WACKER controls its operational processes with the help of an integrated management system (IMS). In 2009, all our management systems will be certified to ISO 9001 (quality) and ISO 14001 (environmental protection). As a result, WACKER will be able to show a uniform standard of quality and environmental protection on a groupwide level. In addition, we intend to have all sites’ workplace and plant safety certified to the globally-accepted OHSAS system in the next few years.
As early as 2007, WACKER started its Power Plus energy-conservation project at Burghausen and Nünchritz, its two sites with the highest energy consumption. The goal is to reduce specific energy usage 10% by the end of 2009. Subsequently, WACKER intends to continue promoting this project in the future.
WACKER completed REACH-related preregistration of chemical substances on schedule in 2008. The submission of registration dossiers will occupy us for the next ten years, right up to the extended deadline.
In 2009, moreover, we expect publication of the European Regulation on Classification, Labeling and Packaging of Substances and Mixtures (CLP, as part of the UN’s GHS program). For us, this system switchover means that all hazardous substances must be checked, reclassified and labeled. Within just a few years, we must reclassify several thousand substances and products, change all material safety data sheets and redesign hazardous substance labels due to new hazard symbols and information obligations. The switchover to GHS will cost WACKER some €3 million.
A “New Prospects for Workplace Safety” initiative launched in 2007 is set for groupwide implementation, beginning at German sites. It will soon start at our WACKER Greater China subsidiary. By 2011, the Group’s accident rate (per 1 million hours worked) is to be cut significantly compared to 2007.