At Toyota’s Mississippi plant, safety is built into every Corolla

With more than 10 million Toyota vehicles produced each year, it’s quite likely that you have one in your garage, or know someone who does. The iconic carmaker has been at or near the top of global auto manufacturers for years, with no signs of let-up.

Toyota is deeply invested in, and committed to producing safe, reliable vehicles. In 2017, nine Toyota models were named top safety picks by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. According to Toyota, “the journey towards a safe road never ends.” The company boasts innovative safety technologies including lane departure alerts, automatic high beams, and a pre-collision system that alerts the driver to take action and may apply the brakes for you.

Toyota also maintains a robust commitment to the safety of its approximately 340,000 employees. This Compliance Report showcases that effort, with the focus on the company’s manufacturing plant in Blue Springs, Mississippi. Meet safety professionals and team members leading the charge to build and sustain a sustainable safety culture.

Respect for people

Toyota’s traditional approach to its workforce, known as The Toyota Way, is built on a respect for people and a relationship of mutual trust and responsibility between labor and management. Ensuring employee safety and health has been, according to the company website, “a universal and timeless value.” In 1957, Eiji Toyoda, then senior managing officer, stated that, “Safe work is the gate to all work. Let us pass through this gate.” That philosophy continues to drive OSH efforts across the company’s facilities worldwide.

On a corporate level, Toyota’s motor manufacturing business has developed a number of structures, internal rules, and machine safety standards to keep people from harm. Toyota has long championed proactive prevention of workplace injuries by focusing on a handful of risks, known as Stop6 Accidents. The six are:

• Caught in machines.
• Contact with heavy objects.
• Contact with vehicles.
• Falling.
• Electrocution.
• Contact with heated objects. 

Meet TMMMS

Well before new team members step foot on the production floor, efforts to ensure they work safely are under way. At Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Mississippi (TMMMS), some 2,000 team members produce up to 170,000 Corolla vehicles each year. The plant, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, is located near Tupelo in Blue Springs. TMMMS is one of 14 Toyota manufacturing facilities in North America.

“Safety is our number one priority,” says safety manager Roberta Davis. While each manufacturing facility has its own rules and requirements, the approach is guided by Toyota’s global focus on continuous improvement and respect for people.

Says Davis, “It starts when you walk through the door each morning. As you walk through the entrances you see a green archway that emphasizes that safety is everyone’s responsibility and that it takes all of us to look out for our safety and that of others.’’ Employees originally created the fabricated metal sign for the stamping shop, then added one to each of the plant entrances.

The safety message is conveyed to new hires during orientation, when they first learn the familiar Toyota question, “HYP?” The initials stand for “how’s your process?” Employees are empowered from day one to speak openly and honestly about their safety, comfort, and other aspects of work (i.e. their “process”) and to communicate concerns to supervisors or trainers.

New employees undergo a period of work conditioning that’s led by trained onsite staff members. It involves running, walking, and weight training. The physical training is part of a four-week program with half the day is dedicated to work conditioning, and the other half is spent learning job-related skills. Members of the plant’s administrative staff participate in a stretching program.

Skilled maintenance technician Rusty Self, a staunch safety advocate, explains that production shifts (MMMS is a two-shift plant) start with a team meeting and a set of simple stretches. “At some point during or after the meeting a group leader will ask ‘how’s your process?’ and find out if there’s anything bothering you—physically, mentally, or something about the job itself. Toyota does a very effective job of building safety into the culture,” with these and other practices.

Dojo, CHIPS, and Kaizen

Once work conditioning is complete, employees participate in a safety dojo, a Japanese term that refers to a place of learning. At the Mississippi site, this is an area dedicated for safety training. New hires are exposed to more than a dozen live safety training modules on everything from hearing conservation to body mechanics, ergonomics, and preventing lacerations.

The dojo is a dynamic experience that changes in response to emerging processes and hazards. If an employee or team is found to be in need of improvement in a certain area, they may repeat the relevant modules as a reminder of best practices.

“If we are seeing a lot of issues with team members over-reaching, for example, we will add or update a module to train them on that. If a team member has had problems with lifting correctly, they may go back through that dojo,” says Davis. All shops within the plant have access to the dojo space and can put on training as needed.

TMMMS employees learn quickly about a set of expectations known as CHIPS, an acronym that describes five behaviors essential to staying safe.

• C is for cell phones. Team members are not allowed to walk while they talk.
• H is for hands in pockets. By removing hands from pockets while walking, employees can use their hands for balance and are less likely to fall.
• I is for intersections. Team members moving through the plant must cross only at designated intersections.
• P is for point. At crosswalks, employees are required to (stop, look,) and point in the direction in which they are heading.
• S is for stairs. Employees who take the stairs must use hand rails.

Davis says knowing and following basic rules like those is a first step in establishing a lasting safety culture. Technician Rusty Self echoes her comments, noting that these and other rules aren’t aimed just at production employees, but apply to everyone in the plant, including executives, visitors, and contractors. Vendors, even one who comes to the site to deliver food for an event, are required to view a brief safety video before entering the plant.

Toyota is renowned for incorporating the Japanese kaizen concept into its culture, and the Mississippi plant is no exception. Kaizen, which means change for the better, is a team exercise to improve safety (they are also used for productivity, efficiency, etc.). Team members form Kaizens to work on projects of their own choosing. Teams compete twice a year; projects are judged by plant executives. Recently, a winning team was rewarded with a trip to the National Safety Council exposition where they attended sessions and enhanced their own safety knowledge.

The project involved creation of a “quality stop button” on a press. Members of the Kaizen group were concerned that when the press was stopped to address a quality concern, a large metal blank left in the draw die station had to be manually removed. A team member or two would carry the blank—a hunk of sharp-edged sheet metal that can be several feet wide and tall—to the scrap bin.

