We are committed to operations and practices that prevent harm to people and damage to environment or property. The principles for environment, health, safety and sustainability (EHS&S), as well as security, result from the company's ethical conviction. These principles are a priority and apply throughout the group.
Our Policy
As set out in our Safety and Sustainability Policy, our commitment to environmental and social sustainability has five streams:
- Regulatory compliance and integrity
- Vision Zero
- Our people
- Our environment
- Value for society
We actively manage Environment, Health, Safety and Sustainability (EHS&S) as an integral part of our businesses, operations and practices. We require global and local management to comply with the applicable laws and the internal and external EHS&S requirements. Security measures are integrated into the management systems and must meet defined minimal standards. Our Vision Zero – zero injuries, zero process incidents, and zero environmental incidents – underlines our commitment to safe and healthy workplaces.
Transparency and Reporting
We report environmental, social, governance and performance indicators under various frameworks. As part of our overall sustainability commitment, we foster transparency and reporting in line with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards, which represent the industry practice for tracking performance on a range of economic, environmental and social indicators.
Since 2007, Lonza Group reports under the Carbon Disclosure scheme CDP. We also maintain reporting on other platforms, such as EcoVadis, to exchange sustainability data across the supply chain.
Lonza Group Ltd joined the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) in March 2009. As a special initiative of the UN Secretary-General, the United Nations Global Compact is a call to companies everywhere to align their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, and to take action in support of UN goals.
Management System
Whereas the Safety and Sustainability Policy defines high-level principles, our corporate EHS&S management system and our detailed guidelines support their implementation. The continuous-improvement tools driving improved safety and environmental performance are also applied to making sustainable use of natural resources, reducing our carbon footprint, minimizing hazardous waste and managing remediation activities responsibly.
At each site a safety committee drives the implementation of safety-at-work programs. Corporate EHS&S guidelines describe the management systems, and the implementation at manufacturing sites and R&D centers is compulsory. Corporate EHS audits sites for EHS&S performance on the basis of these guidelines.
We maintain an EHS&S Management System which has been adapted to the actual ISO 14001 and 45001 standards, and detailed guidelines for people safety. This program applies to all locations and all employees. In addition, selected sites have relevant third-party certificates, e.g. ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45000, ISO 13485, HACCP. More than 20% of our sites are ISO 14001 certified.
Compliance: Audits and Loss Prevention Visits
EHS&S performance audits are carried out at regular intervals, typically three years, at all production sites, warehouses and R&D sites. They cover all aspects of safety, health and environmental protection and serve to monitor whether compliance with internal and external standards is achieved. These audits are conducted by internal independent experts by means of interviews and site inspections and are based on a comprehensive inspection plan. Audit results' implementation is monitored. Compliance audits review the company's status according to the local applicable laws and regulations in the countries where we operate. They are important tools for site management, which is responsible for legal compliance of operations.
Technical experts from insurers visit our manufacturing and R&D to identify, assess and evaluate any property risks and business interruptions, and are working with us to identify cost effective risk mitigation strategies. Our internal experts within the Corporate EHS&S team support these audits. We do have a great interest in this service in order to stay abreast of the safety of operation of our plants.
Lonza's Approach to Tax
Lonza employees at all levels of the company and across all geographies are bound by the Lonza Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct establishes the professional standards to which we operate, and defines how we do business and how we interact with each other.
Lonza’s approach to tax is aligned with our Code of Conduct, and we commit to operate our tax affairs with the same standards of integrity that we apply to conducting our businesses. Our approach to tax relies upon regulatory compliance, alignment with our business operations and robust tax governance and risk management.
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