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Summary of Strategic Objectives and Initiatives: Message from the Director of Occupational Health, Safety and Environmental Affairs
At Eli Lilly and Company, compliance with environmental, health and safety laws is an absolute minimum standard of performance. Our fundamental goal for EHS performance is to operate
our company in as safe and environmentally responsible a manner as is
practical. To accomplish this goal, we regularly assess our operations at the
corporate and plant site levels and identify the best opportunities to
improve EHS performance. These assessments have led to the
establishment of the following company-wide initiatives:
- Globalizing our corporate EHS programs.
We recognize a need for our company's EHS programs to shift from their historical focus on U.S.-based facilities to a more global focus in recognition of the truly global nature of our operations.
Two specific initiatives we undertook in this area were the following:
- Global Auditing.
1996 was the beginning of a three-year initiative to conduct environmental, health and safety audits at all our global research, manufacturing and major administrative facilities.
- Global EHS Policies and Management Systems.
The EHS management team recognized the need for global standards for EHS management systems and programs. In 1998 this goal was accomplished by the publication of an EHS Policy Manual containing global standards for EHS management systems and 40 specific EHS policy requirements.
- Establishing an injury-free work environment.
In 1996, we decided that our global injury/illness rate was unacceptably high. We have launched company-wide initiatives to improve employee, contractor and motor vehicle safety and have set specific targets for the reduction of workplace accidents and injuries.
- Improving targeted health and safety performance.
Analysis of our 1995 global health and safety performance identified two programs with company-wide opportunities for improvement:
- process safety management
- chemical exposure assessment/containment control.
For each area, global teams established specific goals and action plans
that are being implemented throughout the company.
- Fully Implementing Responsible Care®.
To continue to capitalize on the EHS performance benefits we have gained at our five major manufacturing sites participating in the Chemical Manufacturers Association's Responsible Care® program, we committed in 1996 to full implementation of all 106 of the Responsible Care® management practices at these five sites by the end of 1998.
- Incorporating waste minimization into new product development.
Recognizing the value of incorporating waste minimization into the earliest stages of product development, we set a company-wide goal to fully establish and support our New Product Environmental Requirements Tracking process in all new product development efforts.
- Reducing global packaging.
In 1996, we surveyed and benchmarked our global packaging reduction efforts with other major pharmaceutical companies and established new guidelines and objectives for our packaging reduction efforts.
Setting objectives is only the first step in improving performance. They must be followed with effective action plans and successful implementation. We look forward to sharing with you in the future additional status reports regarding our implementation of these six objectives as well as our newest initiatives to continually improve our EHS performance. We appreciate your interest in Eli Lilly and Company and our EHS performance and welcome your questions or comments about this report.
Mark T. Owens
Director of Occupational Health,
Safety and Environmental Affairs
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