A Group SHE Policy and eight Management Standards guide AstraZeneca’s management approach to the environment. These are currently under review to ensure proper alignment with ongoing initiatives to revise the Company’s Code of Conduct and Policy framework. The Policy and Standards are mandatory and apply throughout the organisation.
The Group SHE policy states that AstraZeneca aims to be amongst the pharmaceutical industry leaders in SHE and will operate as a responsible member of society committed to continuous improvement in all aspects of SHE performance.
Our core priorities under the Policy are to:
- Integrate SHE considerations into all activities across the AstraZeneca Group of companies;
- Manage SHE as a fundamental component of our governance systems and ensure compliance with applicable SHE-related laws and regulations;
- Train, empower and require individuals to take personal responsibility for safety, health and the environment;
- Aim to eliminate all work-related injuries and cases of ill health by providing a safe and healthy work environment and promoting health & wellbeing;
- Aim for continuous improvement in the sustainability of all our activities by, amongst other things, economising on the use of natural resources and working to eliminate pollution;
- Monitor existing and emerging SHE risks, assess their significance and manage their potential impact on people, the environment and the business;
- Monitor our SHE performance and communicate openly with our stakeholders.
The fifth of the eight SHE Management Standards that support the SHE Policy addresses the business’s responsibilities to environmental sustainability directly: “All facilities and functions must identify significant opportunities to improve the sustainability of all their activities and produce appropriate implementation plans. These should include the more efficient use of materials and energy, the substitution of hazardous materials where feasible and the optimisation of materials reuse and recycling. Sustainability impacts must be considered during the development, acquisition and marketing of new products and services.”
Further detail on AstraZeneca’s SHE Management System is available in the Governance section. SHE support to the organization is provided through SHE professionals who work locally and within a central SHE organization. In late 2007, AstraZeneca combined its corporate-level, UK and Sweden-based SHE organisations to form a single “AZ SHE” function. The new organisation includes four sections: Technical Support, delivering local, largely facility-based SHE services; Business Partnering, with staff working to align services and resources with business needs and risks; Product Support, supporting the SHE aspects of the discovery and development of medicines, including ecotoxicology research; and Governance & Strategy, a group responsible for implementing our compliance assurance programs, anticipating emerging legislative and policy developments, monitoring the company’s SHE risk profile and, in coordination with senior leadership, shaping the company’s strategy for delivering responsible, and continuously-improving SHE performance. The organisation responds to the Executive Vice President Operations, who has executive responsibility for SHE performance across the AZ organisation.
The second of our eight SHE Management Standards places a responsibility on local management to ensure that all employees are adequately trained and that learning from incidents is captured and shared. It states:
“All employees must be trained to have the understanding, skills and behaviour necessary to ensure that all work is carried out in accordance with the SHE Policy & Standards.”
Investigating & Reporting Accidents, Occupational Illnesses, Incidents and Complaints:
“Arrangements must be in place for investigating accidents, causes of occupational illness and complaints from regulatory authorities or members of the public. In addition, all incidents that could have resulted in serious consequences for people, the environment or the business must be investigated.
Appropriate action must be taken to help prevent recurrence, and to retain and share any relevant information.
All facilities and functions must maintain records of their SHE performance, provide regular SHE reports to line managers and ensure proper and timely notification of accidents, incidents and other SHE events in accordance with regulatory and AstraZeneca requirements”.
Further, the third of our three Company SHE Objectives is designed to promote the SHE culture of the organisation:
Objective 3
“Train, empower and require individuals to take personal responsibility for safety, health and the environment.”
Training is by its nature dependent on local circumstances and priorities. Consequently there is no Group wide indicator that can be used to act as a KPI for this objective. The result of increased training and the associated change of behaviour should contribute to reaching the targets set for the KPIs under the first two objectives. In addition, data from the periodic global employee surveys will provide a measure of changes in SHE culture and attitude.
Specific expertise needs are covered by tailored training programmes, for instance our Internal Facility Audit programme is delivered by auditors drawn from across the business and all are required to undergo a training course developed and run in conjunction with a third party consultancy before participating. There is an on-going programme of skills development.
