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Strategy

GlaxoSmithKline's EHS strategy of continuous improvement supports corporate responsibility and encourages a sustainable business culture.  It is based on the principles of the GlaxoSmithKline Spirit:

• Passion: GlaxoSmithKline works to protect people and the environment in a company dedicated to improving the quality of human life.
• Sense of Urgency: The absence of EHS programmes could endanger the lives and health of GlaxoSmithKline employees and the quality of the environment.
• Entrepreneurial: We look for new ways of working throughout the organisation – from research and development to manufacturing and sales – in order to improve our efficiency.
• Innovation: We want to be a leader in the way we manage our EHS responsibilities by adopting new approaches to chemistry, manufacturing processes, waste treatment, safe working, transparent reporting and everything we do.
• Integrity: GlaxoSmithKline includes responsibility for good environment, health and safety management in our definition of integrity. It is fundamentally the right thing to do.

The EHS strategy also aligns with GlaxoSmithKline’s five business drivers

Be the best place for the best people to do their best work
The single greatest source of competitive advantage is GlaxoSmithKline's people. It is vital that we protect the health and safety of employees, contractors, visitors and others affected by our operations. We will design our facilities and processes, conduct assessments and provide training in order to eliminate work-related risks to safety and health. We will focus on employee health enhancement, mental well-being, causes of absence and methods of rehabilitation in order to have a productive and resilient work force.

Build the best product pipeline in the Indutry
Our new products are carefully designed to help millions of people around the world live longer, healthier and happier lives.  To treat disease, the products must have biological activity and as a result have potential EHS risks and impacts throughout their life-cycle i.e. from raw material acquisition to research and development and manufacturing through to patient use and disposal. We will apply the principles of product stewardship throughout our organisation to deliver positive EHS benefits and minimise risks to our business, people and the environment. Product stewardship encompasses the assessment of the health, safety (excluding patient safety, which is assessed separately), and environmental risks created during all stages of the product's life-cycle and in particular at the key decision stages in research and development.  We will also apply product stewardship principles to our contract manufacturers and key suppliers.

Environment, health and safety play an important role in commercialising products. By integrating environment, health and safety planning into decision-making on manufacturing processes, packaging design and product labelling, we help differentiate our products and protect and extend product life-cycles.  By embracing health and safety principles, we can minimise motor vehicle accidents and so enhance the productivity of our sales organisation.  By considering environmental principles, we can minimise the energy consumption of the sales operations and therefore their impact on the environment.

Achieve commercial and operational excellence
GlaxoSmithKline’s operations must achieve legal compliance with EHS regulations.  In the spirit of operational excellence they must also continuously improve performance particularly in the areas of accident and occupational illness prevention, waste minimisation and emissions reductions.  We seek to integrate EHS aspects into business processes, such as capital planning, decision-making, purchasing, training and communications.

As a global competitor, GlaxoSmithKline seeks to apply best business processes globally and to foster a culture of continuous improvement. As a global corporate citizen, we will demonstrate our commitment to corporate responsibility by implementing global standards, guidelines, targets and management systems and by auditing our programmes and reporting publicly and openly on performance.  We will seek dialogue with external stakeholders and consider their views when developing our approaches to EHS management.

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