O’Métiers: convoy driver training for safer transport in Africa
As a specialist in oil and industrial logistics, the Ortec Group handles major shipments of equipment to production and drilling sites in Africa. Training courses are designed to improve the safety of convoys for people, materials and equipment alike.
There is no convoy without a trained convoy driver. By hosting O’Métiers training sessions dedicated to this role, the OSI Gabon office wanted to demonstrate its commitment to the safety and security of its operations by implementing a strategy of upgrading the skills of its local staff. This approach guarantees optimum conditions for transporting the equipment required to ensure the delivery of our customers’ projects (piping, cranes, vehicles, etc.).
A strategic role in transport and logistics operations
The convoy leader drives the lead vehicle. His mission: “to safely guide his convoy” summarizes Didier Lopez, a driving trainer at O’Métiers who traveled to Gabon to train the drivers. The convoy leader must be familiar with the route, which includes potential hazards such as electrical wires, sensitive urban infrastructure, intersections, deteriorated road conditions and traffic. This role is critical in ensuring the smooth execution of operations, as convoys often consist of half a dozen trucks carrying loads of up to 70 tons over hundreds of kilometers. Any error in judgment can have severe consequences.
O'Métiers: the ideal training solution for safe convoys
The seven-hour theoretical and practical training course is the fruit of a close collaboration with the agency’s management, which sets out its expectations and standards. OSI Gabon also requires each candidate to have prerequisites in defensive driving (analysis of the environment, knowledge and control of vehicles, etc.) and stowage (wedging and positioning of loads, identification of the center of gravity, etc.) in order to qualify for convoy driver training.
An initial “test” training session has been organized. Feedback from the field allowed adjustments to be made, culminating in a stable training module covering various aspects of the job: respecting routes, traffic regulations and speed limits in different settings (urban and rural areas, turns, uphill and downhill driving). “What should motivate a convoy leader is the safety of the drivers and the preservation of the vehicles and materials being transported” emphasizes Didier Lopez.
Upon completing the training, the convoy leader will have mastered:
- general regulations (vehicles, equipment, signs, safety distances, etc.)
- OSI Gabon’s transport policy charter (15-minute break every 2 hours of driving)
- radio communication and driver reporting methods
- ability to give instructions to teams
- load securing checks and truck equipment (straps, chocks, on-board documentation, etc.)
- Ortec Vigiminute.
They are indispensable elements for the success of highly technical transfer operations. These services are provided at a time when the resumption of Oil & Gas activities in Africa has led to an increase in demand for transport logistics.
O’Métiers culture
The training of convoy leaders in Africa aligns fully with the spirit of the training courses offered by O’Métiers to all professions within the Ortec Group. In-house trainers are sent to the site to deliver theoretical and practical sessions adapted to the specificities of the field. This ensures that the skills of our teams are immediately put to use ensuring that our services are carried out to the highest possible standard. Subsidiaries and agencies are thus able to offer their customers optimum quality and operational efficiency.
“Training is a true passion”
Didier Lopez has been training drivers at O’Métiers since the beginning of 2020. He is part of the team of in-house trainers regularly deployed in the field. His expertise covers a wide range topics: convoy leadership, heavy-duty vehicle operation with automatic transmission, load securing, eco-driving, etc. After several decades behind the wheel of heavy trucks working on exceptional convoys in France and abroad, he decided to become a trainer. “Training turned out to be a calling that I discovered later in life. I realized it was time to pass on the knowledge I had gained to the younger generation.” Ortec’s HGV drivers all benefit from this expertise.