At the start of 2006, we introduced new Company-wide objectives and associated targets for 2010 that focus on three important aspects of our global Safety, Health and Environment Policy.
The first of these objectives relates specifically to our commitment to safety, health and wellbeing; the second relates to our environmental performance. Experience suggests that good safety, health and environmental performance is strongly linked to personal ownership of these challenges across the Company. Therefore, our third 2010 objective includes a commitment to train, empower and require individuals to take personal responsibility for safety, health and the environment. This is not a new commitment, but the specific objective strengthens our platform for continuous improvement and we expect our focus on this aspect to reinforce accountabilities and encourage new ideas and initiatives for sustainable change across the range of our business activities.
Our current environmental objective is to aim for continuous improvement in the sustainability of all our activities by, amongst other things, economising on the use of natural resources and working to eliminate pollution. Key Performance Indicators and targets covering the two main sustainability topics for us, climate change and waste, have been identified. These KPIs are supported by further Diagnostic Indicators relating to emissions of Ozone Depleting Substances, total energy use and water use to help us monitor our progress.
Implicit in the AstraZeneca Board’s approval of the new objectives was an understanding that the improvements required could only be delivered by every one of our employees working together. Each AstraZeneca function and location is responsible for identifying initiatives, programmes and other opportunities for contributing to the global 2010 objectives relevant to their own circumstances and needs; for setting their own local targets and action plans; for monitoring progress in these areas; and for reporting progress centrally on a quarterly basis. Our ultimate vision is a Company where employees are applying their skills and energy in a working environment that is free of injury or illness and contributing to the Company’s and society’s sustainability.
AZ SHE operates an Internal Facility Audit programme through which facility compliance with SHE and Security policies and standards is evaluated and opportunities for improvement are identified. Risk management tools are used to identify audit priorities, and most facilities are audited over a 3-5 year cycle.
AstraZeneca has a reporting system specifically designed for SHE. This system enables us to get an overview of our SHE performance and report this both to internal and external interested parties. We also benchmark our performance with other companies.
Every year each facility must provide the Senior Executive Team (SET) and the Board with the facts about the facility's performance. This annual Management Review provides each facility and operating function with the opportunity to review SHE performance against the Policy, Standards and external requirements. The Site Managers or regional Presidents conduct this review with the assistance of local SHE professionals using a template provided by AZ SHE. The results are used to identify assurance gaps and opportunities for continuously improving SHE performance and to ensure that all Site Managers and Company Presidents actively follow up the SHE performance of their site/company and to provide the SET with an overview of the Group's SHE Performance, which then enables them to set new targets.
We have identified climate change and pharmaceuticals in the environment as the two key environmental issues for our stakeholders and they are included within the CR Priority Action Plan. Whereas action on pharmaceuticals in the environment is being addressed under the Priority Action Plan, we have also identified a Company-wide SHE Objective (discussed above) covering climate change to help all parts of the Business focus their contribution to delivering our commitment in this area.
In common with most businesses, our potential impact on climate change arises from the greenhouse gas emissions from energy use at our facilities, from other in-house activities and from the various means of transport we use. However, we also face an additional challenge since some of our asthma therapy products use propellant gases that potentially contribute to ozone depletion and global warming.
Although AstraZeneca does not use a large amount of energy relative to its size, we recognise the importance of implementing programmes to maximise efficiency and minimise emissions. Some progress is being made at a corporate level, such as building a proportion of renewable energy into energy procurement contracts and considering the energy impact of capital programmes. In addition, many of our sites around the world are pursuing energy efficiency projects and have made significant improvements.
To address global warming emissions from transport activities, we have selected a few logistic and road haulage companies to partner for our main distribution routes. Priority is given to companies who have good procedures for safety, health, environment and quality management, modern trucks with efficient engines and drivers trained in eco- and safety driving. For airlines, the age and type of their fleet is taken into consideration in the selection of partners.
Bulk transport and final packing of our products at our marketing companies reduce our demand for freight. Internally, efforts have been made to make transport more efficient and to use more environmentally friendly packaging options.
