Who Viva Energy?

Viva Energy Australia brings together the strength of two of the world’s foremost energy companies to create Australia’s newest but most experienced energy provider.  Vitol is the world’s largest independent energy trading company.  Shell is renowned as one of the world’s most recognised and respected brands behind innovative and quality energy products.  Viva Energy Australia represents the best of both worlds and is a truly locally run company distributing the Shell brand of quality products.

Viva Energy Australia operates in the downstream oil and gas industry, supplying ~25% of Australia’s ground and aviation fuel demand, bitumen, chemicals and lubricants.

What size is Viva Energy’s fleet or the number of staff who generate your transport task?

Viva Energy engages specialised dangerous goods transport companies that transport its fuel, chemical, bitumen and lubricants 24/7 around the country. The fleet is approximate 350 trucks with 450 drivers and around 1.2m exposure hours a year. Beyond that we have a few hundred staff in light vehicles in sales, supply chain and refining every day as well as numerous contractors in light and heavy vehicles working on our behalf.

Our Road Safety Commitment

We believe that every incident is preventable and are committed to pursuing the goal of no harm to people and protecting the environment.  We call this Goal Zero.  Our Goal Zero aspiration carries through to our road transport operations by using only transport operators with the same high safety vision as our own.   All vehicles used to carry out business for Viva Energy, whether they be light vehicles used by our sales force or heavy vehicles used by our carriers, must meet the highest safety standards.  Our sales force drivers as well as our carrier drivers are required to regularly undertake training in low risk (defensive) driving.

Shell Australia was one of the steering committee member organizations from the commencement of the NRSPP and Viva Energy is proud to carry that batten, and will continue to participate in the NRSPP initiatives in improving work-related road safety to assist in reducing the Australian road toll.  Bringing the corporate world together to help reduce road incidents is an important step in saving lives.  Viva Energy is proud of our active commitment to improving road safety and the difference this can make to people’s lives.

Supporting Actions Delivered by Viva Energy

  • Founding Partner of the NRSPP attending its first meeting in 2012 and the launch  of the program on the 5 May 2014 in Melbourne by Prince Michael of Kent as part of the UN Decade for Action for Road Safety at the RACV Club.
  • Steering Committee Partner
    • Rob Baker, 2012 to 2018
    • Felix Ohle , 2018 to present
  • In 2014 Rod shared the Shell Taxi Safety Card all employees provided the driver of any taxi before they started a journey to ensure they abided by their life saving rules. NRSPP adapted the card, which now also includes ride share, such that all users can ensure their driver when they get in abides by safe driver behaviour.
  • For the Australasian Road Safety Conference 2016 which was held on the Gold Coast the NRSPP deliver the Symposium: The NRSPP Providing A Pathway For Any Business/Organisation To Create A Positive Road Safety Culture which Rod Baker presented at.
  • In 2016, Viva Energy was a founding partner of the Driver Headspace Working Group represented by Rod Baker.
  • In 2017 Viva Energy kindly hosted the NRSPP Strategic Planning session which saw a number of industry and government partners attend.
  • Viva Energy kindly donated $10,000 to the program in 2018 as part of Rod Baker’s retirement.
  • Viva Energy was supportive of the NRSPP collaborative proposal to the NHVR Heavy Vehicle Safety Initiative Round 2 and 3 for an engagement campaign with industry on a series of videos on the safe interactions with heavy vehicles.
  •  Felix Ohle on behalf of Viva  Energy attended the Suicide in Road Transport scoping workshop in 2019 and has continued to be an active industry representative for the project.
  • Viva Energy has been assisting NRSPP in developing and establishing Empowr Mobility.
  • In 2021, Viva Energy has assisted NRSPP in establishing the Heavy Vehicle Tool Box Talk Working Group.
  • May 2021, the National Bulk Tanker Association Bulk Tanker Day 2021 was held 11 May in Brisbane on Mental Health of Truck Drivers with Healthy Heads Trucks and Sheds CEO Naomi Frauenfelder, Dr Ross Iles of Monash University and facilitated by Felix Ohle of Viva Energy.

