A fundamental part of the Group-wide strategy
The protection of health, climate, environment, employees, sites, plants, transports, and particularly protected information is one of the main challenges at Evonik and is our first priority, above turnover and profit.
It is a fundamental part of the Group-wide strategy for the safe and proper operation of our plants, laboratories, warehouses and offices, as well as for the implementation of security protection measures.
The continuous development and implementation of this strategy is centrally managed by the ESHQ function. This is done in close cooperation and coordination with the divisions and regions of the Group, with whom we jointly implement and track the measures.
The protection of the environment is one of the key global challenges of our time.
- We are committed to the SBTi goal of "well below 2°C" and commit to reducing absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 25 percent from 2021 to 2030. Scope 3 emissions of all upstream categories and the downstream category "Transport and Distribution" are to be reduced by 11 percent over the same period.
In this way, Evonik is actively supporting the Paris Climate Agreement. - With our integrated management system, we continuously check the suitability and functionality of our processes with the aim of continuous improvement. Strengths and potentials with regard to the environment, safety, health, quality and energy are thus identified for our company.
- Through worldwide compliance audits, we assess whether internal guidelines and group standards as well as legal or regulatory regulations and their organizational obligations are complied with in the affected processes.
- Our annual management review informs the Executive Board about the strengths and weaknesses of our operating units.
As the responsible department, we regularly consider the impact of our production activities in terms of the environment. With the help of a centrally provided tool, we collect environmental data worldwide and determine key figures. With the help of these key figures, we evaluate our environmental performance and derive measures.
We analyze and evaluate developments and impacts of regulatory requirements in cooperation with national and international associations.
We face both today's issues and the challenges of a fast-changing society in order to continue to position Evonik well in its competitive environment.
Association Activities
The function F-ES coordinates and supports all ESHQ-relevant topics for Evonik in the overarching committee work. Examples include activities in the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA), CEFIC (European Chemical Industry Council) or Econsense (Forum for Sustainable Development of the German Economy) and VCI (Association of Chemical Industries) at national level.
We always strive for showing the specific characteristics from the point of view of the chemical industry in the case of self-commitments and new regulations and to develop solutions with the parties involved.
Beside the global challenges to protect the environment, for us is safety the first priority.
Strategies, objectives and measures on the environment, safety, health, quality and security are centrally controlled by the ESHQ function and developed in close cooperation with the operational areas and specialist functions.
We as ESHQ at Evonik define clear safety objectives: For occupational safety, we have a Group target of 0.26 accidents / 200,000 working hours. The Group target of plant safety in is 0.40 events / 200,000 working hours (according to the newly applied methodology Cefic 2016).
Our central guidelines on plant and occupational safety must be followed at all locations worldwide.
Our actions are based on a comprehensive, integrated management system for the environment, safety, health, quality and energy. This applies to the entire Evonik Group and is based on legal frameworks as well as internal guidelines and group standards.
As the responsible department, we regularly consider the impact of our production activities in terms of safety. With the help of a centrally provided tool, we collect safety relevant events worldwide from this. With the help of these key figures, we evaluate our performance in the area of safety, derive measures and set new goals for the Group every year.
We analyze and evaluate developments and impacts of regulatory requirements in cooperation with national and international associations.
We face both today's issues and the challenges of a fast-changing society in order to continue to position Evonik well in its competitive environment.
It is important to us to protect and promote the health of our employees. Against the background of emographic development, we pursue the goal of performance and well-being of our employees.
Protecting and promoting employees’ health is very important to Evonik. Against the background of demographic change we strive to maintain or even enhance the performance and the well-being of our workforce. Our approach is holistic and integrated.
Health protection is therefore also an important component of our demographic concept and our corporate initiative well@work. With our all-round concept we aim to avoid specific occupational illnesses and work-related health impairments as well as to promote personal health and wellbeing.
All occupational health protection and health promotion measures at Evonik are based on our global health program. This covers the three dimensions: medical emergency management, workplace health protection/occupational health, and workplace health promotion with their main drivers and objectives. It also sets out the framework and quality requirements for health promotions programs.
The mandatory basic requirements for the implementation of the global health program are determined in our Group Functional Policy „Occupational Health Management“. Decisions on the exact implementation are made on site level and take into account local circumstances and needs.
Fulfillment of the requirements is checked regularly by ESHQ-audits, and through an extensive occupational health reporting system. Selected parameters, which we consider especially significant for occupational health management are part of our Occupational Health Performance Index, established in 2012. With this overriding indicator we measure to what extend we fulfill our internal occupational health requirements. The indicator is also supporting the continuous improvement of our performance on this action field.
Medical Emergency Management
In case of accidents or medical emergencies at the workplace we want to ensure fast and adequate first aid in order to prevent serious and lasting consequences.
Occupational Health & Workplace Health Protection
We aim to avoid work-related health impairments respectively to recognize them at an early stage and we want to guard against occupational diseases.
Workplace Health Promotion
Our aim is to support our employees in adopting a healthy lifestyle and to prevent avoidable illnesses.
One of the most important requirements for the chemical industry is that measures are taken to ensure that all substances are safely manufactured, handled and used by complying with applicable laws.
Product Stewardship at Evonik ensures that our products are correctly registered and classified in accordance with the applicable chemical regulations and enables the safe use of our products by the customer. This contributes to the market success of our products.
Our actions are based on a comprehensive, integrated management system for the environment, safety, health, quality and energy. This applies to the entire Evonik Group and is based on legal frameworks as well as internal guidelines and group standards.
As a responsible department, we regularly consider the impact of our production activities in terms of product safety and regulation. With the help of a centrally provided tool, we collect worldwide relevant information about our products and derive fields of action from them.
We analyse and evaluate the developments and effects of all relevant chemical law and application law requirements on a global level in cooperation with national and international associations.
We are addressing both today's issues and the looming challenges of a rapidly changing society in order to continue to position Evonik well in the competitive environment.
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The Group-wide management of the protection of employees, sites, plants, and transports as well as particularly protected information is the core task of Group Security.
It is our duty to protect important corporate values and assets from deliberate attacks. Particularly in consideration of the increasingly tightening markets and the globalization of business, security and know-how protection issues are essential for our investment decisions.
It is important to us that Evonik employees and those that possess critical know-how feel comfortable in a secure work environment.
As the responsible specialist unit, Group Security advises and supports all divisions and regions on security-related topics in order to achieve the ambitious security goals and to ensure and sustain the competitive edge of Evonik in the long term.
The focus of the security work is on the following:
- Personnel Security
- Site/Transport Security
- Know-how Protection
- Project/Third Party Security