After a serious injury from slippery and poorly designed anti-fatigue mats, The Toro Company, a worldwide manufacturer of landscaping equipment, transformed its safety approach. EHS Manager Lindsey Kuefler shares the story:
➡0:00-1:00 – Custom mat design and features
➡1:00-2:40 – Lindsey shares why her facility "standardized" its anti-fatigue mat approach including the health, safety, and productivity impacts that followed.
Challenge & Solution
The Toro Company previously had multiple mat styles, thicknesses, and sizes throughout its Minnesota facility. Rectangular mats were being pieced together to cover complex layouts.
"We had any number of different mats," shares Lindsey in the video above. "We had mostly anything you can get from the standard sources. We just kind of hodge-podge, mixed them together. We didn't have any rhyme or reason."
"Most of the diamond-plate mats were slippery," she continues. "The edges were really slick, and we ended up having an injury because of it. We had an employee who stepped on the edge and fell and broke his wrist and was out for a number of months."
Standard to Custom
Lindsey's team removed the slippery, ill-fitting rectangular mats and created a range of custom mats to precisely fit within each unique layout. This eliminated trip hazards from overlapped mats, inconsistent thickness and surfaces, and exposed harsh flooring.
Creating a Standard
Lindsey and her team partnered with AcroMat to create a Standard Work Instruction for anti-fatigue matting. This strategy document has clarified the exact type of mat styles and features each area needs, eliminated time-consuming product searches and reactive buying, and laid out a clear process when mat needs arise.
"We've been using AcroMat for 5 years, and it's been going really well," says Lindsey.
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