Toyota (GB) plc, which is responsible for marketing and aftersales of Toyota and Lexus branded vehicles in the UK, has implemented new legal registers to ensure compliance with stringent and far-reaching safety and environmental legislation.
Produced by online specialists Cedrec, the registers are seen by Toyota as a major benefit, enabling legal and compliance manager Tim Greenwell and his five-strong team to improve their ability to implement and manage OHSAS 18001 and ISO 14001 and undertake compliance audits across five UK sites.
These include Toyota GB's Epsom headquarters, a vehicle import centre in Bristol, the Derby vehicle distribution centre and two training academies in Rainham and Northampton.
Upwards of 600 people, including sub-contractors, can be on-site at these locations, so ensuring their safety can be challenging, says Tim:
"We are responsible for ensuring everyone's safety and security while they are on one of our sites, regardless of whether or not they are directly employed by Toyota. It's therefore paramount to be fully conversant and compliant with all the necessary legal standards and requirements."
The registers, which have been in place since May, provide an easily accessible, definitive source for the requisite legislation covering Toyota GB's operations. This spans employer liability and incident and accident reporting through to more niche legal requirements on signage, lifting, working at height, the use and storage of hazardous substances and smoking among other safety matters.
They also detail Toyota's far ranging environmental responsibilities when it comes to energy usage, air pollution, waste disposal and management, noise control, waste water, contaminated land and wildlife protection.
Using the regular updates provided by Cedrec as part of an ongoing subscription service also allows the legal and compliance team to record and note on-going amendments or changes to legislation - and the impact these will have on Toyota's business activities - in a way that is unambiguous and clearly understood.
This is an invaluable aid in securing the company's ability to meet its obligations to ensure that people on its sites are able to work in an environment that is as safe and secure as possible.
Tim Greenwell says tapping into the Sunderland firm's expertise has expanded his knowledge of safety and environmental legal requirements, providing reassurance and, ultimately, peace-of-mind.
"Having up-to-date, comprehensive new legal registers that are set out in easy-to-find sections is of huge benefit. It's enabling us to stay abreast of changes to even the smallest piece of legislation, while identifying those areas where operational or technical improvements can be made during any audit of our safety and environmental processes.
"The summaries and subtext breakdowns provided are clear, concise and well indexed, and can, if necessary, be expanded further by the user to reveal more detail and analysis.
"All this ensures we are more aware than ever of legislation and its impact, and comprehensively armed with the advice that’s correct and can be applied on a daily basis."
Cedrec is unquestionably improving Toyota's ability to be safety and environmentally compliant concludes Tim: "They make legislation understandable and accessible while having them available as an external support resource is reassuring and confirmation that we are doing things the right way - it's a great back-up.
"I'm also impressed by their expertise and ability to deliver quickly, while the team is always helpful, professional, approachable and great to work with."
