Over the years, many companies in the Oil and Gas industry have taken several initiatives towards reducing the frequency of road transport accidents. Despite these efforts, accidents still occur, sometimes resulting in fatalities. Consequently, a major oil producing company in Nigeria launched a 4-step driver training program that is hinged on eliminating major risks associated with its land transport activities. The Program identified driver education as key to reducing road traffic accidents. Using a holistic approach, we recognized the existence of a competency gap in the driver education program in the country and focused on continuing driver education, coaching and mentoring to build the desired positive attitude in the drivers towards risk reduction in land transport activities. Its implementation has brought a significant reduction in the frequency and severities of road traffic accident in the company within a reasonably short time. This is at a cost that is low compared to the cost of traffic fatalities. Introduction All over the world, driving activity poses great danger. In the work environment, more than half of the staff population feel more at risk of injuries while driving on the job, to or from work. In Nigeria, there are several contributing factors to the high rate of road traffic accidents: the state of the roads; conditions of the vehicles (including age); driver attitude; inadequate law enforcement and driver education are some of these factors. Coping with these ever growing challenges is always a difficult task, more especially with employees of diverse cultural background and educational qualifications. Oil exploration and production (E&P) activities are greatly affected by land transportation and the increase in activities equally have a bearing on volume of road traffic activities with corresponding increase in the number of road transport accidents. Due to the peculiar nature of the areas of operation of the oil companies, a great number of drivers employed are illiterate and do not pass through a formal driver training class before obtaining the national drivers license. This coupled with negative driving attitude and poor road conditions therefore puts pressure on companies to find the best approach to reducing the high number of road traffic injuries and fatalities recorded in the operations. Past Records For many years, oil exploration and production (E&P) companies suffered losses from driving-related accidents ranging from material damage to fatalities. Records show that between 2001 and 2004, the company recorded 5 fatalities with about 21 serious vehicle accidents (accident cost in excess of 1,000 US$ and/or with LTI) resulting in total incident cost of more than 80,000 US$. Each accident was investigated and basic causes determined. Analysis showed that overspeeding, road condition, driver error, lack of awareness, fatigue and substance abuse are the major cause of the accidents (See Fig.1).
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