Reaching Ever Higher
Dow’s EH&S Goals Deliver Results
In 1996, Dow set out to achieve ambitious 2005 Environment, Health & Safety (EH&S) Goals. These goals ranged from reducing leaks and emissions to increasing our safety performance. When Dow publicly announced the goals, there was skepticism in the industry, and even inside our company, that we could achieve them.But Dow employees and contractors seized the goals and made them their own. In fact, we made our progress transparent to the world, tracking results online each quarter and annually in Dow’s Public Report, and now the Corporate Report.
Overall, we surpassed three goals, achieved at least 60 percent of target for six goals, and fell short of achieving 50 percent of target on two goals. We will continue to strive to make improvements in all areas. Final results for our Resource Productivity goals (chemical emissions, waste and waste water) will not be available until April 2006.
2005 EH&S Goals Make Tremendous Impact
Thanks to the hard work and dedication of Dow employees and contractors, we have made outstanding progress on our 2005 EH&S Goals. The improvements we implemented over the past decade translate to:
- Nearly 13,000 Dow employees and contractors not suffering an injury or illness
- More than 10,500 leaks, breaks and spills not occurring
- 150 motor vehicle accidents, with potential to cause injury or fatality, not occurring
- 1,100 Process Safety Code measurement system incidents not occurring
We also:
- Saved $5 billion on an investment of $1 billion in technology and processes to increase resource productivity
- Reduced solid waste by 1.6 billion pounds – enough to fill 415 athletic fields one meter deep
- Reduced waste water by 183 billion pounds – equal to water usage for 170,000 U.S. homes for one year
- Saved 900 million BTUs of energy – enough to power 8 million U.S. homes for one year
A New Chapter Begins
Publishing the final results of the 2005 EH&S Goals will close one chapter and start a new one in Dow’s journey to be a leader in corporate sustainability. Over the next 10 years, we will focus on new sustainability goals, which we will launch later this year. We will continue to build on the improvements we implemented for the 2005 EH&S Goals and attain new achievements in those areas. We will also learn from areas in which our progress didn’t meet our expectations.
As with the 2005 EH&S Goals, we will set specific targets and report our progress each year. Every Dow employee and contractor will play a role in writing this story. The pride and commitment they demonstrated in working toward the EH&S 2005 Goals will make all the difference in writing a story with concrete results about improving the quality of life around the world.
