a packet or packets (groups).

Team members using convoy procedure for the first time may complain that the journey is slower and it would be quicker if everyone just made their own way - and they might be right if everything was guaranteed to go to plan on every journey. We know however that journeys in remote areas can be the cause of things going terribly wrong and the consequences range from lost productivity and wasted resources, through to death of a worker or participant.

Front-to-Rear Contact

The concept of front-to-rear contact is that each vehicle is to behave like a link in a chain - the chain is flexible and spacing between links will vary slightly as it is moved, but the links remain connected. Without a physical

Making Turns

When making turns in a convoy, all vehicles have a responsibility to make sure the vehicle behind has noticed the turn. If correct font-to-rear visual contact is maintained, designated turns should not be missed.

If one vehicle in a convoy fails to make a designated turn, one of two things will happen:

Convoy split: The vehicle that missed the turn and every vehicle behind it will continue on the wrong direction, and the lead vehicle in the new split convoy will be forced to increase speed in an attempt to regain visual contact with the vehicle (believed to be) in front.

Missing vehicle The vehicle that missed the turn will continue in the wrong direction, and be forced to increase speed in an attempt to regain visual contact with the vehicle (believed to be) in front, while the vehicles behind will make the correct turn and rejoin the convoy. If all vehicles in the convoy look similar, it might be considerable time before the missing vehicle is noticed.

The convoy procedure for making turns is:

Vehicle A makes the turn and stops in a safe place with turn indictor flashing

Vehicle B notices Vehicle A has turned, and responds by activating the turn indictor

Vehicle A can then proceed and check in the rear view mirror that Vehicle B did in fact make the turn

This procedure continues down the convoy until all vehicles have completed the turn

Convoy Procedure (making turns)

Actions on

Vehicle Breakdown

Stop the vehicle as soon as safe to minimise further damage. If you are in an unsafe area (i.e. high-speed blind corner, flood waters), attempt to drive the vehicle further until it is safe.

If the vehicle will not drive out of danger, abandon the vehicle quickly with essential communications equipment. If the vehicle is causing a hazard to oncoming traffic, attempt to signal/warn oncoming traffic.

Vehicle Accident

Vehicle Lost or Separated

Failure to Arrive

Failure of a team member or members to arrive at a checkpoint or destination often has an unremarkable reason but should be treated as a serious incident until proven otherwise.

Unscheduled Stop

Unscheduled stops can be very time consuming and disruptive to a convey. For example, 3-minute unscheduled toilet break could add 15-minutes to the journey as convoy procedure dictates that all each vehicles must stop when the vehicle behind stops. It is possible that in a long convey, the last vehicle may be stopping as the original vehicle that stopped is departing after a quick break which is disruptive and confusing.

By implementing journey management properly, we minimise unscheduled stops by:

reducing the chance of a vehicle problem by inspecting the vehicle prior to departure

advising team members of the departure time ahead of time to give team members time to eat, hydrate and use the toilet.

including planned toilet, food and rest breaks into the journey plan

reduce the chances of a vehicle having to return to the point of departure due to a forgotten item

AsideFooter

Vehicle safety, convoy procedures, and trip planning for field operations.

Google Maps

Google Maps can be a very useful tool for trip planning, with some caveats. Trip planners can leverage the powerful body of geospatial data that Google Maps has collected and made available for free.

Live Traffic

Using the Google Maps live maps feature, trip planners are able to look for problems along the route such as; traffic accidents, vehicle check points, road damage etc. By panning along the route, and identifying red areas (congestion), trip planners are able to decide if congestion is normal, or unexpected, for the part of the road or highway, and make adjustments. During the journey, navigators can see where locals are finding detours or shortcuts around traffic hazards and congestion, and find new routes.

Drawbacks

Privacy

Google Maps appears to be free, however no software is free. Google Maps users pay for the service through data collection, which is then sold to advertisers.

Communication

To avoid radio feedback and miscommunication, only one person in the vehicle should be communicating and only one radio should be turned on

Planning

Redundency