A Risky Business

Jose Leong is Sprayline Road Services Operational Risk & Assurance Specialist. Every day he performs a high wire act. On one hand, he’s responsible for safety, quality and environmental management, including maintaining the ISO certification arrangements. On the other, he’s managing Sprayline’s plant & equipment agreements, routine maintenance schedules, the business’s staffing responsibilities, its insurance policies and claims. And all the while he’s standing on the ever-trembling wire of customer expectation.

It’s a balancing act that takes a great deal of skill.

“I am a bit of a go-to person for anything. [laughs] Anything that doesn’t quite fit into any area – a risk issue, a safety type issue, a system type issue” says Jose

“Our business is very lean, very commercially orientated therefore every single dollar counts. The focus is to deliver the work safely, efficiently, and effectively”.

Jose joined VicRoads as a university graduate having earnt a degree in Civil Engineering. Every six months, as part of a graduate program he was rotated through many of the agency’s various departments.

“I spent some time in the VicRoads Sunshine office, spent some time in the design office in Kew, and then in the Western regional office. Back then I was based in Ballarat and looking after the pavement rehabilitation contract. After I finished the Graduate program, I secured a role as a Traffic Engineer, later as a Maintenance Engineer and moved on to a Senior Program Development Engineer.”

In 2007 he became Sprayline’s Manager of Logistics. Later he took on a contract manager role and later still a safety role. Now he’s the Operational Risk and Assurance Specialist and his experience across the business is serving him well.

“I work with different areas to ensure that we develop the necessary processes and procedures because at the end of the day it’s about doing it right.

The people around me, says Jose “are the subject matter experts so they, in general, will develop the proper procedures then we will have a look at them and make sure they are compliant and then I ensure that’s implemented.”

In the recent past Jose’s everyday high wire act took on a new level of difficulty. In 2017 the Victorian Government committed to a 50% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 or just over 400 weeks away.

But Jose is already on top of it. A plan for a transition to emerging technologies has been written into the new plant contract, recently awarded to a third-party equipment supplier, Porter Plant.

“As part of the new plant contract, we are planning to trial the use of an electric truck in our fleet. We will use the trial to gather data, information and assess their feasibility” says Jose

“At the moment it’s not possible to have all the fleet to be electric. Currently diesel fuel type trucks still dominate, but electric vehicles are starting to come onto the market and will pick up pace in the coming years”.

Jose is optimistic about what lies ahead, but he’s also a realist.

“We are different. We have to earn our money, so you have to make sure you think ahead, think how we use the funds, how we do it efficiently,” he says

“Our role is in the forefront of service delivery to the public. We always make sure that the network is moving safely with less disruption to the public”.

Jose Leong wide-ranging experiences, both with VicRoads and Sprayline Road Services have given him a level of insight into the business of roadside maintenance and management that few in the wider community have. 

So, one day if you find yourself needing an answer on something to do with risk management, business systems, processes, safety or environmental management, plant, equipment, field-based agency staff, insurances or anything in between don’t hesitate to give Jose a ring.

He’ll know.