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Stakeholder engagement

We have frequently engaged through ad hoc meetings with a range of external stakeholders to help us understand their perspectives and identify emerging issues. In 2005 we stepped up our internal and external engagement on EHS issues. (See engagement with stakeholders for details of engagement on other corporate responsibility issues.)

External engagement
We established a standing panel of external stakeholders to provide ongoing advice and comment on our EHS performance. The panel is facilitated by The Environment Council, an independent charity which brings people together to develop long-term solutions to environmental issues. The 10 members include representatives from our customers, suppliers, regulators, environmental organisations and socially responsible investors.

The panel met for the first time in September 2005 to review our draft position papers on pharmaceuticals in the environment, climate change, and policy on the use of chemicals – issues identified as important in previous stakeholder discussions. Members wanted us to show leadership on all three issues, and provide a better explanation of how the papers fit in with our EHS strategy. Their comments were considered in our internal discussions, before we finalised the position papers, which have been approved by the Corporate Executive Team. These position papers are available via the relevant sections of this site.

The Panel also reviewed our proposal for revising the EHS Plan for Excellence. Members expressed a desire to see us at the forefront of EHS and sustainability issues, exerting a positive influence over others in the industry and its supply chain. Their comments (see side panel) will be considered in developing the Plan further.

Internal engagement

We regularly gather staff feedback through employee surveys but in 2005 we used the intranet to conduct our most extensive survey yet about the views of all employees on our EHS plans. This feedback will also be used to revise and develop our Plan for Excellence

Employees told us:

• The EHS strategy must add value to GSK’s business as well as “doing the right thing”
• Employees want GSK to be among the top pharmaceutical companies in EHS and to collaborate with other major players in the industry
• We need to embed EHS into the business, not just with systems but by instilling a culture where all employees contribute to EHS
• GSK should be a champion for transparency in EHS
• We should do more to track and influence new regulations through more involvement in trade associations
• We need to do more to address EHS issues in contract manufacturing
• The Plan for Excellence must be flexible enough to allow for different rates of progress in different parts of the business

Partnerships
We also partner with a number of environmental organisations in specific areas. For example, in 2005 we worked with Forum for the Future to evaluate the role of a pharmaceutical company in a sustainable society. We also worked with the environmental organisation Earthwatch Institute (Europe) to look at ways to address biodiversity more effectively in our audit programmes, and we sponsored the policy group Green Alliance to conduct a study on how to achieve better environmental regulation.

We are conscious that our stakeholder engagement activities are heavily focused on the UK. We have begun to explore ways to extend them to Europe, the US and beyond over the next few years.

Many of our sites also engage with stakeholders locally, for example, through open days, newsletters and community projects.

Regulation
GSK is keen to see proper measures in place to protect the environment and safeguard the development and launch of new medicines. In 2005 we engaged with regulatory agencies in Europe and the USA on the issues of pharmaceuticals in the environment (PiE) and the environmental risk assessment of pharmaceuticals.

• In the US, we engaged with the newly established intergovernmental task force on PiE through the trade association PhRMA;
• We are an active member of the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industries’ working group on PiE which has been liaising with the UK Environment Agency;
• In Sweden we participated in an initiative organised by the trade association LIF to develop a voluntary scheme to classify pharmaceuticals by their environmental effects. The scheme has now been published and an initial set of pharmaceuticals have been evaluated.
• Through the European trade association EFPIA, we contributed to the development of guidelines for the environmental risk assessment of pharmaceuticals by the European Medicines Evaluation Agency (EMEA). The guidelines are expected to be finalised in 2006.

We welcome the introduction of formal requirements for the conduct of environmental risk assessment established in the EU’s New Medicines Legislation. GSK has lobbied for the environmental impacts of pharmaceuticals to be regulated solely through the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medical Products, and not also through the proposed framework for the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH). We believe this would lead to duplication of efforts and place an unnecessary burden on the pharmaceutical industry.

For more details on Public Policy see

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