The group addressed the problem by reprogramming the press and installing a button at the production station. Now when the press is stopped, the button is activated, which prevents the blank from being inserted in the draw die. The Kaizen took about two months to complete and was hailed as a big success. Team members say management actively supports their improvement initiatives, giving them the time and resources needed to complete projects.

Adds Davis, “We encourage team members to take anything they feel may be a safety issue and explore it. Kaizen is about continuous improvement and respect for people.”

Safety month: Moon pies and breaking the rules

Although safety is an everyday priority at the Mississippi plant, worker protection is in the spotlight each June when TMMMS observes its annual safety month. This year’s theme was Mission to Zero Incidents. The observance kicked off with greetings from members of management who handed out moon pies specially marked with the plant’s safety logo as employees entered. Throughout the month, activities and a safety fair focused on ergonomics, healthy choices, foot safety, and hazard recognition, among other areas.

Team members participated in an obstacle course in which they tried to safely walk while talking on their cell phones. Kaizen winners showcased their projects.  A program known as Color Me Safe got the kids at home involved in creating artwork that reflected their vision of safety. The submissions were turned into a safety calendar.

Also during safety month, designated employees move throughout the plant deliberately ignoring safety rules. The idea is to see which co-workers notice the infractions and point them out, as they are expected to do. Those who respond are handed token rewards, such as a $3 gift certificate to the company cafeteria. Getting executives involved in this exercise helps reinforce the idea that, like any team members, plant leaders can be stopped and corrected if they ignore rules intended to keep everyone safe.

Other safety and health initiatives

• A robust lockout/tagout program keeps team members safe around industrial robots, which are installed in the stamping and welding areas.
• Regular audits are conducted, in which team or group leaders observe employees and compare how they’re working with safety measures identified as “standard work” or best practices.
• A health and wellness program includes an onsite gym and nurse-staffed medical facility, as well as classes in smoking cessation and weight loss. Go 365 is an app employees can use to track points earned through participating in wellness activities. It’s also a resource for tips and tricks for staying healthy.
• All employees (at the Mississippi site and across Toyota) have a personal safety commitment, basically a customized safety goal that reflects their priorities. At safety meetings, team members who wish to speak first state their safety commitment before commenting on anything else. Davis’s current safety commitment is, “I will always perform a risk assessment before lifting heavy objects.” She developed it after recognizing that she was not lifting correctly at home and was experiencing back discomfort as a result. Rusty Self’s commitment is to “Always be aware of my surroundings.” The statements can be changed to reflect risks and circumstances.

Safety at the forefront

These and other initiatives make a big impact on Self and his fellow TMMMS team members. “Since I was in the Navy I’ve worked in a couple of differ industries and I have some perspective about safety.” Self says Toyota gives employees permission to completely stop a process, or the plant if necessary, if there is a safety issue they believe puts them or team members at risk. “That’s different from any industry I’ve worked in,” he adds.

Self’s feelings are echoed by production colleague Justin Shirley who says, “Every day when we come in, a team leader encourages team members to look out for each other. If we see anything that is a safety hazard, we call it out and can stop work or address it immediately. We all take responsibility for one another’s safety and Toyota empowers us to do that.” The safety mindset doesn’t stay behind when employees complete their shifts. There’s a strong emphasis on extending the awareness to homes and the community.

Davis started off as a team member at Toyota’s Kentucky plant and she knows what it means to work in an environment where safety is a shared value. “As a team member you think about safety all day long, and within your processes you always look for ways to improve it. Safety is always at the forefront; it’s just a way of life.”

Mississippi and beyond

The focus on protecting team members is alive and well across Toyota manufacturing facilities. The following are just a few of the safety initiatives under way in North America.

In 2011, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama (TMMAL) came up with an idea to use a comic book superhero character to improve ergonomic awareness and technique. The plant enlisted Bernard Berry, an artistically inclined team member who, at 6-foot-7, 290 pounds, and 7 percent body fat looks a lot like a superhero. Berry created Ergoman, a strongman who battles the dreaded Ergomaniacs, a band of evil-doers who represent examples of poor posture.

After introducing Ergoman, the Alabama site saw a solid increase in ergonomic knowledge test scores and a decrease in ergo-related first-aid incidents. Ergo has made appearance at other plants and continues to be a big presence at TMMAL. The cast of characters has grown considerably and now includes Envira, Ergoman’s fearless environmental counterpart.

In July of this year, the Kentucky manufacturing plant hosted a Toyota Motor North America Safety Summit. Attendees included corporate leaders in product engineering, manufacturing, and vehicle production who came together to focus on finding ways to reduce ergonomic injuries. Toyota had previously created three cross-departmental teams charged with addressing the role played by people, processes, and parts in injuries.

Leaders of each team joined the executives at the summit to kick off an injury-reduction campaign. The parts team came up with a list of 10 parts that require the most force and stress to install. Each of these is being scrutinized to determine if there are alternative ways to install them.

One program that came out of the initiative is known as Job Fit. Employees are asked to perform tasks that align with their physical capabilities, for example reach and lifting capacity.

Members from Toyota facilities throughout the Greater Chicago area collaborated to hold the One Toyota Midwest Health Fair. Attractions included booths set up by some 20 local health and wellness vendors, as well as demonstrations on nutrition, cholesterol, juicing, yoga, meditation, and CPR.

Back at TMMMS (the Mississippi production facility), team member Zach Neiman turned his life and health around, and inspired others with a physical transformation. From counting calories and changing his cooking style to hitting the gym before and after a physically demanding work day, Neiman began to see real progress. He lost 80 pounds in nine months, then began to focus on building lean muscle. Neiman has become a fixture in the fitness community within and outside the plant.