Desert Journey Management: The Journey Plan, Check-In Points and the Overdue Procedure

Educational content only: procedures and operating values vary between companies and sites. Always follow your company’s approved procedures, your supervisor’s instructions and the permits in force at your site.

Why talk about journeys?

In a desert field, people travel every day between the base camp, the plant, wells, rig sites and the airstrip. Distances are long, tracks are sometimes unpaved, sand moves, heat is intense and phone coverage is weak. Industry statistics, including those published by IOGP, consistently show land transport accidents as one of the biggest causes of fatalities in the sector. That is why companies developed journey management. It is part of safety, and part of security too, because it tells us where every vehicle and every person is at all times.

Step one: is the trip necessary?

Before planning, ask:

• Can the work be done by phone, radio or remotely?
• Can several tasks be combined into one trip instead of three?
• Can the trip be moved to daylight or a better time?

Every trip we cancel is a risk removed completely.

The journey plan

If the trip is necessary, a plan is prepared before departure and approved by the journey manager or coordinator. It usually includes:

• Route: the defined way points and the hazards on it, such as dunes, bends and pipeline crossings.
• People: the names of the driver and passengers, and contact numbers.
• Vehicle: type, registration and the result of the daily check.
• Times: departure, expected time of arrival (ETA) and rest stops.
• Communication: the means of contact (radio, satellite phone or satellite tracking) and the check points where the driver calls in.
• Emergencies: what the driver does if the vehicle breaks down or gets lost, and who calls whom.

Driver and vehicle

• Driver: trained and qualified for desert driving, well rested, and within the daily driving hours allowed by company policy. Fatigue is one of the deadliest causes of desert accidents.
• Vehicle: checked before departure: tyres and pressures, fluids, lights, brakes, and a seat belt for every occupant.
• Vehicle equipment: enough drinking water for every occupant for an extended period, a first aid kit, a fire extinguisher, a spare tyre and tools, sand recovery equipment and a warning triangle.
• In-vehicle monitoring system (IVMS): records speed, harsh braking and driving hours, helping correct behaviour before an accident happens.

During the trip

• Check-in points: the driver calls at each check point in the plan and tells the coordinator on arrival. The trip is not over until it is formally closed.
• No route change without notice: any change makes a search hard if something goes wrong.
• Convoys: on very remote routes, many policies require at least two vehicles travelling within sight of each other.
• Sandstorms: if visibility is lost, stop in a safe place off the track, switch on hazard lights, inform the coordinator and wait.
• Night driving: banned or tightly restricted off paved roads, except with special authorization.
• If the vehicle breaks down: stay with the vehicle and do not walk into the desert. A vehicle is easier to see than a person, and it has water and shade.

The overdue vehicle procedure

When a vehicle is late with no contact, the coordinator follows escalating steps, such as:

1. Trying to reach the driver and passengers by every available means.
2. Checking the vehicle's position on the tracking system, if fitted.
3. Calling the destination and check points to confirm whether it passed or arrived without reporting.
4. Informing the supervisor, security and HSE.
5. Sending a search team along the planned route, with communications, water and first aid.
6. Escalating to the emergency plan if the vehicle is not found within the set time.

Takeaway for the technician

Journey management is simple in principle: no trip without need, no trip without a plan, and no trip ends until someone confirms you have arrived. Knowing the expected arrival time turns a late vehicle from vague worry into a clear action at a set time.

Test your understanding

Related lessons

• Site security: zones, gates and access control
• Security risk assessment (SRA) with API 780
• Land seismic acquisition: vibroseis and fold

Open the calculators

Sources

1. IOGP Report 365-19 - Land transportation safety recommended practice: Journey management
2. IOGP - Land transport safety
3. IOGP - New reports tackle land transportation safety
4. JPT - IOGP releases new land transportation safety reports