Depot Yard Supervisor

Job Purpose:

The Depot Yard Supervisor oversees daily depot yard operations at Vivo Energy Uganda, ensuring the safe, accurate, and secure handling of petroleum products, including fuels, lubricants, and LPG. The role ensures timely identification and escalation of any quantity, quality, or stock anomalies in line with approved operating procedures, HSSEQ standards, security requirements, and Vivo Energy policies.

Dimensions:

•  Accountable for on-site supervision and operational control of depot yard activities, including product receipt, discharge, and loading.

• Provides daily leadership and direction to operators and yard personnel to ensure safe, disciplined, and efficient execution of operations.
• Serves as the designated operational authority within the depot yard, ensuring full compliance with approved operating procedures, HSSEQ requirements, and security controls.
• Exercises first-line responsibility for operational risk management and stock integrity by identifying, documenting, and escalating safety, security, and product-handling anomalies.
•  Ensure safeguarding of depot assets through effective oversight of equipment readiness, yard integrity, and operational safety performance.
• Ensures all depot equipment is maintained in accordance with approved maintenance schedules and promptly reports equipment breakdowns or defects for corrective action.

Principal Accountabilities

 Product Receipt, Discharge, and Loading Operations

• Supervise and verify the receipt of petroleum products, including fuels and LPG, ensuring accurate confirmation of product quantity and quality in accordance with approved operating procedures.

• Oversee product discharge activities to ensure complete discharge with zero leakages and strict adherence to safety, environmental, and operational controls.
• Ensure loading operations are executed efficiently and without unnecessary delay, and investigate, resolve, or escalate any delivery or loading-related issues.
• Maintain an on-site presence during all critical yard operations to ensure procedures are correctly followed and operational risks are effectively managed

Yard Control and Traffic Management

• Control, coordinate, and sequence all vehicle movements within and around the depot yard to ensure safe, orderly, and efficient operations and to prevent congestion or obstruction.

• Enforce approved traffic management plans, yard layouts, speed limits, parking rules, and pedestrian segregation requirements at all times.
• Manage vehicle access and staging areas to ensure that only authorized vehicles enter operational zones in accordance with loading, discharge, and safety requirements.
• Ensure clear demarcation and correct use of yard signage, road markings, and physical barriers, and promptly report any deficiencies that could compromise traffic control or safety.
• Intervene immediately to correct unsafe driving behavior, non-compliance with yard rules, or deviations from approved traffic arrangements, and escalate repeated or serious breaches in line with procedures.
• Coordinate closely with security personnel, operators, and depot management to maintain effective yard control during peak operations, abnormal situations, or emergencies.

 Stock Integrity, Security, and Control

• Maintain strict custody, control, and accountability for all valve keys, access keys, seals, and locking systems, ensuring they are correctly issued, logged, deposited, and securely stored when not in use.

• Enforce access control within all stock-handling areas, ensuring that only authorized and competent personnel are permitted to participate in product handling activities.
• Conduct daily pre- and post-operation integrity checks to verify that seals, valves, meters, and other critical control points remain intact, functional, and secure.
• Actively monitor indicators of stock loss, tampering, contamination, or unauthorized access, and promptly document, report, and escalate any discrepancies or anomalies to depot management in line with procedures.
• Maintain accurate operational records, observations, and control evidence required to support stock investigations, loss-prevention reviews, audits, or regulatory inspections.

Health, Safety, Security, and Environment (HSSEQ)

• Act as custodian of spill response and fire-fighting equipment, ensuring continuous availability, serviceability, and readiness for immediate use.

• Enforce full compliance with HSSEQ requirements during all yard activities and intervene immediately to stop unsafe acts or correct unsafe conditions.
• Train, brief, and routinely reinforce HSSEQ and emergency response requirements for operators and yard personnel through toolbox talks, safety briefings, and on-the-job guidance.
• Serve as the first-line emergency response lead within the depot yard by taking immediate control of incidents, coordinating initial response actions, and directing response teams in accordance with approved emergency and crisis management procedures.
• Promptly escalate incidents to depot management and relevant support functions, and actively support incident reporting, investigation, and implementation of corrective and preventive actions.
• Compile, validate, and submit accurate monthly HSSEQ, incident, and safety performance data in line with established reporting and governance requirements.

Operational Support and Continuity

• Provide operational support and relief, when required, for key depot operational roles to ensure continuity of depot activities and adherence to operational timelines.

Key Challenges

• Operating in a high-risk, fast-paced depot environment that requires constant vigilance, accuracy, and strict adherence to safety, security, and operational controls.
• Supervising multiple, simultaneous yard activities including product receipt, discharge, loading, and traffic control while maintaining discipline, safety, and efficiency.
• Preventing stock losses, contamination, or safety incidents through continuous monitoring, early detection of anomalies, and timely escalation under operational pressure.
• Leading and coordinating yard personnel with varying experience levels while enforcing compliance with procedures, HSSEQ requirements, and yard rules.
• Responding effectively to incidents, emergencies, or operational disruptions, requiring calm decision-making, clear direction, and rapid coordination with response teams and depot management.
• Balancing operational timelines and throughput demands with uncompromising safety, security, and stock integrity requirements.

Requirements

Job Knowledge, Skills & Experiences:

• Bachelor’s degree in Logistics, Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Engineering, Business Administration, or a related field.

• Minimum of five years’ experience in depot, terminal, petroleum, bulk fuel, or similar industrial operations.
• Good understanding of HSSEQ principles, emergency response procedures, and operational risk controls in high-risk environments.
• Knowledge of stock control principles, product handling procedures, and loss prevention controls within depot operations.
• Experience supporting incident response, investigations, audits, or loss prevention reviews is an added advantage.
• Strong operational supervision and people management skills, with the ability to enforce discipline and operational standards consistently.
• High attention to detail with strong observational skills and the ability to identify and assess operational risks.
• Ability to remain calm, decisive, and effective under pressure, including during incidents or emergency situations.
• Clear communication skills, with the ability to issue precise instructions and escalate issues appropriately.
• Good planning, coordination, and time management skills in a fast-paced operational environment.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision while maintaining effective teamwork and coordination with other depot roles.
• Basic proficiency in operational reporting tools, management information systems, and standard IT applications.