Launched in 2002, the program to improve petroleum product transportation in Africa and the Middle East includes a large skills enhancement component. Thanks to our partnership with France’s Petroleum Product Transportation Association (APTH), we are able to train logistics correspondents in road risk management.

Jean-Luc Bour, President of France's Petroleum Product Transportation Association (APTH), created in 1975 by the oil industry

“Over the past four years, around 100 correspondents from Total’s African subsidiaries have come to our training center in France to take part in a 10-day training program specifically designed to suit their needs, and another 30 have been trained in Africa.

During the program, we address real-world issues such as compliance checks on vehicles entering depots for loading and the safety rules applicable to loading, offloading and transporting petroleum products. We also provide valuable simulation resources that help participants remember safety messages. They have access to the center's driving workshops and its vehicle fleet, which includes tractors, straight trucks and tractor-trailers, as well as a computer-assisted driving analysis program, a simulation room and a workshop on what to do if there is an accident at an oil depot.

By the end of the training program, participants have the skills necessary to train others, which facilitates the adoption of safe behavior by their teams.”

Régine Epée, Delivery and Transportation Department Manager, Total Cameroun

“Road transportation conditions are often challenging in Cameroon, with poor infrastructure, dirt roads and an environment in which safety regulations are ignored. That's why we decided to focus on training tank truck drivers, in cooperation with the trucking companies we use.

We decided to set up a completely new onsite training center equipped with appropriate resources, including a tractor and a tractor-trailer. Drivers participate in a week-long training program that addresses both the theoretical and practical aspects of safe driving and includes a mechanical component and a driving session with an instructor on both city and country roads. Since April 2006, 180 drivers and a number of safety managers from trucking companies have completed the program. We’re already preparing the mandatory refresher course, to be undertaken two years after the initial training session, and we plan to open the program to other subsidiaries in the region."

The program has already had a very positive effect on the number and severity of accidents. But best of all, we're delighted to see that it really raises drivers' awareness of risk and they in turn became the best safety ambassadors for both our employees and our customers."