Viva Energy's Contributions to the NRSPP & Points of Contact

  • Steering Committee Partners
  • Founding Partners
  • Working Group - Driver Headspace Working Group
  • HVTBT Working Group
  • Working Group – Empowr Mobility
  • Working Group – Suicide in Road Transport
  • Felix OhleRoad & Rail Transport HSSE Manager

    Viva Energy Is Recognised As A Founding Steering Committee Partner To The Present

    Viva Energy has been represented by:

    • Rod Baker, 2012 to 2018
    • Felix Ohle, 2018 to present

    How is your organisation contributing to road safety of its workers and the community it operates within?

    We engage actively with staff, contractors and communities we operate in around the country. This may be through defensive driver training for staff, engaging in local forums and working groups relevant to our locations or broader industry groups such as SLP (Safe Load Program) or the NBTA (National Bulk Tanker Association).

    What opportunities do you feel your organisation could bring to the leadership of the NRSPP?

    We bring passion and thought leadership to the NRSPP. We collaborate broadly and continuously look for opportunities to improve road safety for our business. We are not afraid to get involved and contribute directly in work programs either. Our company’s road safety standards and processes have been industry leading for years and we play an active role in developing a positive safety culture across our organisation and contractor base.

  • Rod Baker - retiredRoad & Rail Transport HSSE Manager

    Viva Energy is recognised as one of the Founding Partners of NRSPP. Viva Energy was represented by Lee Stringer of Shell who kindly helped design and build the foundational elements of the program during its establishment phase. Lee attended the consultative forums hosted by the National Transport Commission and handed over the engagement to Rod Baker who was already a passionate champion for road safety and continued when he joined the NRSPP Steering Committee.

    Rod attended the NRSPP’s first Steering Committee in 2012 and every meeting until his retirement in 2019. Rod also attended the formal launch of the NRSPP on the 5 May 2014 in Melbourne by Prince Michael of Kent as part of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety Meeting in Melbourne at the RACV club.

    NRSPP wishes to recognise the contributions of Viva Energy and formerly Shell for helping develop the program.

    Rob retired in 2019, he is a true gentlemen and passionate road safety champion.  Thank you for your support and generosity.

  • Rod Baker - retiredRoad & Rail Transport HSSE Manager

    The NRSPP Driver Headspace Working Group was established the NRSPP Steering and by CBA and supported by Telstra, Uniting Care Queensland and Viva Energy. It was formed to explore how Emotional drivers are nearly 10x greater risk of being involved in a crash whereas a driver conversing on the mobile phone is 2.2 and texting is 6.1.

    The concern was that being emotional can cloud your judgement and on the road, a vehicle can easily become an outlet for that emotion. Equally an emotional driver is more easily distracted or prone to distraction when driving. To explore the Driver Headspace issue in further detail NRSPP in 2016 conducted research exploring emotional driving triggered by negative and stressful/circumstances and how it was another form of driver distraction. The term used was Driver Headspace’ thus refers to the state of a driver’s psycho-physiological functioning as a result of exposure to a stressful event or adverse circumstance. The research was conducted by Prof. Mike Reagan. The research found

    • Driver headspace events can derive from a myriad of negative and stressful events/circumstances and can be categorised based on whether they occur within or outside the workplace, and on whether they are traumatic or non-traumatic in nature.
    • There is a high prevalence of driver headspace events across different professional driving work positions due to multiple work-related stressors and increased prevalence of mental health issues.
    • Mindfulness can improve focus and emotion management and reduce distraction. It is both an everyday experience and something that can be enhanced through training. Mindfulness training has been shown to significantly improve sustained attention, working memory, distractibility, emotional reactivity, behavioural regulation, empathy and prosocial behaviours.

    New Studies since have shown driving while in an emotional state is far more likely to result in a crash than being tired or using a mobile phone.

  • Feliix OhleRoad & Rail Transport HSSE Manager

    Viva Energy has been an ongoing active partner heling guide the development of Empowr Mobility during its proof of concept phase. Viva Energy representatives attended the Empowr Mobility pitch night  for the Monash Generator’s 2020 Accelerator program.

  • Felix OhleRoad & Rail Transport HSSE Manager

    In 2017, NRSPP held the inception co-design workshop for Suicide in Road Transport (SiRT) which Viva Energy attended and actively contributed to. Viva Energy has continued as a partner of the SiRT National Working Group since it was started.

    Viva Energy has continued to contribute to SiRT which is now in stage 2 with a major national project funded by Austroads and being delivered collaboratively by NRSPP.