ISO 14001 environmental management system: Group certificate obtained
Our spending on environmental protection, health and safety totaled € 131 million in 2009. That amount includes depreciation charges on capital investments and ongoing costs. Merck decided to seek certification of all production sites in accordance with the ISO 14001 international environmental management system. According to this standard, activities in environmental protection are continuously recorded and optimized as part of an improvement process. Here, an internationally valid group certificate applicable to all sites will supersede the previous individual certificates. This requires particularly responsible collaboration among the sites since the certificate will only be granted if all sites in an audit sampling fulfill the certification criteria. A total of 40 production sites worldwide were certified by the end of 2009. We thus successfully introduced the group certificate for the production sites and will in future incorporate additional sites in accordance with developments of the Merck Group.
Ambitious climate targets
Climate protection is an issue that received even more global attention in 2009, not least due to the climate summit in Copenhagen. Merck is also concerned with this topic and is dedicating itself to resource conservation. Our goal is to reduce our entire CO2 emissions – direct and indirect – by 20% by 2020, compared to the 2006 levels. In order to accomplish this, we are focusing on 15 sites, which together account for more than 80% of our total global emissions. We reached our previous goal, which was to lower direct emissions by 10% by 2010, compared to 2002 levels, ahead of schedule.
European chemicals law: REACH implementation underway
In implementing the EU regulation REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances), which comes with great challenges, Merck is playing a pioneering role in important areas. In 2009, we already submitted a large number of registration dossiers to the new European Chemicals Agency in Helsinki. In addition, various sites underwent inspections by authorities, in which we demonstrated exemplary REACH implementation. Furthermore, Merck is engaged in projects of the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI) for a more workable implementation of REACH.
Competitive edge: Expertise in regulatory matters
The Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS), an EU regulation based on a UN agreement, took effect on January 20, 2009. The new elements of the GHS hazard communication, such as hazard pictograms and signal words, are replacing the previous hazard symbols and phrases. Our labels and safety data sheets are being updated step by step. By the middle of February 2009, Merck had already shipped out the first goods labeled according to GHS. Another important activity was the global training program to acquaint our customers with GHS. In addition to training sessions with regulatory specialists, advanced e-learning courses were also held and customers were given detailed information material.
We want to go beyond fulfilling the requirements of REACH and GHS; here we also see a competitive advantage. We can use our expertise in regulatory affairs and in product documentation to provide our customers with support. In addition, we have checked with our suppliers as to whether their chemicals also meet the requirements of REACH, thus establishing legal certainty for both Merck and its customers.
Further improvements in occupational health and safety
In terms of accident prevention and occupational safety, we once more managed to lower the most important indicator, the lost time injury rate (LTIR). This rate consists of the number of workplace accidents with one or more missed days of work relative to the number of hours worked. At Merck, the global value is less than four, which means that we exceeded our own targets. To continue to improve, we have set ourselves a new goal: an LTIR of 2.5 by 2015.
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