Corporate Social Responsibility Review 2002/2003

Review of EHS

ENVIRONMENT, HEAlTH AND SAFETY POLICY STATEMENT

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 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 place 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 system will be reviewed regularly to ensure that it reflects international best practice and our growing understanding of the practical application of sustainable development.