Desert Driving and Vehicle Recovery Plan

What is a desert driving and recovery plan?

Oil and gas work in the Gulf takes vehicles far from paved roads: to rigs, well pads, pipeline right-of-ways and survey sites, often outside mobile coverage. A desert driving plan sets the rules for those trips: who approves them, what each vehicle carries, how a convoy moves, how drivers handle soft sand, and what happens when a vehicle gets stuck or stops calling in.

It sits under your journey management process: every trip still needs an approved journey plan. This template adds the desert part, with a recovery procedure written to avoid the most dangerous mistake in the field, a strap pulled from a tow ball or bumper.

How to use the plan and the log

1. Fill the blanks with your rules: minimum vehicles, speeds, spacing, call-in interval, water, escalation times. Where the client's rules are stricter, use theirs.
2. Fill the tire table from the maker: road pressure, lowest sand pressure and the speed limit when lowered, for each vehicle model.
3. Brief and sign: go through the plan with every driver and passenger before their first desert trip.
4. Before each trip: check the kit on the Kit check sheet and enter the trip on Trips.
5. During the trip: update the last call-in on each call; the log shows the next one due and flags a late call.
6. After the trip: enter the arrival time and record any recovery or near miss.

What are the recovery steps?

1. Stop as soon as the vehicle loses forward movement; spinning the wheels digs it in.
2. Check the people and the vehicle, and tell the convoy leader.
3. Dig the sand from around the wheels and under the chassis.
4. Lower the tire pressure within the maker's limits.
5. Use traction boards and drive or reverse out slowly.
6. Only then pull, directed by a trained person, from rated recovery points with a rated strap, shackles and a dampener, never from a tow ball or bumper.
7. Keep everyone clear of the strap's line, at the distance in your plan, with one person giving signals.
8. Report it in the near-miss log and check the kit before moving on.

How does the log flag a trip?

The interval, grace, escalation, minimum vehicles, fuel reserve and water amount are on the Settings sheet. All are examples except water, which is left empty for your own rule.

Worked example: one trip to a rig

• Trip DT-2026-042 leaves the main gate at 05:30 for Rig 22 with one vehicle and two people; the company minimum in the example is two, so the row shows Fewer vehicles than the minimum.
• The route is 260 km and the lowest fuel range is 300 km. With a 25% reserve the range should be 325 km: Fuel range short.
• The trip calls in every 30 minutes. The last call was at 07:00, so the next was due at 07:30. At 08:45 it is 75 minutes overdue: past the 15-minute grace and the 60-minute escalation time, so the row turns red with Escalate now.
• The journey manager follows section 8 of the plan: calls by satellite phone and radio, checks the last position in the tracking system, then starts the emergency response plan.

Common mistakes in desert trips

• Pulling from a tow ball or bumper. Neither is rated for recovery; use rated recovery points.
• Driving fast on lowered tires. A tire can roll off the rim; keep to the maker's speed for lowered pressure.
• Walking for help. A stranded vehicle is easier to find than a person on foot.
• Call-ins with no escalation time. A missed call means nothing if nobody knows when to act.
• Treating a satellite device as full coverage. It reduces blind spots outside mobile coverage; it does not replace call-ins.

Sources

• Journey management: IOGP Report 365-19, Land transportation safety recommended practice – journey management. Source: IOGP.
• Driving on sand, tire pressure within the maker's specifications, getting bogged, traction mats: Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, Driving on sand safety guide, January 2025. Source: QPWS.
• Recovery of light and medium vehicles: Energy Safety Canada, Vehicle Recovery Program Development Guideline, fourth edition, May 2023. Source: Energy Safety Canada. Last reviewed 21 October 2026.

What the template does not do

The plan gives no tire pressures, speeds, distances or water amounts of its own: they come from the maker, your company and your client. It does not replace the client's journey management process, your emergency response plan or recovery training. For the journey approval itself, use the Journey Management Plan; to rate the trip's hazards, the Journey Risk Assessment Tool.