The Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) organization is responsible for managing and coordinating efforts related to a wide range of issues at Baxter, from helping to ensure employees have a safe, healthy and productive workplace to reducing the company’s impact on the environment.

In 2008, Baxter’s EHS organization delivered strong results. The company’s water-conservation and greenhouse-gas reduction efforts each exceeded 2010 performance goals of 20 percent reductions, indexed to revenue. In safety, Baxter achieved strong improvement in its cases with days lost rate with a 24 percent decrease compared to 2007. To enhance the health of its employees, 77 percent of Baxter facilities became smoke-free during the year and the company began to promote the use of an online personal wellness assessment tool.

The EHS organization achieves these accomplishments through teamwork with others throughout the company and also benefits from feedback and insights gained through engagement with external stakeholders. Heightened collaboration both internally and externally was the EHS organization’s greatest accomplishment in 2008.

Internal Partnerships

The EHS organization works with a wide range of groups throughout the company – from Facility Management and Human Resources to Information Technology and Research and Development – to enhance Baxter’s environmental, health and safety performance. These partnerships will help Baxter meet the company’s 2015 sustainability goals and overcome challenges Baxter faces in certain areas, such as waste reduction. See Internal EHS Partnerships: Collaborating to Advance Sustainability.

Engaging External Stakeholders

Baxter’s EHS organization engages external stakeholders to better understand their expectations, solicit feedback on the company’s performance and gain valuable insight on key trends. In 2008, Baxter’s EHS organization conducted a full-day stakeholder feedback session, moderated by representatives from Ceres, with 14 external stakeholders at the company’s corporate headquarters in Deerfield, Illinois, United States. During the meeting, Baxter EHS personnel provided a brief overview of the major elements of the company’s EHS program; described major initiatives; and discussed emerging trends and challenges affecting each area. The individuals on the panel represented the following groups:

The stakeholders then provided feedback on each element of Baxter’s program for consideration by EHS management. Stakeholders suggested that EHS incorporate additional proactive measures, such as benchmarking best practices in the industry, expanding the number of product life cycle assessments and introducing additional leading performance indicators. Participants also recommended that Baxter consider the implications of longer-term global trends such as emerging health and safety metrics and national GHG reduction goals, and how these trends may affect the company in the future. The stakeholders challenged Baxter to continue to increase transparency, to further enhance management engagement and support, and to increase the company's internal capacity to address current and emerging issues.

Since the session, the EHS organization has reflected on the feedback provided and considered the comments during EHS strategic planning exercises completed in 2009. The EHS organization also will take this feedback into account for strategic planning for 2010, the setting of next-generation EHS-related goals, and further evolution and integration of EHS programs into Baxter’s broader sustainability efforts. This stakeholder input also will contribute to institutional knowledge and enhance understanding of emerging issues and opportunities in areas beyond EHS.

Scope of Baxter EHS Reporting

  • Baxter's 2008 environmental performance data are based on 113 reporting locations, of which 56 are manufacturing, 27 are warehouse and nonmanufacturing, and 30 are administrative, clerical or other. Several of the reporting units comprise multiple locations that report as a single entity. For example, in 2008, 37 renal distribution facilities reported as a single entity. Similarly, Baxter's 63 North American plasma collection centers reported as a single entity in 2008.
  • Baxter’s 2008 health and safety performance data are based on 274 reporting units.1
  • Regional breakdowns for EHS data are as follows: the Asia-Pacific region comprises Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand; the Latin America region comprises Central America, Mexico and South America; the Europe region comprises facilities in Europe, Tunisia and Turkey; and the North America region comprises Canada, Puerto Rico and the United States.
  • The EHS information reported covers 100 percent of Baxter's operations. Reporting of air toxics includes emissions of outsourced product sterilization operations used by Baxter.
  • EHS data are revised to reflect acquisitions, divestitures and plant closings as well as to incorporate any corrections necessary due to additional data verification activities (such as U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Climate Leaders, Chicago Climate Exchange and EHS audits).

See Baxter’s Good Environmental, Health and Safety Reporting Principles.

1 The scope of Baxter’s health and safety data is different than the scope of Baxter’s environmental data because Baxter’s occupational injury and illness accounting includes smaller facilities that are not material to Baxter’s overall environmental performance.