For the third year in a row, Lowes Petroleum has acknowledged its drivers’ commitment to road safety through its Professional Drivers’ Award, which also sends the message to other road users, including other transport companies, to channel their traits.
Lowes Petroleum has more than 200 drivers transporting millions of litres of fuel a year across hundreds of thousands of kilometres of rural roads. The awards criteria included reviewing drive cam alerts, logbook and fatigue breaches and incidents like crossovers and speeding.
Drivers are nominated by their peers across the 500 plus staff with nominations tripling since their inception in 2021.
Bernie Morris, general manager of Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE), says while all their drivers operated to best practises, the awards were an added incentive ensuring Lowes drivers were the best in the business.
“We assess the nature of the nominations around customer service, the care drivers showed for their vehicles, the commitment to their depots and to the team they work with,” says Morris, who was also one of the Professional Drivers’ Award judges.
“The priority is always safety. In one instance of dash cam footage, you can see a motorcycle barely missing a fuel tanker head-on after breaking multiple road rules.
“It’s crazy what our drivers go through. We have even had footage where it is obvious the person has pretty much fallen asleep before waking in the nick of time.
“The vision is testament to our drivers’ abilities to not only read the road, but also anticipate actions by other road users that could be dangerous.
“Most of us go to work each day knowing that our immediate workspace is a safe environment for us to work in. Our drivers don’t have that luxury: everyday road conditions, the weather, vehicle issues and the public create dangerous work environments,” Morris says.
“As a heavy vehicle operator, we are made to plan: we plan our stops, we plan when our drivers sleep, all of that, but other people just jump in their cars and off they go. Our drivers make hundreds of risk decisions daily to ensure that they, and others around them, remain safe.”
For winning driver, Albury’s Mick Woodham the award speaks volumes about the company’s commitment to road safety as well as acknowledging their importance to the business.
“I was pretty impressed, to be honest, that the company did these awards,” Woodham says.
“I didn’t really know much about them and was blown away because I didn’t expect it. I really appreciated receiving it.”
A career driver, with more than 30 years of truck driving under his belt, Woodham says safety was always paramount, with planning around everything from weather and road conditions to rests stops to manage fatigue.
“In a day in the life of driving trucks you don’t know what you will encounter whether that is animals on the road or motorists overtaking recklessly,” he says.
The other winners include Mick Low from Mareeba Depot for Region 1, Steve Tatum from St George Depot for Region 2, Adrian Curtis from Cooma, NSW for Region 3 and Matthew Denholm from Hobart Depot for Region 5.
Honourable mentions go to Peter Lynn Region 1 Mackay, David Causley from Grafton for Region 2, Tim Dowling from Penrith for Region 3, Luke Lacey from Yarraville, Victoria for Region 4 and Douglas Fraser from Burnie, Tasmania, Region 5.