Our approach to Safety, Security, Health & Environment (SHE)

Safety, security, health and environmental (SHE) protection are important and enduring issues in a changing world. At Roche, protecting people and the environment isn’t just a legal or social obligation, it’s integral to our operations. For that reason, we approach SHE with the same sense of responsibility – and just as methodically – as we do issues concerning product quality, productivity and cost-efficiency.

Prevention is the key element in all our activities. Our corporate policies and guidelines outline our commitments for ensuring the safety of people and protecting the environment. We maintain these standards by adhering to laws and regulations, by cooperating with authorities and by communicating openly and frankly about our activities. By way of example, at Roche we recognize a safe workplace as a human right. We are committed to prevent and mitigate identified risks. Every affiliate performs a workplace health risk assessment and has a mitigation plan, including appropriate measures in place.

We closely follow international developments in various areas of SHE, taking the necessary measures to comply with upcoming laws and regulations wherever we operate.

Additionally, we compare our performance against standards set by organisations such as the International Chamber of Commerce’s Business Charter for Sustainable Development, International Organisation for Standardisation and the chemical industry’s Responsible Care® Programme.

The Corporate Executive Committee defines our corporate policy on SHE matters. Based on this policy the Corporate SHE organisation establishes internal guidelines and directives to continuously reduce the impacts of our operations and applies corresponding measures in all our activities.

The Roche Group Safety, Security, Health and Environmental Protection department develops proposals regarding SHE policy for the Corporate Executive Committee. The SHE department then monitors implementation of policy, recommending changes as needed (see below: SHE Policies, guidelines and position papers).

Local responsibility for all SHE matters rests with the site managers or general managers of Roche affiliates. Wherever we operate, we maintain a network of SHE teams. SHE Officers act as advisors to Roche business unit managers, ensuring that we meet local regulations and adhere to corporate standards.

Using the Roche intranet, our employees exchange information on best practices and new ideas on SHE topics.

The Roche Risk Management Policy sets out our approach for managing material risks. At least annually, every business unit and global function must conduct a risk assessment and develop processes for identifying and managing material risks. We match the stakeholder issues with our internal strategic priorities and risks framework to produce our materiality matrix.