Toyota Material Handling Australia (TMHA) has today announced a new partnership with Melanoma Institute Australia to foster and promote sun safety in the transport and logistics sector.

As well as providing vital financial support for Melanoma Institute Australia’s world-leading research and clinical trials, the partnership will include a number of initiatives aimed at increasing the awareness of melanoma risk amongst those working in logistics.

TMHA President Steve Takacs said he was proud that TMHA was playing a leading role in raising awareness of sun safety amongst a group that can sometimes be hard to reach.

“TMHA is Australia’s leading forklift company and we are privileged to have a large reach into the transport and logistics sector”

“Partnering with Melanoma Institute Australia gives us an opportunity to leverage the trust we have built in the sector to play a leading role in raising awareness of melanoma risk and the importance of sun safety amongst a group of Australians who spend a significant amount of their work day in the sun and who might be otherwise hard to reach.”

“We’ll be working to raise funds for research as well as launching a number of initiatives aimed at spreading positive sun safe messages to the sector”.

CEO of Melanoma Institute Australia, Matthew Browne, said he was delighted to welcome TMHA on board as a corporate partner.

“We know that outdoor workers are exposed to three times more UV radiation than those who work indoors so the partnership with TMHA provides a platform to make a genuine difference.”

“As well as increased awareness, funds raised by TMHA will also contribute to our work preventing and curing melanoma through innovative, world-class research, treatment and education programs as we strive to achieve our mission of zero deaths from melanoma this decade”.

TMHA will launch a major fundraising initiative in the coming weeks along with a summer campaign aimed at transport and logistics workers.

Australia has the highest melanoma rates in the world, with one person diagnosed with the disease every 30 minutes. One Australian dies from melanoma every six hours, which is more than our annual road toll.

See more about Toyota Material Handling here.