Environment, Health and Safety

Johnson Matthey is firmly committed to managing its activities throughout the group so as to provide the highest level of protection to the environment and to safeguard the health and safety of its employees, customers and the community.

The company’s Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) policies provide the guiding principles that ensure high standards are achieved at all sites around the world and afford a means of promoting continuous improvement based on careful risk assessment and comprehensive EHS management systems.

These policies, summarised in the company’s policy statement (see box on page 21), are reviewed at regular intervals and a detailed revision was completed during the year with the assistance of external consultants. This work has given greater emphasis to formal management systems, in order to bring a systematic improvement in performance. Employee information and training requirements and the designation of corporate targets and performance measures for the businesses have also been strengthened. Corporate policies provide a framework for all Johnson Matthey businesses, which are required to formulate site specific policies to meet local requirements. During the year these issues were reviewed at a series of workshops and meetings that brought together general management and senior EHS professionals from across the group.

Board responsibility for EHS rests with the Group Managing Director who chairs the Environment, Health and Safety Committee (EHSC), a sub-committee of the board. The EHSC meets every two months to review and monitor EHS performance and consider key policy and operational issues. The division directors of Johnson Matthey’s manufacturing operations are members of the committee together with the director of EHS. In addition the board undertakes a formal review of EHS performance annually and considers items of topical interest as they occur.

To ensure effective monitoring of performance, health and safety data is compiled monthly for consideration by the EHSC and general management. Environmental and resource efficiency information for the group is monitored locally and analysed annually.

EHS compliance audits are an integral part of Johnson Matthey’s corporate EHS management system. During the year 37 in-depth EHS audits were completed across our operations in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. Formal exit interviews with local site management are a feature of these audits and audit reports are reviewed by the EHSC with routine follow up on any outstanding issues. During the year further site visits were made to oversee health surveillance programmes by the Group Occupational Physician.

The year has seen a continued high level of capital investment in new plant and equipment within our existing businesses. In addition to introducing environmental improvements this has presented an opportunity to develop and operate processes that are inherently safer and more resource efficient than previous designs. Resource efficiency is a discipline that is second nature to managers in the businesses who are charged with the responsibility of handling materials and products of high intrinsic value, many of which are recyclable.

ISO 14001
ISO 14001 is the international standard representing ‘best practice’ in environmental management. The standard requires a critical third party assessment of the systems and performance of a business. Many of our major sites have adopted this standard and others are continuing to develop their environmental management systems.

In the last year our autocatalyst plant in Pilar, Argentina, the precious metal fabrication business in Melbourne, Australia, and our glass products facility in Maastricht, Netherlands, succeeded in achieving ISO 14001 certification. The Maastricht facility represents the first business in the Colours & Coatings Division to achieve certification to this prestigious standard. In total this brings the percentage of employees who work at sites with ISO 14001 accreditation to 28%, representing some 2,000 staff.

Training
Over the last year a number of facilities have adopted interactive training systems in order to improve employee awareness of health and safety in the workplace. These systems are designed to complement conventional site training methods.

Target Setting
One of the key aims of Johnson Matthey’s EHS policies is to demonstrate continuous improvement in EHS performance. Targets are set locally by business units to drive improvement and systems are in place to measure performance.

Typical targets include:

Environmental, Health and Safety Reporting
Johnson Matthey is committed to reporting on its EHS performance. During 2002 we plan to publish a detailed review of group environmental, health and safety activity on the Internet. During this period we also plan to assess options for third party verification of the review.

Environment, Health and Safety Policy Statement The company’s Environment, Health and Safety policies have been widely disseminated and provide the guiding principles necessary to ensure that high standards are achieved at all sites around the world. They also afford a means of promoting continuous improvement based on careful risk assessment and comprehensive EHS management systems, against which all sites are audited. This policy and its associated procedures are designed to achieve the following corporate objectives:     > That all locations meet legal and group environment, health and safety requirements. > That the design, manufacture and supply of products is undertaken so as to satisfy the highest standards of health, safety, environmental protection and resource efficiency. > That management systems are effective in maintaining standards and fulfilling the challenge of securing continuous improvement in environmental, health and safety performance.           In order to achieve these objectives we will:     > Provide leadership and commitment as an expression of the importance that the board and the senior management team places on EHS issues. > Ensure accountability by holding corporate management and senior executives within each operating division and business unit responsible for EHS performance. > Provide the financial and human resources to allow EHS issues to be given an appropriate level of priority. > Provide good communication internally and externally and encourage employee involvement and cooperation at all levels in the organisation in meeting EHS objectives. > Ensure competence on EHS matters through education, training and awareness at all levels in the organisation, including creating an understanding of individual responsibilities for health and safety and the environment. > Undertake assessments to identify the risks to health, safety and the environment from company operations and ensure that appropriate control measures are implemented. > Ensure that new investments are designed and operated to the latest standards so as to eliminate or minimise risks to health, safety and the environment. > Investigate incidents to identify the root cause and take action to prevent recurrence. > Promote programmes to achieve energy and resource efficiency. > Set key corporate objectives and performance targets that can be measured and assessed, reporting results in a meaningful and transparent way both internally and externally. > Undertake regular EHS inspections and audits of operations, and review performance to ensure continuous improvement in EHS management.     The group EHS management systems will be reviewed regularly to ensure that they reflect international best practice and our growing understanding of the practical application of sustainable development.