Every trip comes with its own set of risks, such as unexpected weather, traffic delays, or vehicle issues. For businesses, these risks are amplified, especially when transporting goods or managing tight delivery schedules. With a journey management plan, you can better anticipate these risks, protect your team, and have smoother travel processes.
In this guide, we’ll break down what a journey management plan is, its key benefits, and the actionable steps you can take to create one that works effectively for your organization.
What is journey management?
Journey management minimizes the safety hazards when an employee is driving. And it does so through two main processes: removal of unnecessary driving and managing risks of necessary driving.
Journey management is mainly done in businesses that transport many goods like logistics, oil and gas, and mining. For example, Shell uses journey management planning to safely haul oil from offshore oil rigs to the required location. It can also be used to have a safe journey towards long-drive destinations during business trips and vacations.
What are the benefits of creating and implementing journey management?
There are many benefits in using journey managemen, but we will only focus on four main benefits. The information below is referenced from a journey management plan sample of the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA) of Ontario and Energy Safety Canada.
Reduced number of vehicle incidents
Since a journey management plan aims to reduce hazards when driving, its primary effect is a reduced number of incidents like crashes or personnel injuries. This has many implications.
The first one is the reduced expenses to compensate for injuries, damaged properties, legal procedures, environmental costs, and insurance premiums. The second effect is a healthier and less stressful workplace since there are lower risks.
Aware and responsible workers
In the journey management plan sample, employers have the responsibility to educate their employees about all of the possible driving hazards and risks as well as the legal driving requirements mandated by the government. It also includes training them to assess those hazards and create plans to minimize the risks.
In effect, the training for journey management will mold workers to become more responsible and more aware of their duties and their essential role in driving safely.
Reduction of operational cost and carbon emission
Since journey management aims to reduce driving as much as possible, this will significantly reduce driving costs such as fuel consumption, meals, and accommodations. It also lowers the vehicle operational expenses such as purchasing costs, maintenance costs, and insurance policies.
Less driving and fewer vehicles also equate to less carbon emission produced by a company. And lower carbon emissions can help in acquiring green certifications and good publicity.
Increase in productivity
Frequent driving takes away a lot of time and energy from the workers who should have been given to do better work endeavors, consequently lowering work productivity. Since driving is significantly reduced when following a journey management plan, workers now have more time and energy to do more work.
How to make an effective journey management plan
A compelling journey management plan procedure removes driving and provides a meticulous risk analysis of all the necessary driving:
Step 1: Define the purpose of the plan
By getting clear on the purpose first, you can make sure that every trip has a valid business need so you can avoid unnecessary travel. For example, is the trip required to deliver critical goods, inspect remote sites, or attend a high-stakes client meeting? Could you do it online instead, such as a video call or remote work?
If travel can’t be avoided, look for alternative ways to reach your destination without driving. One of the best alternatives is using public transportation like buses and trains. Although it can be crowded at times, it’s still fast, reliable, and cheap.
For very far destinations, the best alternative way is to ride an airplane. It’s faster and saves you a lot of energy and effort as compared to driving.
Step 2: Write down the scope
Equally important is defining the scope of the plan. Consider:
- What types of journeys are covered? (e.g., logistics deliveries, employee commutes, fieldwork).
- Who is responsible for each journey? (e.g., drivers, supervisors, journey managers).
- What processes are included? (e.g., approvals, pre-trip checklists, emergency protocols).
Step 3: Conduct route planning
Next, you’ll identify the safest and most efficient route to your destination. Here are some factors to consider:
- Traffic patterns: What are the usual traffic patterns along the route, and how can you avoid high-traffic zones or rush hours?
- Road conditions: Are there any construction zones, detours, or potholes to be aware of?
- Weather forecasts: Are there any risks from snow, rain, fog, or other weather conditions that need to be assessed?
- Rest stops and fueling stations: For longer trips, where are these along the route?
You can quickly use GPS navigation apps like Google Maps, Apple Maps, or Waze to check these.
Step 4: Perform pre-trip vehicle inspections
For every journey, there should be a pre-trip vehicle inspection where you’ll confirm the vehicle is in good working condition and unlikely to get sudden breakdowns. This should cover all key components of the vehicle, such as brakes, tires, lights, fluid levels, mirrors, and windshield wipers.
