The EU-OSHA campaign on safe maintenance aims to raise
awareness of the importance of maintenance in workplaces
and of the risks if maintenance is not carried out properly.

Toyota Material Handling explains its involvement

Toyota Material Handling has been
selected as an official campaign
partner for the Healthy Workplaces
Campaign sponsored by the European
Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EUOSHA).

Together, the two organisations will
be promoting the importance of
maintenance and safe maintenance practices
across Europe.

The EU-OSHA campaign aims to raise
awareness of the importance of maintenance
in workplaces and of the risks if
maintenance is not carried out properly.

EU-OSHA’s goal is to lower the number of
work-related accidents by 25% between
2007 and 2012. As one of 30 official
European partners for the 2010-2011
campaign, Toyota Material Handling will
build on its existing safety programmes to
enhance awareness and use of safe
maintenance practices among its own
employees. In addition, the company aims
to work with business partners and other
interested parties to promote safe
maintenance.

Safe practices
Safe maintenance is central to Toyota
Material Handling’s business, says Mike
Mathias, managing director of Toyota
Material Handling UK. “In the UK we have
over 500 service technicians who perform
services, preventive maintenance and make
needed repairs to thousands of our customer
trucks. Safe maintenance practices help our
own employees to work safely and effectively.

Regular maintenance also helps keep our
customers’ businesses running smoothly and
protects their employees and their valuable
investment in materials handling equipment.”
Mathias adds: “When it comes to safety,
prevention is always the best cure. The health
and safety of our employees and those who
use our products is central to our
commitment to being a reliable business
partner and responsible member of society.

Our goal is accident-free workplaces and we
see participation in the EU-OSHA Safe
Maintenance Campaign as a way to build on
our employee safety training programmes
and promote a safe maintenance culture
internally and with our business associates.

The Toyota Material Handling organisation
fully supports the EU-OSHA safety initiative
as a way of helping us all to be safer together.”
Dr Jukka Takala, Director of EU-OSHA
says: “It is estimated that in Europe up to
20% of all workplace accidents are connected
with maintenance and in a number of
sectors over half of all accidents are
maintenance-related. 10-15% of fatal
accidents at work can be attributed to
maintenance operations. Therefore, it is vital
that maintenance is carried out properly,
taking into consideration workers’ safety and
health. Toyota Material Handling will play an
invaluable role through actively
communicating the importance of safe
maintenance in the workplace as one of EUOSHA’s
official campaign partners.”

Putting safety first
In addition to developing products and
technologies that support safe operation –
like the Toyota SAS forklift stability system –
Toyota Material Handling has consistently
put safety first in its manufacturing and
service operations. Each of the company’s
three production centres has implemented a
safety ‘dojo’ (formal training area or school
in Japanese) where employees receive
detailed safety training in topics like risk
assessment, personal protective equipment
and safe handling of chemical products. Safe
maintenance campaign materials will also be
added to the safety dojo training
programme.

Service technicians receive safety training
as part of the company’s Service Technician
Education Program (STEP). This has helped
about 500 service technicians in the Toyota
Material Handling UK service network
deliver consistent, high-quality service,
maintenance and repairs. Safe
maintenance techniques are
an important part of the
STEP curriculum, and the
EU-OSHA campaign will
serve as an opportunity to
further raise awareness and
knowledge and exchange
best practices for safe
maintenance.

For more information
about EU-OSHA’s
campaign, visit the EUOSHA
campaign website at:
http://hw.osha.europa.eu.