Published 14 Jul 2023
What is a Journey Management Plan?
A journey management plan is a set of trip-specific instructions and guidelines designed to help employees complete official company trips safely and efficiently. As a general rule, road journeys that are expected to last more than 4 hours should have a journey management plan.
In this article
- Pre-journey Preparations
- Top 5 Reasons Your Company Needs to Follow Journey Management Plans
- Featured Journey Management Templates
Pre-journey Preparations
Before putting in work to create a journey management plan, officers-in-charge must first ensure that a road journey is absolutely necessary. According to the CDC, motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of workplace deaths, adding incentive to avoid them as much as possible. If driving is the sole option, pre-journey preparations should include the following:
- checking for the safest route to take; considering terrain and weather forecasts;
- scheduling drives to avoid night travel since drivers are more susceptible to fatigue and sleepiness at night;
- including sufficient rest breaks in the travel itinerary;
- a check-in process to ensure that the employee/driver can provide updates regarding their safety status and progress;
- ensuring that the vehicle the employee/driver is using is in good condition and is appropriate for the nature of the trip by doing a pre-trip inspection;
- ensuring that the employee is physically fit enough to undertake the trip; and
- ensuring that the employee has the knowledge, skills, and adequate training to complete the trip safely.
Top 5 Reasons Your Company Needs to Follow Journey Management Plans
Though employees and drivers can complete company-sanctioned trips without a formal journey management plan, the safety and efficiency of journeys are greatly improved simply by following one. Below are the top five reasons your company needs to start journey management planning:
Trips become safer and more efficient
The risk of accidents and delays are greatly reduced by doing research on the best possible routes prior to the journey. Part of the pre-trip planning is looking for routes with minimal traffic, effectively lowering the risk of collisions in addition to making the trip faster. This becomes even more important if the employee has to make multiple stops in the course of the journey.
Schedule adherence becomes easier
Most, if not all company-sanctioned trips follow a schedule. By establishing the safest and most efficient routes to take prior to the journey, it becomes easier for employees to arrive safely and on time to set appointments.
Naturally comply with motor vehicle laws and regulations
An essential step in journey management planning involves thorough pre-trip inspections. These vehicle inspections ensure that the employee is using the appropriate vehicle for the trip, that the vehicle is in good condition, and that it adheres to federal laws for motor vehicle safety standards.
Prepare your drivers for accidents and emergencies
A good journey management plan also provides guidance to employees in case of road emergencies and accidents. Aside from providing general safety guidelines on what to do if their vehicle breaks down, journey management plans can include company-specific processes and information such as a list of contact persons an employee can reach out to if necessary.
Standardize company driving processes and improve accountability
By creating an official journey management plan, you effectively standardize the process for company-sanctioned trips. Having a plan that includes instructions, guidelines, and other helpful information can help improve employee accountability both from the driver’s end and the personnel he or she is supposed to check in with.
SafetyCulture (formerly iAuditor) as a Journey Management System
Beyond just being a digital platform to create and customize journey management plans, SafetyCulture can serve as your complete journey management system through a variety of useful features:
- Download ready-to-use journey management plan templates from our Public Library; regularly updated by SafetyCulture and other users in your field of work.
- Convert existing paper forms into our digital format through smart scan, or create your own journey management plan and journey management checklist from scratch with our drag-and-drop template builder. No coding required.
- Perform pre-trip inspections and journey management checks with your mobile device, even while you are offline.
- Take photos and annotate them during your inspections for a more comprehensive and detailed report.
- After connecting to the internet, you can automatically send completed inspection reports to the appropriate personnel to save time and energy while updating in real-time.
- Save inspection reports with unlimited and secure cloud storage to ensure that only authorized personnel can access your data.
- SafetyCulture allows cross-platform integration which lets you connect your account to other business integration tools such as Outlook and Google Sheets so data is automatically transferred as you complete reports; making your process more efficient.
Featured Journey Management Templates
Journey Management Plan Checklist
Use this journey management plan checklist to detail trip details such as the types of roads you are going to travel on, estimated departure and arrival times, and location of rest stops. The driver checklist also ensures that the driver has the appropriate training, licenses, and fitness level to complete the trip safely, and that the vehicle to be used is in good condition.
Driving JSA & Journey Management Checklist
Drivers can use this checklist to verify if rest stops and planned accommodations have been taken care of, the most efficient routes have been set per destination, and final vehicle condition and safety checks are performed prior to the trip.
BOS Journey Management Checklist
Drivers and employees can use this journey management checklist to include relevant trip details such as the vehicle unit number, starting and ending location, as well as necessary safety checks that need to be performed during the trip.
