Merck has committed itself to the Responsible Care® principles of the chemical industry and to the Responsible Care Global Charter. The aim of the Responsible Care Global Charter adopted by the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) in 2006 and the resulting principles of the German Responsible Care program is to continually improve environmental protection, health and safety performance. Responsible Care® focuses on voluntary cooperation with government bodies and other stakeholders that goes far beyond complying with statutory regulations.
The foundation of all Merck’s Responsible Care® activities is formed by internal guidelines such as the "Corporate EHS Policy" and the "Merck Group EHS, Security and Quality Manual". The company’s focus in implementing the "Responsible Care Global Charter" is currently on the topics of product safety, environmental protection and occupational safety, in particular.
As regards our broad-based company environmental protection measures, we currently emphasize climate protection. Within this framework, we have set ourselves the goal of reducing
greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020. Other core topics are
water and wastewater,
material consumption and recycling as well as
biodiversity.
Process safety has traditionally had high priority at Merck – both in economic and ecological terms as well as to protect our employees. It comprises the planning, construction, proper operation, change and shutdown of production facilities and warehouses.
Integrative
occupational safety comprises preventing workplace accidents, workplace-related illnesses and workplace-related health hazards. Our goal, redefined in 2010, is to reduce the Lost Time Injury Rate (LTIR – the number of workplace accidents resulting in lost time per one million working hours) to 2.5 by 2015.
Corporate Security is an integral element of our daily work. Corporate Security serves to protect intellectual and material assets as well as Merck’s reputation in respect of external threats. The Merck Corporate Security Policy defines the responsibilities and objectives of Corporate Security for the company. Corporate Security audits the Merck companies regularly in order to identify optimization potential.
