Running from 21st to 25th October, the European Week for Safety and Health at Work is the opportunity for Toyota Material Handling Europe (TMHE) to talk about the importance of durable partnerships in raising awareness for risk prevention
Last year, Toyota Material Handling Europe (TMHE) enrolled for the second time in a row in a campaign lead by the European Agency for Health and Safety at Work (EU-OSHA): Working Together for Risk Prevention. In June this year, TMHE strengthened its engagement by joining the steering committee of the EU-OSHA benchmark event for the first time. In front of key Health and Safety representatives and official partners, TMHE hosted a workshop and presented examples of workplace safety management from their Mjölby factory in Sweden.

“Safety is one of the three pillars of our sustainability strategy. Building on the safety culture and raising risk awareness are therefore high priorities in our organisation. The collaboration with EU-OSHA provides perfect conditions for interactive forums, sharing best practices and debating on how to benchmark prevention strategies across Europe. These campaigns also set the ground for developing successful communication and initiatives in key safety topics within our own company. We are grateful to be campaigning and contributing to building a stronger safety network along with 87 other committed European partners,” says Tom Schalenbourg, Director Sustainable Development at Toyota Material Handling Europe.

During the 2012-2013 campaign, TMHE has conducted employee engagement surveys in its factories to identify their perception on safety in the workplace and areas of improvement. These led to individualised action plans implemented by safety experts and management teams at a local level, as well as a series of original Kaizen activities.
Toyota Material Handling Polska, for instance, opened its Safety Dojo area to instruct on safety measures with a focus on warehouse and service. Toyota Material Handling France celebrated ’A Year of Safety’ by submitting safety kits to all dealers and proposing them to customers. Meanwhile, Toyota Material Handling Sweden organised an Instructor’s Conference for truck driving instructors in order to update them on current laws, regulations, and safety improvement tips.

The “Working together for risk prevention” campaign and further local actions are ongoing and will continue throughout the year.