Some tasks include:
- Performing a visual check of the exterior and looking for obvious signs of wear and tear, such as flat tires or damaged headlights
- Checking if the brakes respond correctly
- Confirming the engine oil and coolant levels are adequate
- Testing all lights and indicators for visibility
- Inspecting the battery and connections for corrosion
- Checking the tire pressure and tread depth meets safety requirements
You can use any of Lumiform’s professional pre-trip inspection checklists to make the process easier.
For vehicles in specialized industries—such as those transporting heavy goods or hazardous materials—you’ll need additional checks, like inspecting tie-down straps and load distribution.
Step 5: Identify risks and mitigation strategies
For risk analysis, take the time to identify all possible risks. To do so, check the route if you’ve already driven through it. If not, consult a workmate that has and ask them if there are potential hazards along the way.
Then, check the weather forecast for the departure date again, this time to assess hidden hazards along the route once the weather changes.
After identifying the hazards, the next step is to assess how to mitigate each risk. Does the driver need additional tools or training? Do you need to change the vehicle or some of its parts? Does the route need to be changed?
Step 6: Include essential documentation
Below is the list of essential information that should be in the trip plan:
- Name of driver and passengers
- Vehicle identification
- Travel route
- Address of the destinations
- Contact information of the driver and all of the passenger
- Emergency contacts
- Check-in system
For certain industries–such as if you’re transporting hazardous materials–make sure that all required permits are documented and readily accessible.
Step 7: Use technology for real-time monitoring
Businesses can now stay connected to their vehicles and drivers with tools that allow real-time tracking. One of the most fundamental would be GPS technology so you always know where vehicles are and can check if vehicles are staying on their planned routes.
Drivers can also contact managers as needed through phones, such as if they need to report incidents like road hazards and mechanical problems. You can ask for regular check-ins, with drivers reporting their location and safety status every few hours.
It’s also helpful to collect data during the journey. As an app and software too, Lumiform makes this process smoother because drivers and managers can log key metrics like fuel consumption and driving behavior on their phone, upload photos and detailed notes, then save these for later analysis.
Step 8: Post-trip review and monitoring
Journey management doesn’t end when the vehicle reaches its destination. A thorough post-trip review involves the following:
- Collect driver feedback: Were there unexpected delays, difficult road conditions, or unclear instructions?
- Analyze journey data: With Lumiform, you can evaluate key metrics, such as travel time, fuel efficiency, and deviations from the planned route.
- Incident reporting: If there were any accidents, near-misses, or other safety concerns, document them in detail.
- Inspect the vehicle: Conduct a post-trip inspection to check for signs of wear and tear, mechanical issues, or damage caused during the journey.
Post-trip reviews also help measure how effective the journey management plan was. For example, did the trip proceed as expected? Were the safety measures sufficient? Did the route and schedule align with business goals?
Step 9: Set up a clear journey management policy
A journey management plan works best when it’s supported by a formal policy that you’ll consistently apply across the organization. The journey management plan itself outlines individual trips, but the policy acts as a guiding document. It should include:
- Clear criteria for when a journey management plan is required (e.g., trips over 100 km, trips involving hazardous goods).
- Responsibilities of key personnel (e.g., drivers, supervisors, managers).
- A standard process for creating, implementing, and monitoring journey plans
- Compliance with legal standards (e.g. driving hour limits and license requirements)
Employees can then follow the policy for all journey types.
Advantages of a digital journey management system
By now, you’ve seen the steps needed perform effective journey management. But even the most thorough plan can be time-consuming and prone to human error if it relies solely on manual processes. It has been shown that it is also worth switching to a digital application in journey management. This could streamline data entry and documentation, and all employees always have immediate access to the same information.
A digital solution like Lumiform offers companies many advantages. With the mobile app and desktop software, you can:
- Access free, ready-to-use journey management plan templates from the Lumiform template library.
- Convert existing paper forms to digital format or create your journey management plan templates in just a few steps with the flexible form builder.
- Use the app on your smartphone or tablet to perform pre-trip inspections – offline or online.
- View and annotate photos during inspections to create a comprehensive and detailed report.
- Automatically generate and send inspection reports to the appropriate personnel.
- Store inspection reports in secure cloud storage to ensure that only authorized personnel can access the data.
Try Lumiform for free today and transform the way you plan, monitor, and review your journeys.