They say prevention is the best medicine. And that's the essence of process safety management for Lilly. Process safety is a comprehensive set of policies, procedures, and practices designed to ensure that barriers to major accidents are built into existing operations. The program is designed to prevent fires, explosions, and accidental chemical releases. It targets areas that handle, use, process, or store hazardous materials.

One of the key elements of our process safety management program is the process hazards review. Process safety and environmental protection are everyone's responsibility; however, a process hazards review is a task for a team of trained experts. Lilly primarily uses the "what-if" method to evaluate potential accidents for each chemical process. Lilly's process safety program requires that a hazards review be completed for all new processes during design and construction and on all operating processes. Hazards reviews have been completed for existing processes with the highest risk. Each of the elements of a process safety management program, along with hazards reviews, enables Lilly to conduct its operations in a manner that provides a safe workplace for our employees and protects the surrounding communities and environment.