Two like-minded Working Groups with a common interest came together in May for an event convened to consider one of our industry’s highest-risk activities, road safety - with the collaboration representing Safer Together at its’ best.

Josh Doig (COO, Morpheus Energy) was our MC for the event. His sharp mind was needed, stepping into the role at short notice. Many thanks to you Josh, for making this a great event.

Anton Verdel (COO, Arrow Energy) followed with a superb safety moment, sharing his perspective on road safety, having worked in several organisations around the world. He also noted his concern about the current number of high potential vehicular incidents in the sector. He went on to challenge the industry on the need to develop coherent data so we can learn from this and improve. After all, good data drives good decisions.

Four incident reviews were shared, ranging from load restraint learnings to a presentation emphasising the importance of pre-starts.

Following a short afternoon tea break, Josh returned to host the afternoon’s Panel session “Are we seeing an increase in heavy vehicle rollovers?  If so, why?”.  A lively discussion ensued on what the four panellists think is currently happening, and what industry should be doing about it, with the audience asked several pointed questions, and the responses creating a little discomfort.  Thank you to our Panellists, Peter Runge (Origin Energy), Lisa Green (Santos), Dave Pearce (Shell QGC) and Anton Verdel (Arrow Energy).

After his Incident Review presentation, Alan Althoff (Logistics and Transport Specialist, Arrow Energy) returned to present Arrow Energy’s Well in a Box Innovation. Alan presented a best-in-class series of engineering solutions to improve every aspect of loading, transporting and unloading heavy vehicles; with the innovation soon to be available for members on our Engineering Solutions Mini-Portal.

Dave Pearce returned to launch the 2025 National Road Safety Week resource pack, this year with the theme Every Road.  Every Trip.  Every Day.  The resource pack is available on the Safer Together website for all members.

Rounding out the day with a presentation on initiatives from our Land Transport Working Group are relevant for anyone in our industry using vehicles, was Peter Runge:

Lisa returned to close out the event, asking delegates to consider how far our industry has come with engineering and technological solutions, yet we still have serious incidents. We need access to better and more appropriate data, and we need to work harder on influencing driver behaviours and building a better culture of driving in our industry.

She closed with a couple of observations from the day:

  • The combination of openly shared incidents with excellent engineering solutions provided for a rich experience for all participants.
  • Due to the extensive interactions in Q&A with each presenter, the event ran longer than planned - in the best way.
  • Closed circuit cameras in yards and vehicles have been gamechangers in modifying behaviours and in post-incident investigations.

Thank you to our event sponsors, member companies Morpheus Energy, Arrow Energy and Santos.

Members can view the event slide pack and a full recording of the event.

If you are interested in joining our Land Transport or Rig Site Safety Working Groups, get in touch:  [email protected].