How our people travel also has an impact and several local initiatives are aimed at reducing emissions from our use of cars. Some of AstraZeneca’s sales forces have tested bio-ethanol powered cars and hybrid cars. From 2005 onwards, all new cars purchased for the sales force in Brazil can be refuelled with ethanol 'Flex Fuel' and by end of 2007 there were 100 'Flex Fuel' vehicles in the Swedish fleet (approximately 10%). US Fleet Services is making progress on its target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their vehicles by 12% - about 9,000 tonnes - by 2010 by selecting new vehicles that reflect an eco-friendly approach to the company's driving needs. Local initiatives in Brazil, the UK and Sweden are also in place to encourage more energy-efficient "green" commuting.
Ozone depletion, caused by certain halogenated compounds, is undesirable because ozone in the upper atmosphere acts as a filter for harmful UVB radiation. Many of the substances that cause ozone depletion are also potent greenhouse gases. Although we have a programme to eliminate their use at our facilities, we still have residual amounts of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and halons in fire protection and refrigeration systems. In addition, AstraZeneca currently uses some substances that contribute to ozone depletion, primarily in connection with metered-dose inhalation products prescribed to asthmatics. However, we are working to reduce our use of these materials by substitution and through innovative new product designs that do not require propellant gases.
More details about our approach to climate change and our performance are provided in the Global Warming and Ozone Depletion sections.
Public interest in the Pharmaceuticals in the Environment (PIE) issue has grown in recent years, in part as a result of the linking of two independent scientific observations. Firstly, due to advancements in analytical capabilities, residues of a wide range of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) began to be detected in surface waters in certain countries at concentrations of 0.01 to 0.1 µg/l (parts per billion). Secondly, some substances capable of interacting with the endocrine systems of aquatic animals, such as synthetic and natural œstrogens, were shown to be having some long-term sub-lethal effects on a few aquatic species in a small number of locations. Appropriately, questions about the potential long term environmental fate and effects of some pharmaceuticals are now being asked.
The environmental profile of AstraZeneca’s new pharmaceuticals is assessed prior to applying for government approval and, at a minimum, consistent with applicable regulatory regimes. The science in this area is continuously evolving, and AstraZeneca is committed to conducting its assessments based upon the best available science. AstraZeneca continues to work with the relevant pharmaceutical industry trade associations to provide expert input to the current public consultations. In anticipation of new guidelines, and as an element of our internal PIE-related initiatives, we have reviewed the environmental risk assessments for our existing products and, where appropriate, have carried out further studies to replace previous default values with measured data. We are committed to making this environmental risk data, together with available information on our existing products, publicly available via the Swedish Doctors Prescribing Guide, FASS.se website using the voluntary disclosure system introduced by the Swedish pharmaceutical trade association (LIF).
Beyond the issues of climate change and pharmaceuticals in the environment prioritised in our CR Priority Action Plan, our Policy and Management Standards for SHE mandate a proactive approach to the broader issues of environmental sustainability.
We recognise that the potential impact of our products on the environment can occur throughout the lifecycle of the materials from which our products are made. The risk of adverse impacts can normally be reduced or eliminated by considering environmental issues carefully during the product development process. However, pharmaceuticals generate major challenges in this respect, since there is usually very limited flexibility to modify the active molecule to improve its environmental profile whilst preserving its efficacy and minimising any potential side effects. We are continually working to improve the way environmental issues are considered in process development, asset design and marketing by developing procedures that continuously improve the integration of SHE considerations into the product development process, based, in part, on whole lifecycle techniques. Packaging material is a key area on which we continue to focus. Packaging that protects products helps prevent waste, reduces environmental impact and avoids economic loss. Environmental considerations are taken into account at an early stage of development, as in many cases it is difficult to improve the environmental characteristics of packaging or a device once a product is on the market. Packaging and devices are designed and manufactured to allow recycling of a certain percentage by weight or have a minimum calorific value to allow optimisation of energy recovery.
