Environmental Performance
MANAGEMENT OVERVIEW
A healthy planet and a healthy community go hand in hand. That’s why Johnson & Johnson sets high standards for our operating companies in the area of environmental responsibility. We take seriously our responsibility to preserve our planet’s beauty and resources for future generations. Guided by Our Credo, directed by our Worldwide Environment Health and Safety Policy and Climate Friendly Energy Policy, and driven by our long-term Healthy Planet goals, we are committed to reducing our impacts across all aspects of our operations.
Goal Setting
We’ve been setting long-term environmental goals since 1990. Our Healthy Planet 2010 goals address transparency, energy use and carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction, water use, paper and packaging, waste reduction, product stewardship, environmental literacy, biodiversity, compliance and external manufacturing.
Our Worldwide Environment, Health and Safety (WWEHS) organization tracks these goals and reports performance to the Executive Committee and the Public Policy Advisory Committee of our Board of Directors. Performance against these goals is addressed in this section and can also be found on our website.
We engaged with stakeholders during 2009 to inform development of our Healthy Future 2015 goals, which go into effect in January 2011.
Organizational Responsibility
Decentralization is balanced with enterprise-wide accountability in managing environmental issues and making progress against environmental goals. WWEHS, headed by the Vice President, Worldwide Environment, Health and Safety, manages enterprise-wide aspects, partnering with franchise and operating company environmental professionals, who are responsible for environmental management at their franchises, operating companies and facilities. Central to the coordination of these efforts is the EHS Leadership Council, composed of franchise and operating company environmental leaders.
WWEHS sponsors several integrated internal teams for marketing, packaging, product stewardship, emerging issues, industrial hygiene, occupational safety and other key topics, enabling a holistic approach to these issues across business units. A Vice President for Sustainability in our Consumer group, appointed in 2009, has begun building teams that will guide sustainability efforts for that business segment, and the Pharmaceutical group has created a sustainability council to guide their efforts.
Monitoring and Follow-Up
During 2009, we strengthened some of our WWEHS auditing standards, including those related to contractor management and warehouse use. Of our manufacturing and R&D sites, 102 (99 percent) are certified to the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System.
Our auditing process, known as MAARS (the Management Awareness and Action Review System), is a global system for identifying and mitigating EHS risks that enables the Company to proactively address issues and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and Johnson & Johnson EHS standards. The process includes self-assessment, independent assessment, action planning, corrective action tracking and training. Each site conducts annual regulatory compliance self-audits, and these are supplemented by an independent compliance and management systems audit every three years.
We maintain an event notification process to alert management to EHS non-compliances and accidental environmental releases within 72 hours of occurrence.