Toyota Material Handling UK has launched 'Taking Care with Toyota', a campaign featuring a number of initiatives and events for customers and prospects, as well as its own team dedicated to help reduce injury and accidents in the workplace.

Toyota Material Handling has always taken the lead on safety and offered a range of products and activities to help promote best practice in the industry; this campaign aims to take it further.

Recent research has indicated that safety remains a major influence in product purchasing so throughout 2012 Toyota Material Handling UK will be raising awareness of key health and safety topics.

Statistics by the HSE show that on average, 60 people are killed every year in workplace transport accidents and a further 2,000 will suffer serious injuries. Fork lift trucks are involved in nearly a quarter of these incidents.

Toyota's operations director Tony Wallis commented: "Toyota has always positioned itself as a provider of safe products and services, but we believe promoting safety in the workplace goes beyond providing our customers with the safest trucks. It also requires that we demonstrate to companies the benefits of training their people and putting processes in place to create a culture of safety."

He added: "In the challenging economic climate, it has become more important for companies to focus on safety, not only to protect their workers, but also to reduce costs relating to injury and damage. As a leader in the industry, we are committed to giving people as much support as we can to work in a safe manner."

A recent industrial trucks survey by Redshift Research stated health and safety as one of the top six critical factors companies consider when acquiring a new truck, demonstrating the importance of safety for material handling equipment users.

Throughout the year, members of the Toyota team will be attending Health and Safety events in North, South and Midlands, performing demonstrations of equipment which help reduce strain and distributing resources to aid best practice, including the Toyota Manual Handling Guide.

Further resources promoting health and safety in the workplace are also being produced to provide tips for forklift safety, manual handling and the correct operation of equipment. All resources will be available on request via the Toyota website or be available at regional health and safety shows.

Internally, Toyota is focusing on providing its team members with information about healthier living and safety in the workplace and having dedicated areas in the depots focused on safety. Toyota has started this process by creating a Safety Dojo at one of its main depots in Leicester. The Safety Dojo is a training area where visitors and employees can learn safety awareness and practices with a hands-on approach.

In addition to the UK Year of Safety, Toyota Material Handling has extended its partnership with the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) as an official partner for the Healthy Workplaces campaign for the second year. It joined forces with EU-OSHA in 2011 to promote the importance of maintenance and safe maintenance practices across Europe.