Italy reduces injury rates by 73% through engaging its employees

Laying the foundations

In 2008, Italy implemented stricter safety laws and regulations, attributing criminal liability to directors of companies who don’t manage safety proactively. Continuously improving our performance and know-how is therefore strategic both in our own operations and in our dealings with customers.

Our Board of Directors therefore approved the implementation of the OHSAS 18001 European Standard. Our health and safety management system was integrated into our quality management system certified to the ISO 9001 standard.

First, we discussed our revised policies on quality, health and safety with our employees during several interactive sessions. Then, we reviewed our processes in line with new regulations: safety instructions, safety equipment, safety signs, chemicals and waste management, emergency management, etc. For example, we brought down the risks involved in manual handling of oils by reducing the minimum size of individual containers and lowering the maximum threshold for loads.

Next Steps

In July 2015, Toyota Material Handling Italy integrated two of its independent dealers within its own activities. Extending the existing OHSAS 18001 health and safety management system to cover all of the new companies was one of the priorities of the integration project, as it had proven to be highly effective in the past.

We anticipate that our injury, frequency and/or severity rate may well increase as we start including them in our reporting processes. This is however a positive first step: better reporting will help us to identify key risks in the new parts of the company and formulate appropriate improvement plans.

Reaching out

Safety now also plays an important role in how we engage with our business partners. In Italy we are involved with the national focal point in promoting EU-OSHA’s European Health and Safety Campaigns. Most recently we contributed to the “Healthy Workplaces Manage Stress” campaign by presenting at one of their events.

Our sales force are trained in safety and encourage our customers to be more safety-aware and respect regulations, whilst our buyers pay more attention to safety in the selection of suppliers, products and services.

“To successfully reduce injury rates, everyone in the company, from top management to technicians, have to listen to each other and work together closely.”
Francesca Simoncelli
Health & Safety Manager
Toyota Material Handling Italy

• 5 sites (1 headquarter and 4 local branches)
• 285 employees
• 185 covered by OHSAS 18001
• ISO 9001 certified
• 2 dealers integrated on 1/7/2015
• Injury rate reduced by 73%
• Lost day rate reduced by 50%