Publications

This Safety Information is focused on raising awareness of the risks of stopping in emergency lanes. While the focus is on heavy goods vehicles for the transport of dangerous goods travelling on motorways, the guidance given in this publication may also apply to other types of vehicles on other types of roads.

Fatigue can affect all people in their working environment to varying levels. Driving is a complex mental and physical task requiring sustained levels of concentration and skill to maintain maximum performance. No driver can afford to be fatigued nor can anyone else. The purpose of this publication is to provide training topics and recommendations that can help to avoid situations that affect drivers in their daily lives and can make them fatigued. It gives guidance on what to consider when creating a fatigue management system.

Driving a vehicle safely in a fast moving and dynamic environment takes a large amount of concentration by the driver. Anything that distracts the driver to lose their concentration on the road ahead, even for just a few seconds, can have disastrous consequences that puts their life and those of the public at risk. Drivers need to be aware that relatively common actions can cause a distraction and lead to an incident while management need policies, procedures and training in place to recognise these risks and mitigate them. This Safety Information provides an overview of the types of potential in vehicle distractions and steps that can be taken to reduce them to improve the transport safety performance of gas company and their contractors’ delivery vehicles, for the transportation of industrial and medical gases.

Modern vehicles generate large amounts of data from their on-board computer systems fitted by the vehicle manufacturer and also from the electronic devices and driver aids that are often retrofitted to monitor vehicle and driver performance. Managing this data can provide a strong foundation for transport safety performance management and improvement. This Safety Information provides an overview of how data can be managed and used to improve the transport safety performance of gas company and their contractors’ delivery vehicles, for the transportation of industrial and medical gases.

Near-misses, incidents and accidents are generally analysed in detail when they occur, and action plans are put in place afterwards. Checks and audits identify gaps or non-compliances which require corrective actions. However, the management of safety should not only be based on input perceived as being negative. It is also very important to promote good safety results and outstanding behaviour through positive means. This will encourage a positive approach towards safety by transport function personnel. Beside the encouraged day to day acknowledgement of safe behaviour, recognition programmes are a way to positively promote transport safety. This Transport Safety Information provides guidance on recognition programmes targeting the road safety stakeholders, either individuals, teams or organisations.

Commercial vehicle transport is one of the highest risk activities in the industry. The main cause for incidents during transport operations is human behaviour (e.g. poor driving, poor management, see EIGA Info TS 07, Human behaviour within Transport Operations [1]). However, sub-standard, unsafe or defective transport equipment can also result in or increase the risk of incidents. When deciding on the specification of transport equipment, specifically vehicles, it is important to be aware that there are elements of vehicle design that are mandatory, and those that are not. Each Gas Company and/or its nominated contractor should have suitable engineering standards/specifications in place as reference documents when ordering transport equipment. Additional safety equipment over and above mandatory requirements fitted by the original equipment manufacturer should also be considered. Vehicles that do not meet the mandatory requirements shall be considered for upgrade or removal from service. In addition to the periodic inspections required by the legislation, a robust preventive maintenance plan shall be in place to keep all transport equipment in a safe and road worthy condition.

Road transportation is one of the highest risk activities in the Industrial and Medical Gases Industry. To provide management with a reliable and positive means for identifying levels of compliance with standards, regulations and procedures and potential unacceptable levels of risk from their transport operations a proactive monitoring process is required. The most common methodology is a “Transport Safety/Compliance audit”, which can for example cover internal processes or contractor performance, but there are also other means such as regular analyses of tachograph and on-board computer data and spot checks; driver assessments. Non-compliance with work instructions, operating standards, legislative requirements, rules and policies can create substandard conditions that increase the risk of incidents in the field of transport operations.

The root or basic causes of the majority of all incidents in the industrial and medical gases industry are unsafe behaviours by people (employees, contractors, managers etc.), not failures of plant or equipment. Even immediate causes that may be classified as unsafe conditions are usually created, or allowed to persist, through the behaviour of a person or a group of people. Transport is one of the highest risk activities in the industry and blame for incidents is often put on the drivers prematurely. Root causes for unsafe driver behaviour are often a result of a poor safety management system. This Transport Safety Information (TSI) provides advice on how to guide transport management and drivers to create an ‘interdependent’ safety culture. The goal is to help achieve an environment that promotes an open communication between employees and management to improve their overall safety performance. The topic of human factors in general is extensively covered in EIGA’s Safety Information - Human Factors series of documents and is not the focus of this publication. This TSI focuses on management’s and employees’ behaviour within transport operations. The aim is to help managers and drivers understand how their behaviour influences transport safety.

In the industrial and medical gas industry, road transportation is one of the highest risk activities. Not only can road vehicle accidents result in severe injuries to gas companies’ employees, contractors’ personnel or to third parties, but operations can also be severely impaired. In order to learn from road vehicle incidents that have occurred, they shall be thoroughly investigated, analysed, documented and reported. The objective of these activities is to identify actions that will reduce the risk of these incidents reoccurring. This Transport Safety Information provides advice on vehicle incident investigation management. This publication does not provide guidance on how to handle vehicle and product recovery after an incident. For information on this topic, see EIGA Doc 81, Road vehicle emergency and recovery.

The transport of gases is carried out by drivers from gases companies and/or transport contractors. It is critical for the gas companies and their transport contractors to ensure that the drivers are recruited and managed according to established requirements to minimize risks when driving bulk and cylinder vehicles (>7.5 tons). This safety information gives advice on recruitment of bulk and cylinder vehicle drivers involved in the transportation of gases, whether gas company employees or contractor drivers. The requirements cover assessment of driving ability at the time of recruitment. Additional assessment on specific delivery equipment such as cranes, tail lifts, mounted forklifts and other product transfer equipment would be conducted only after drivers have received additional training on these aspects. It is intended for managers, supervisors, drivers and other transport function personnel who are involved in transportation activities or driver recruitment.