Our commitment to sustainable production includes ensuring that we continue to integrate safety, health and environmental considerations into our process, product and packaging development; that we continue to focus on reducing the amount of waste we generate and our emissions to air and water; and that we effectively manage biodiversity, land and water use. We aim to use resources efficiently and where possible avoid the use of the most hazardous substances. Strategies to support sustainable production include our 'SHE Triggers' Model, which enables potential safety, health and environmental issues to be identified and designed out of our manufacturing processes for new active pharmaceutical ingredients at an early stage. This concept has now been extended to develop a model for use in development of secondary manufacturing processes and pharmaceutical products including environmental assessment of packaging and devices.
Our ‘Green Chemistry Network’ links environmental specialists with chemistry and engineering organisations within process development to help promote the principles of green chemistry and engineering. In 2007 all scientists in our Global Process Research and Development function (based in Europe) had the opportunity to attend training to raise awareness of how they can minimise environmental impact of the manufacturing processes they are developing. In addition to our internal efforts, we are an active partner in the American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute Pharmaceutical Roundtable. This coalition between the ACS GCI and eight multi-national pharmaceutical corporations (at the end of 2007) has a mission to catalyse the implementation of green chemistry and engineering in the pharmaceutical industry globally.
The primary objective in waste minimisation is waste prevention. Where this is not practicable, we strive toward the reuse and recycling of materials, including energy recovery. Programmes designed to reduce the amount of waste we generate include the continual improvement of existing production processes and the better design of new ones, improved purchasing processes and internal waste awareness programmes.
Third parties also undertake some of our manufacturing. Although their waste data are not included in our reported figures, we continue to track and report third party waste and energy consumption.
Solvents are recycled and reused as much as possible at our main manufacturing facilities to minimise the amounts of fresh solvent consumed. We also minimise emissions to air by using VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) abatement equipment including technologies such as catalytic oxidation, low-temperature cryogenic condensation and adsorption of pollutants on activated carbon.
All our facilities use water and subsequently discharge wastewater to be treated either on site or by municipalities. We measure the total volume we use and the load that our effluents, primarily from manufacturing and R&D activities, place on the aquatic environment. Consistent with our commitment to product stewardship, we are pursuing efforts to minimise the use of water and any pollutants including our products being released into the environment in effluent discharges from our facilities.
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), signed in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, calls for a halt in biodiversity decline by 2010. Whilst there will always be a need for nature reserves and national parks where nature conservation is the prime objective, equally important is the integration of conservation with other land uses. AstraZeneca is developing local biodiversity action plans (BAPs) for its major landholdings, aimed at conserving, and if possible increasing, local biodiversity on and around the company’s properties worldwide. The maxim “think global act local” underlines the principle that conservation on a global scale (i.e. corporate level) is the sum of actions or projects implemented at a local or site level. Individual sites can contribute to the preservation and enhancement of local biodiversity by protecting natural habitats and creating or maintaining refuges and “green corridors” for flora and fauna. Information gathered from site biodiversity surveys will provide a baseline for Environmental Impact Assessments for future site development and enable conservation measures to be targeted in areas where they will be most beneficial. Rather than being seen as a conflicting interest, biodiversity conservation is viewed as an essential element in maintaining a site’s “licence to operate”.
AstraZeneca expects, as a minimum, to maintain compliance with the complex web of legislation relating to safety, health and the environment. Although issues do arise from time to time, as reflected in the statistics provided in the Compliance section of our Responsibility webpages, we have been largely effective in meeting this expectation. Our compliance management systems are designed to facilitate timely internal communication of non-compliance matters to appropriate levels of line management; achieve full cooperation with local authorities and other regulators; and ensure prompt resolution and effective learning from these events. We are responding to an ever-changing landscape by continuously improving these systems and integrating them into the Company's broader compliance assurance framework.
The Board of Directors of AstraZeneca PLC is responsible for setting the direction for SHE management within the Company and for ensuring that a SHE Policy is established and integral to our business activities. The Chief Executive Officer is responsible to the Board for the management and performance of the Company’s business within the framework of the SHE Policy. On at least an annual basis, the Board and Senior Executive Team (chaired by the CEO) formally review and provide direction on, the Company’s SHE performance and compliance status. Primary responsibility for managing the Company’s SHE performance is cascaded through line management. Local legal requirements also place specific accountabilities on Marketing Company Presidents and local managers.
The content of this page was externally assured by Bureau Veritas, February 2008 |