Committed to strong Health, Safety, Environment and Security Management

The AkzoNobel goal is to increase stakeholder value by delivering sustainable solutions to our customers. This is crucial for the success of our company. To achieve this we require sustainable business operations in order to meet our needs today whilst protecting resources and rights for future generations.

The basic responsibilities regarding HSE&S of our employees and our company as a whole are included in our Code of Conduct. Specific HSE&S responsibilities are further clarified in Our beliefs and Principles, which were issued in 2008.

Also in 2008, we issued a new Policy Statement on Health, Safety, Environment and Security which is fully aligned with our commitment to meeting all of our stakeholders’ expectations in running a profitable and sustainable business, while at the same time meeting  all of our commitments to society and the environment.

To help implement the Policy’s requirements we have a comprehensive HSE&S Management System in place. This consists of:

• Corporate Directives,  which specify general minimum requirements, that must be strictly applied and help implementing the policy.
• Standards included in our Corporate HSE&S Manual, which specify additional professional detail on requirements to be followed to fully comply with the Corporate Directives.
• Guidance Notes, also included in our  Corporate HSE&S Manual, which provide additional and/or explanatory information useful to develop local procedures and systems to effectively implement the Directives and Standards. In general Guidance Notes are based on best practices within the company: they are recommended but not mandatory.
• Operational management systems at our sites. These systems are integrated on quality, and HSE&S. They are risk-based and follow the Responsible Care® and Coatings Care® principles. Management systems have been set up in line with international standards as ISO-9000, ISO-14001, RC-14001 and OHSAS-18001.

All manufacturing sites are requested to assure compliance by providing an annual self assessment regarding their HSE & S Management systems and Performance. At least once in 5 years all manufacturing sites are audited by multidisciplinary teams of HSE specialists under the ownership and responsibility of our auditing department. Larger sites are also subject to external insurance audits. The HSE audit intervals are risk-based and are determined by the inherent hazards present on site and the most recent audit score achieved. An annual critical review takes place of all sites with a high inherent hazard.

Our 2008 performance as well as the performance trend over the last 4 years regarding the HSE&S Key Performance Indicators is reported in the Sustainability Performance section.

In 2008, a focus on improved management of Process Safety was applied:

• Following the Baker report on the Texas Refinery explosion AkzoNobel thoroughly reviewed the process safety management system requirements and carried out specialist process safety audits to verify the asset integrity of ten high hazard sites. No deficiencies that could lead to a major accident were detected.

• Drawing on the learning from these reviews and practice from former ICI we have updated our process safety/asset integrity standard and management practices. A newly-formed global process safety network is developing additional guidance and training materials and leading indicators to monitor implementation and to support continuous improvement.