New PDO safety standards help improve performance of its drivers by 98 per cent

Muscat: New sets of safety standards issued by Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) have seen the performances of their drivers on the road improve by 98 per cent, since its introduction in 2016.
Speaking on the efforts made by the company to reduce the number of accidents involving its drivers while on road, PDO’s Health, Safety and Environment Manager, Mohammed Al Shukri, said, “We follow a system for training and evaluation of drivers and we have worked to improve and develop the system with a focus on driver’s behaviour in order to avoid traffic accidents. Training comprises all types of vehicles whether light or heavy, and includes tankers for transporting liquids.
“Within the framework of the new strategy, PDO has established a centre to control and supervise drivers on journeys and to track the company’s vehicles while they are out on journeys,” he added.
“Within the same strategy the company has applied a system to monitor the movements of vehicles and trips. We have performance indicators for each driver since the introduction of this system in 2016. The improvement in the performance indicators in the field of driving has reached 98 per cent.”
Al Shukri said, “In carrying out its operations PDO has relied on a major network of paved and unpaved roads. The total vehicles used in operations amounted to some 30,000 across different types of vehicles, along with some 20,000 drivers of the company and those contracted with PDO. These vehicles travel some 320 million kilometres every year, and transport employees, as well as equipment, oil and other items.”
Over the past years, PDO has come out with various new initiatives in traffic safety. The initiatives have positively reflected in enhancement of driving standards and avoidance of lost time injuries (LTI). The total distance travelled by its vehicles exceeded 750 million kilometres, without any serious traffic accidents associated with work.
“In addition to operating a journey management centre and a car surveillance system among other systems, PDO has also introduced another initiative that uses cameras to assess the drivers in their compliance with fastening seatbelt and passenger behaviour,” Al Shukri said. “We have introduced cat eye road reflectors operated by solar energy, installed at PDO concession areas extending from Haima to Salalah for 650 kilometres.
“This is along with the installation of other cat eye reflectors for 444 kilometres covering the areas of Fahud, Lukhwair and Ibri,” he added. “This effort aims to cover an additional distance of 494 kilometres by March on three roads: the Adam-Thumrait Road, Natiah-Ibri Road Road and the road from Ghaba to Saih Roul through Qarn Alam. The initiatives have positively reflected an enhancement in driving standards and avoidance of lost time injuries (LTI). The total distance travelled by its vehicles exceeded 750 million kilometres of no serious traffic accidents related to work.”