At Toyota, safety is our top priority, and we understand how important it is to our customers. That is why we are dedicated to helping you ensure the safest material handling operation for your business.

How to enhance safety in your material handling operations:

A safe material handling operation not only protects your employees, but also boosts efficiency and productivity. Incorporating effective safety practices into your daily operations can significantly reduce accidents, injuries, and equipment damage, creating a safer and more streamlined workplace.

1. Reduce manual handling:

Manual handling is one of the main causes of injuries amongst employees in material handling environments. That’s why it’s crucial to minimise manual handling to reduce the risk of injury to your workforce.

Introducing equipment to aid manual handling should be a key consideration. Assisted handling pallet trucks such as the BT Pro Lifter requires 67% less starting force than standard lifters, reducing physical strain on operators. It is also worth considering powered pallet trucks, such as the BT Tyro, which takes away all the heavy lifting with no manual handling required. 

2. Ensure equipment is regularly services & maintained:

Ensuring all equipment is regularly serviced and maintained is important to not only ensure minimum downtime, but to make sure that trucks are working how they should be, and do not have any faults that could potentially lead to an accident.

Making sure you have a service package, and a thorough examination booked for every piece of machinery periodically is essential to ensure the safety of all operators.

3. Ensure operators are fully trained:

Ensuring your operators are fully trained is not only a legal requirement, but is essential to provide a safe material handling environment. All operators should undergo forklift operator training and hold a license before operating equipment. They should also ensure they undertake regular refresher training.

At Toyota, offer the highest level of forklift and supervisor training courses, accredited by the AITT. Delivered nationwide or on-site, our training equips drivers with the skills they need to operate forklifts safely and efficiently.

4. Look at forklift safety features:

The Toyota System of Active Stability (SAS) has delivered unmatched safety to operators and operations for over 20 years. SAS is standard on every Toyota counterbalance forklift.

By intervening before any unsafe operations can occur, the system ensures all driving and stacking actions remain stable and controlled. This reduces the risk of accidents while increasing productivity.

Operator assistance systems such as SEnS+ are designed to significantly reduce the risk of collisions by using sensors to detect potential hazards and prevent incidents when reversing, protecting the operator and pedestrians.

5. Fleet management software & technology:

Adding telematics to your forklift fleet is also an important consideration, through fleet management systems such as I_Site you can improve safety through:

• Truck speed management
• Shock monitoring to track and analyse collisions
• Pre-operational checks to ensure the truck is safe and operational before being operated.
• Pin or smart pass access to ensure only authorised personnel have the ability to operate trucks

Looking to enhance safety in your forklift operations?

We're committed to promoting best practices in safety across the industry. That's why we've created a collection of free safety resources to help you protect your workforce and optimise your operations.