Bristol-Myers Squibb -- A culture for EHS leadership

Bristol-Myers Squibb is positioning itself to meet the challenges of an increasingly competitive business environment through three strategic goals:

* dynamic operating culture

* productivity

* growth

Our company's three strategic goals are connected to our commitment to responsible environmental, health, and safety (EHS) management. By working across business functions and divisions to resolve EHS challenges and share solutions, we are creating a dynamic operating culture. By minimizing waste and employee accidents, we are reducing total costs and increasing productivity. And by building environmental excellence into our products and company performance, we are supporting sales growth. EHS goals are now integrated into our business.

The 1995 Bristol-Myers Squibb "Report on Environmental Progress" included this statement from Charles Heimbold, president and chief executive officer:

"At Bristol-Myers Squibb, we strive to be responsible stewards of the environment by conducting our business in a manner that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs--this is the essence of sustainable development. We firmly believe that sustainable development and sustainable competitive advantage are inextricably linked."

These comments reaffirmed an already long-standing Bristol-Myers Squibb commitment.

EHS 2000

In 1991 Bristol-Myers Squibb announced the company-wide "EHS 2000" program, designed to provide a new strategic direction for worldwide operations and to make Bristol-Myers Squibb an industry leader in EHS management. The program shifted the focus of EHS management from reactive to proactive.

We designed EHS 2000 to:

* protect the quality of life for our employees and the public

* minimize demands on natural resources and the environment

* eliminate accidents and regulatory noncompliance

* measure our performance

* communicate openly with stakeholders

* create competitive products for an increasingly environmentally-aware marketplace

During 1994, we re-evaluated EHS 2000 to more fully integrate it with the company's strategic goals of a dynamic operating culture, productivity, and growth. One outcome was the development of a new, integrated EHS policy that challenges each functional business area to have systems in place to ensure responsible resource selection, use, and exposure management.

We then identified opportunities to improve some of our key management tools to support the new policy in the coming years. They include:

* best practices and information transfer

* cost accounting

* training

* measurement and reporting

* audits

* business growth

* customer focus

We estimated a financial payback period of less than two years for each initiative--a clear demonstration that proactive environmental management supports business objectives.

Product life-cycle improvements

The cornerstone of EHS UX is to assess EHS impacts before we begin an activity. An important tool for this is our product lifecycle (PLC) initiative. We are committed to completing product life-cycle reviews of all product lines by 1998. Our strategy for achieving this goal is to improve the EHS performance of our products throughout their life cycles (i.e., R&D, manufacturing, packaging, marketing, sales, distribution, consumer use, and ultimate disposition of the product and its packaging).

Product life-cycle improvement opportunities result from an exchange of information and ideas among the several business functions that comprise a product's life cycle. A formal system has been developed to provide consistency among reviews. The program includes the active participation of corporate staff EHS personnel.

By implementing improvement opportunities identified during a PLC review, Bristol-Myers Squibb can reduce both EHS impacts and business costs. Reviews completed to date have achieved average savings of $200,000, at a cost of about $25,000 each. Opportunities identified have resulted in process improvements, packaging reductions and eliminations, reduced energy usage, and elimination of hazardous product ingredients. Additional benefits include reduced recycle time, improved product and process quality, enhanced communication across business functions, and increased awareness of EHS issues by Bristol-Myers Squibb employees.

In order to fully realize productivity and cost-savings opportunities identified through PLC reviews, and also to maximize the efforts of division and facility personnel, Bristol-Myers Squibb has developed a system for transferring technology and best practices throughout the company. Our database for transferring best practices is a formal, integrated system that is accessible to all of our facilities worldwide, in hard copy or on computer. The easily searchable database contains information on benefits, implementation costs, time to implement, annual savings, and cross-functional areas involved in the best practice.

Important to measure performance

It is important to understand and measure the effectiveness of our EHS programs; thus, a system for measuring our performance has been developed. We utilize a three-component system:

* corporate-evaluation program

* management-systems performance

* quantitative data gathering.

Our Corporate Technical Evaluation and Services Department audits all research-and-development, manufacturing, and distribution facilities worldwide for compliance with government regulations and company requirements relating to environmental, health, safety, and good manufacturing practices. The average time between evaluations is 18 to 30 months, based on the environmental risks associated with the site.

Management systems are what transforms EHS goals and objectives into reality. These evolve over time in response to new knowledge and changing stakeholder interest and expectations. Bristol-Myers Squibb supports the International Chamber of Commerce Business Charter for Sustainable Development and the 16 principles it contains. The Bristol-Myers Squibb Codes of Practice have been created based upon the 16 principles. Our management-systems performance-measurement program evaluates progress against each of those 16 Codes of Practice, focusing on our management practices, programs, and policies.

We believe that quantitative data representing environmental performance is a key element of our program evaluation. We continue to improve a data-collection system which is now three years old. Each year, the quality of the data generated is improved, and the program is focused on metrics, which are indicators of, and can be used to improve, overall EHS performance.

The quantitative and management-systems data collected also provides information which is used to publish biennial "Reports on Environmental Progress. "These reports provide our stakeholders (employees, shareholders, neighbors, customers, and the public) with information about the environmental, health, and safety challenges we face, our goals and programs to meet these challenges, and our performance in managing them.

All corporate manuals related to EHS policies and requirements have been consolidated into an on-line Technical Guidance Document. The guidance document is also aligned with the 16 Codes of Practice. Businesses utilize the results of the management-systems-performance measurement to develop goals. The Technical Guidance Document contains the action items necessary to achieve the desired goals.

Growth through acquisition, divestiture

The company's goal related to growth will be realized partially by restructuring through acquisition and divestiture. We realize that there are many EHS issues which can have significant impact during acquisition and divestiture. A manual has been developed that creates a process for conducting thorough EHS assessments prior to the sale, lease, decommissioning, or purchase of real property. The manual identifies EHS issues that may arise as a result of a property transaction, as well as measures for managing those issues.

The need to understand the EHS issues related to acquisitions led to development of the "Growth Through Acquisitions Toolkit," a user-friendly guide which helps EHS professionals and others within the company to uncover potential, big-ticket liabilities. Like a concise road map, the tool kit walks EHS, manufacturing, and quality specialists through the acquisition-assessment process. The tool kit provides a systematic approach to the due-diligence process and helps to enhance the company's growth by mitigating the risks and liabilities that are often associated with acquisitions.

Integrating EHS leadership objectives throughout our company presents a tremendous opportunity to stay competitive and innovative through the year 2000 and beyond. Yet the process of transforming any company into an industry leader is complex. We have been disappointed by isolated compliance issues. At the same time, we are pleased and motivated by the success of the EHS initiatives undertaken by our businesses. Although we have not achieved all of our objectives, we are making progress.

Copyright Central New York Business Journal Sep 16, 1996
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