Financial Statements - Solvay

Investors: responding
to growing interest in
sustainability issue
Presenting the Sustainable
Development Strategy to
Investors
The Group wants to be better
recognized as a reference
investment in terms of sustainability.
Its Sustainable Development policy
and the implementation of its
attendant strategy were presented
to institutional investors in 2008.
Society at large:
better exercise of our
social responsibility
Selected Corporate Responsibility
Initiatives
Donations following the 2004
tsunami are continuing.
EUR 80 000 allowed an eight-bed
care centre to be set up in the city
of Galle (Sri Lanka), which was
struck by the disaster.
To help victims of the Sichuan
(China) earthquake, Solvay’s
Chinese staff and employees
from different Group entities
organized a collection, to which
Solvay contributed to bring it to
EUR 230 000.
Solvay Pharmaceuticals is
supporting organizations working
in training, research and patient
assistance related to disorders
for which it produces medicines:
cystic fi brosis (CREON ® ), infl uenza
(INFLUVAC ® ) and Parkinson’s
(DUODOPA ® ).
Customers:
taking account of the life
cycles of our products
The European REACH regulation
for chemical substances
Pre-registration with the European
Chemicals Agency (ECHA) of our
products affected by this regulation
was completed on time.
In all 666 dossiers representing
400 substances were fi led. These
will now be registered during the set
transition periods: by 2010, 2013
or 2018.
Personnel: respect for our
employees and developing
their competencies
A commitment to Sustainable
Development shared by
employees and management
The Sustainable Development
thrust initiated jointly by senior
Group management and the
Group’s European Works Council
in 2005 crossed a new threshold
with the seminar held in Bruges
(Belgium) in October 2008. This
set seven joint action paths for the
coming years.
Launch of the Medexis project
In the longer term this will
assemble, in a single IT system,
both industrial health data
(exposure to physical and chemical
agents) and health data from
medical monitoring of employees.
Safety: ZERO accident target
Deployment continues of the
behavioural safety program. New
plants have signed up for this
approach, including recently Tavaux
(France), Martorell (Spain), Santo
André (Brazil) and Povoa (Portugal).
Accident frequency statistics for
recent years are given in the table
below. In 2008 we regrettably
recorded three accidental deaths
of subcontractor personnel at our
sites, in Thailand, Bulgaria and Italy.
The Group objective here remains
ZERO accident.
Site neighbours
Youth Employment Program
Training courses and initiatives were
held in Spain and Bulgaria as part of
our “Youth Employment” program.
This aims at equipping young
people to enter the world of work, in
particular when our sites are located
in areas where entry is particularly
diffi cult.
High environmental
performance
Given the evolution of the Group’s
activities (+37% sales over the past
10 years), the changes in the global
air emissions index (-48%) and the
global water emissions index (-32%)
correspond to reductions per
unit produced of -64% and -62%
respectively.
Protection of soils and the
environment
Under an agreement concluded
this year, the Port of Venice region
(Italy) will, along with the canals
of the Walloon Region (Belgium),
be one of the fi rst sites to benefi t
from our NOVOSOL ® process for
stabilizing contaminated sediments.
By opening the way to treating
dredging sludge, the process is
facilitating the rehabilitation of
waterways.
Accident frequency rate *
All Contractor Solvay
personnel personnel personnel
2004 3.4 6.5 2.3
2005 3.2 4.4 2.7
2006 2.7 4.7 2.1
2007 2.4 3.2 2.1
2008 2.4 3.2 2.0
* Number of accidents leading to a work stoppage of over 24 hours, by million hours worked, except joint ventures.
Sustainable Development
55
Solvay Global Annual Report 2008
Sustainable Development