Product and service quality, safety and cost-efficiency. Comprehensive environmental protection - all are factors in achieving success for chemical and pharmaceutical giant Bayer. DNV is now helping Bayer to continuously improve its HSE-management systems with a new tool – the Bayer Assessment and Improvement Tool, BAIT – which aims to make the company a worldwide leader in Health, Safety and Environmental concern.
Bayer is best known for having invented the Aspirin tablet, which celebrates 100 years of production in 1999. The company today has annual sales of more than US$ 30 billion from approximately 200 sites all over the world.
Like other successful chemical and pharmaceutical companies, Bayer has come a long way in the steady improvement of management systems and their certification.
But there is room for even further improvement, says Dr Viefers, who is based at Bayers Corporate Headquarters in Leverkusen, Germany. We were looking for a partner that had the competence and services to assist us internationally, which we found when DNV presented its Integra audit system. We needed ways to measure and assess our world-wide performance, and wanted a customised tool to assess our HSE Management Systems for effectiveness and compliance with external and internal requirements, as well as a tool to help our sites improve HSE-management. We also wanted DNV to develop an audit procedure to use Integra for simultaneous ISO 14001 certification audits, which resulted in a customised tool called BAIT.
Five pilot assessments
In 1998 and 1999, five pilot assessments were carried out at selected Bayer locations in order to find out how Integra had to be customised and improved to fit with Bayers needs and requirements. The pilots included two in Germany, two in the U.S.A. and one in the Far East. With the development of BAIT, it is intended that from 2000 onwards, most Bayer sites in the world will be offered the opportunity to apply this HSE-manage-ment systems improvement tool.
Also, the pilot assessments identified many common and specific opportunities for improvement, and they stimulated the identification and sharing of Best Practices. Design details and methods for programme customisation were identified as well.
Now, we also have a definition of Bayer-specific HSE-management expectations and a fully integrated system, including a measurement protocol, guidance for improvement and good examples to help us provide sites with practical procedures and methods for improving HSE-management systems, says Viefers. The measurement protocol gives us the possibility to conduct simultaneous ISO 14001 certification audits. Six external programmes (Responsible Care Codes, ISO 14001, OSHA Voluntary Protection Programme, OSHA Process Safety, Seveso II, EPA Risk Management Programme), are synergistically combined in BAIT - plus DNVs International Safety Rating System, ISRS. Another new aspect is that every element of the system is based on an explicit consideration of risk.
A global consensus
The many Bayer companies worldwide operate with a great deal of independence. So it is not up to the corporate management alone to define how HSE work is to be carried out in the future.
We can give directions and suggestions, but its up to the individual unit to accept our proposals, based on consensus, says Dr Viefers.
Several main factors have been key to the success of BAIT:
- Bayer Expectations for HSE management
- Assessment questions integrated throughout 16 management elements
- A management system model that assures continuous improvement
- Guidance for improvement of HSE management
- Good examples of specific HSE-management systems.
Dr Viefers continues, The various production units and sites found they had a lot to learn from each other. We now have in place a common set of HSE values. These are complete, efficient, contribute to continuous improvement, and are risk-oriented. Through internal presentations, we are introducing BAIT to the individual business units and sites. Competence centres will be set up in Europe, the U.S.A. and Asia. We are creating audit teams with DNV providing both consultants and certifiers, ensuring that all rules of accreditation bodies are taken into account.
Responsibility the driving force
DNV was selected as Bayers partner for several reasons. In particular, it has the necessary HSE expertise, the linguistic capabilities and is located in regions similar to the Bayer Group. It was also to DNVs advantage that it has provided services to 25% of the top Fortune 100 companies and assisted 45 companies in protocol development, thus gaining international experience in developing HSE management-system programmes and audits.
Qualified consultants and auditors and a commitment from everyone in Bayer are the keys to success, says Dr Viefers. Programmes like Responsible Care, ISO 14001, Seveso II, etc. provide the driving force, but the production units themselves must see the day- to-day benefits. We have provided them with the best tool possible, so now its up to us to help them best use this tool to produce the expected results.