Global Environmental, Health & Safety Audit Program
The corporate environmental audit program has been in place since 1989, and the health and safety audit program was begun in 1994. Much of the focus of both of these audit programs was directed at sites in the United States and Puerto Rico. Two goals were set forth by the oversight committees with responsibility for management of environmental and health and safety within the corporation. These goals were as follows:
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All global research and manufacturing sites must have a corporate audit performed of their EHS programs on or before the end of calendar year 1998. This audit will focus on both conformance with corporate EHS policies and requirements as well as environmental regulatory compliance.
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An external assessment will be performed of the corporation's health and safety management processes in 1997 and be reported in the 1998 EHS Report (see Message from the President and CEO
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The goal of auditing all sites will be accomplished by the end of 1998, with the exception of two new facilities in Egypt and China and a research facility in Canada, all of which will be visited in 1999. In addition, a joint venture site in Pakistan was not visited due to travel limitations in that country. This site will be scheduled for an audit in 1999.
A Tool for Continuous Improvement
As the end of the century approaches, the auditing program continues to improve. The audit program must continue to provide assurances that health, safety and environmental programs are
appropriately managing risks for the company and its employees. It is also important that this program be a vital part of the process of developing new pharmaceuticals by accomplishing the following:
- Identifying opportunities for improvement
- Highlighting "best practices" for use throughout the company
- Raising the knowledge of EHS staff through service as members of audit teams.
Several improvements were incorporated to assist with the goals of our audit program:
- A risk assessment process was implemented for the purpose of improved scheduling of audits based on priority.
- A handbook detailing the auditing process was developed to ensure a uniform process for both health and safety and environmental audits.
- A environmental multimedia approach was begun in 1996, which significantly increased the scope of impact of the program. Previous audits had examined only a single regulatory or environmental media: for example a focus on hazardous and solid waste.
- An environmental management systems evaluation tool based on the ISO14001 standard has been incorporated into the environmental audit process.
- A new corporate measure has been put into place to track the implementation of global audit action plans.
Staff members are also involved with outside auditing groups that continue to assist in improving the auditing program. These groups are the Environmental Auditing Roundtable (EAR) and the ENSR's International Audit Protocol Consortium (IAPC). Both groups have allowed the company to benchmark the auditing program with different types of organizations, providing new perspectives on how to approach and conduct audits.
