According to the Australian Automobile Association, 20 to 30% of all vehicle crashes in Australia are attributable to fatigue. Fatigue-Related Incidents on the road are not uncommon in our industry, indicating that the need to understand and tackle fatigued driving is greater than ever. So it was appropriate that the latest Safer Together Land Transport Incident Review Panel (LTIRP) was focused on Fatigue.

Held in Brisbane on 27 April with a face-to-face audience and also live-streamed to online participants, the LTIRP included presentations from Shell QGC, Qube and Toyota that focused on controls for addressing fatigue that are currently in use, and the latest technological developments being introduced by original equipment manufacturer (OEM) suppliers. 

Safer Together Members can access a full video recording of the Event here.

The event was ably facilitated and bookended by Peter Runge (Integrated Gas Asset Services Logistics Manager - Origin Energy) and Adam Fitz-Henry (Commercial Manager - Qteq), both Land Transport Working Group stalwarts who we’d like to acknowledge for their contribution – these two gentlemen set the standards high for all Incident Review Panels we conduct.

Mick Shepherd (Road Safety Advisor - Shell QGC) gave a fantastic presentation on ‘Fatigue-Related Controls’ - this was particularly insightful by explaining how deeply Shell QGC has considered driver monitoring controls to address privacy concerns and to obtain the safest outcome for their workers, as well as identifying other areas needing improvement (e.g. medical conditions and quality of rest).

Mick’s presentation can be viewed at 04:30 minutes in the video recording of the Event

Nigel French (National Operations Manager - Qube) followed with his informative presentation on ‘Fatigue Event Trends – Close to Home’. This presentation showed an interesting cluster of microsleep incidents, with some revealing insights on what makes a person ‘push through’ rather than stop as fatigue sets in.

Nigel’s presentation can be viewed at 43:00 minutes in the video recording of the event.

Ryan Lacey (Manager Regional Fleet, Northern Region - Toyota Motor Corporation Australia) delivered a terrific presentation on Toyota’s latest ‘Driver Safety Technologies’ – with IRP attendees always interested to hear about the newest technological controls.

Ryan’s presentation can be viewed at 1 hr 04:30 minutes in the video recording of the Event

In wrapping up the event, Adam Fitz-Henry highlighted “a key takeaway for all of us is to go back to our respective companies and have an open and honest conversation with our people to ask - Is Fatigue an issue in our business? and What are we doing to manage it?”  

Safer Together is all about learning from each other. So we would like to thank all the presenters and facilitators for their time, enthusiasm and commitment – without them Incident Review Panel Events like these would not be possible.

Safer Together Land Transport Incident Review Panel is a periodic forum to enable knowledge and learning from land transport incidents to be shared between all Operators and Contractors, and to provide an opportunity to demonstrate best practice and safety innovations in land transport.

If you are interested in receiving invitations to attend future Land Transport Incident Review Panels face-to-face or virtually, please contact: [email protected].