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Product design

We are working to incorporate environment, health and safety considerations into the design of new products through EHS staff participation in and support for new product teams, and through the use of our Eco-design Toolkit.

In 2005 we continued to integrate the EHS Milestone Aligned Process (MAP) into our product development and supply processes, including the R&D “design for manufacture” initiative. About 500 R&D and manufacturing staff have been trained over the past two years on the EHS Map Process. See business processes for more about EHS MAP.

EHS involvement in the new product teams also provides a unique opportunity to influence supply chain decisions and highlight systemic EHS issues early in the product development process. Involvement in the teams which are responsible for products as they move from R&D to manufacturing also means that residual EHS risks are identified so they are managed appropriately in manufacturing.

Toolkit
Our Ecodesign Toolkit is used by R&D and manufacturing scientists and engineers to highlight potential EHS issues as early in the development process as practicable. The toolkit currently has five modules. Four of these were significantly revised during 2003 to make them easier to use, and they continue to be updated as appropriate. In 2005 we added a guide to hazardous chemicals legislation.

The toolkit is available on the GSK intranet and consists of:

• A Green Chemistry/Technology Guide, which helps GSK scientists and engineers apply Green Chemistry concepts to achieve more efficient use of resources, reduce environment health and safety impacts, minimise costs and reduce EHS impacts
• materials guides, containing information on a range of materials used within GSK operations, including solvents that should be avoided. One guide covers solvent selection while a second deals with chemical base selection
• a Green Packaging Guide - an assessment tool which includes guidance and a business process for evaluating and selecting packaging options for the Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Healthcare businesses.
• FLASC (Fast Lifecycle Assessment for Synthetic Chemistry) - a web-based tool and process launched in 2003 that allows bench chemists to perform a streamlined lifecycle evaluation of the environmental impacts of new or existing processes based on the materials used. FLASC helps scientists and managers to rapidly identify the “greenest” materials option by comparing and benchmarking processes and routes to make GSK products. It identifies the materials that have the most significant lifecycle environmental impacts and provides guidance on how to reduce those impacts
• The Chemicals Legislation Guide (CLG) is the newest product stewardship tool. It identifies chemicals legislation in various parts of the world aimed at phasing out hazardous substances from routine use. The CLG incorporates hazard information, volume and the phase of use to provide risk-based guidance about a variety of chemicals of concern, in a form that is easy for scientists to use.

Each module was designed to ensure that all EHS impacts of materials, processes and services are considered, from the manufacture of the raw materials through to the ultimate fate of products and wastes in the environment. During 2005 we have been working with key R&D groups to make the Eco-design Toolkit more compelling and useful to our R&D and manufacturing scientists and engineers.

See more on our approach to product design.

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