In this section
			Business Case 2005 Goals Update   Responsibility and Accountability   Prevent Environment, Health & Safety Incidents   Increase Resource Productivity Global Challenges Government Reportables Recognition

Our objectives…

• To value – above all things – the safety of our people and our communities
• To continuously improve our performance in protecting the environment, health, and safety of our workforce, neighbors, and the public
• To work with our distributors, customers, and suppliers to improve the way we handle, transport, and use our products

Dow’s Vision for EH&S performance is zero:

• no injuries and illnesses
• no accidents
• no environmental harm

While this may not be very realistic from a mathematical perspective, it’s the only option in terms of employee health and safety. Without our "Vision of Zero," it means we will tolerate injuries and illness among our workforce and environmental impact. We won’t, and we’ll continue our aggressive goals.

Because of that aggressiveness, last year we had the best safety performance ever in the history of our Company. Our annual combined Dow employee and contractor injury and illness recordable rate was an all time low of 0.58. That's a 19 percent improvement over the prior year and a 77 percent improvement from our 1994 baseline performance. We're improving results through behavior-based programs, including peer observation, intervention programs, pre-task hazard analysis, and root-cause investigations. We've also been successful at reducing the severity of the few injuries that did occur last year. All categories of incident classification set record lows and last year there were no fatalities.

Last year, Dow signed an alliance with the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA). Dow was the first company in the chemical industry and first Fortune 100 company to forge an alliance with OSHA. The alliance focuses on Dow's technical knowledge and guidance on Process Safety Management and Ergonomics. OSHA uses alliances to collaborate with organizations committed to safety to communicate ‘best practice’ knowledge to workplaces throughout the U.S. to prevent injuries and illnesses.

One measure of a company’s commitment to improving EH&S performance is the amount of capital expenditures for EH&S projects relative to total capital expenditures. Even with Dow's commitment to reduce capital spending in 2003 by $500 million, the percentage of spending on EH&S projects actually increased last year.

Goals to Reduce EH&S Incidents
Our objective is to significantly improve Dow's performance (from a 1994 base) by reducing:

• Injuries and illnesses per 200,000 workhours by 90 percent
• Loss of primary containment incidents (leaks, breaks, and spills) by 90 percent
• Transportation incidents per 10,000 shipments by 90 percent
• Process safety incidents (fires, explosions, and significant chemical releases) by 90 percent
• Motor vehicle incidents per one million miles by 50 percent
• Repeat incidents with Dow product at customer facilities by 50 percent (in this case, from 2001 levels)

Injury and Illness Rate, Dow Employees and Contractors – Goal: 90% Reduction

In 2003, we realized a 19 percent improvement in our safety performance – including both Dow employees and contractors. We ended the year with our best-ever performance of a 0.58 recordable injury & illness rate, representing a 77 percent improvement since 1994. And over 70 percent of our facilities had no incidents at all. But it’s not about numbers: it's about people. In January 2004, we achieved a significant milestone – 10,000 people were NOT hurt as a result of our performance improvement since 1994. In other words, had we remained at our 1994 performance levels, that many more people would have been hurt.

Leaks, Breaks and Spills – Goal: 90% Reduction

Continuing our focus on effective implementation of our LOPC (loss of primary containment) Reduction Initiative, we achieved a 23 percent reduction in leaks, breaks and spills in 2003, our largest annual improvement ever. This measure includes loss of containment of materials, whether lost to the environment or captured in engineered containment systems. The goal focuses us on operational excellence – keeping materials where they are intended to be.

Transportation Incidents – Goal: 90% Reduction

As part of this goal, we measure any incident during transportation of our products, whether or not any material was released. We continue to be challenged in making significant improvement. Our key focus is working with our contractor firms to promote best practices associated with behavior-based safety performance. We also measure incidents involving the loss of hazardous material during transportation. We have achieved significant improvement – 90 percent since 1994. We had four incidents in 2003.

Process Safety Incidents – Goal: 90% Reduction

This goal tracks: Fires Explosions  Chemical releases involving chemical processing equipment if they have resulted in a release above a defined threshold, a serious injury or fatality, or damages greater than $25,000. In 2003, we realized a 14 percent reduction in such incidents as compared to 2002, and since 1994, we have had a 65 percent reduction in these types of events.

Motor Vehicle Incident Rate – Goal: 50% Reduction

The motor vehicle measure is the number of vehicle accidents per million miles driven. These will range from minor fender benders that exceed a threshold dollar damage limit, to more serious accidents involving injuries. In 2003, we achieved our best ever performance in motor vehicle accidents, with a rate of 3.1. We are focusing on target groups such as Sales & Marketing, the use of Six Sigma methodology, and leveraging best practices to move us closer to achieving the 2005 goal.

Repeat Incidents at Customer Facilities – Goal: 50% Reduction

This measure is the number of repeat incidents at our customer facilities per 10,000 shipments. The objective is to learn from the mistakes and assure actions are identified and implemented so that a repeat incident is prevented. The baseline and 2005 target were established in 2001, with the goal being a 50 percent reduction by the end of 2005. Since 2001, we have improved performance by 40 percent, well on our way to achieving the 2005 goal.

Fatalities – Dow Employees and Contractors

We had no employee or contractor fatalities in 2003. We continue to focus on safety, reporting and addressing the minor incidents to help assure we avoid the serious ones. In 2003, greater than 80 percent of employees’ visits to Dow medical were either first aid or precautionary visits. Our goal is for every worker at Dow to go home safely every day.

EH&S Capital Spending – Percentage of Total Capital Spending

Another measure of a company's EH&S performance is examining the amount of capital expenditures for EH&S projects relative to total capital expenditures. Even with Dow’s commitment to reduce capital spending in 2003 by $500 million, the percentage of spending on EH&S projects actually increased last year. And, though our action plan called for us to reduce costs, we will not compromise the reliability, safety, and security of our plants or the people who work there. Capital projects last year focused on air, water, safety, loss prevention and security enhancements.

Useful information on EH&S-related issues can be obtained from:
International Council of Chemical Associations
World Business Council for Sustainable Development
European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC)
American Chemistry Council
Canadian Chemical Producers' Association

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