Conscious use of resources, environmental protection and upholding high standards in health and safety at work are fundamental prerequisites for SGL Group’s responsible and sustainable growth. The organizational foundation for monitoring and continuously developing all environmental protection, and health and safety activities are formed
by the central function Corporate EHSA (Environment, Health & Safety Affairs), which coordinates all Group-wide activities, sets uniform standards and routinely audits developments in cooperation with local EHSA representatives.
Ethical principles
Acting responsibly and in line with the law is anchored in SGL Group’s corporate philosophy. Our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics sets binding standards for how we behave in our day-to-day business. The code defines that SGL Group, as a company, meets its legal and ethical respon- sibilities while taking the respective societal, social and cultural standards into account, and it reflects our Com- mon Values. We act fairly and honestly vis-a-vis our busi- ness partners, shareholders, the authorities and the general public. Our employees treat each other with courtesy and respect and we deal responsibly with the environment – these are all key principles of the SGL Group. The Code plays an important role in building and maintaining trust and supports the personal integrity of our employees.
Health and safety at work are a top priority
The safety of our employees and the security of our work flows as well as active, long term risk management are top priorities for SGL Group. SGL Group uses high standards, per- manent safety precaution improvements and a large number of targeted training sessions and activities to prevent work- place accidents.
As a result of our activities, we continue to see a positive development in the frequency rate of accident related work absences compared to the number of hours worked. Based on 1 million hours worked, the index has fallen substan- tially from 10.5 in 2003 to 3.2 in 2013.
Additionally, in order to further reinforce awareness of occupational health and safety at our sites, we issue the “SGL Safety Award – an Award for Health and Safety at Work”. This award honors sites that have remained acci- dent-free for a pre-defined period. In 2013 a total of 26 sites had no accident-related downtime, of which 16 sites received the “SGL Safety Award” as they had remained accident-free over the required period.
Process safety reduces risk
Risk management within SGL Group, which we established years ago as part of our environmental protection and occu- pational and process safety, helps identify and assess potential environmental and process risks at an early stage and take appropriate action to minimize them.
In cooperation with the insurance company FM Global, SGL Group performs annual reviews. All of our processes and systems are subject to a safety analysis. Stress scenarios are also simulated. The results are discussed with the
plant management and, if necessary, an action catalog to minimize risk is prepared. Our facilities can obtain the sta- tus of Highly Protected Risk (HPR) during this process – this is the highest safety level. This also saves insurance premiums. In the year 2013, 23 locations were audited. A total of 18 plants in SGL Group now have HPR status.
Energy efficiency as a fundamental principle
Industrial production processes have a general level of energy consumption. The high-temperature technologies used to produce carbon products are energy-intensive, how- ever necessary in order to create the specific material prop- erties for the various products. More than four fifths of SGL Group’s energy consumption is needed as heat. In the individual process stages, temperatures of up to 3,000° Cel- sius are required.
That means that it makes even more sense that one of SGL Group’s fundamental principles is resource conserva- tion – in both economic and ecological terms. When plan- ning new plants and buildings as well as operating existing facilities, we make sure that we further improve energy efficiency.
Carbon for environmental conservation
In addition, SGL Group’s products also make an indirect contribution to protecting the environment and climate as they allow customers to implement global trends and pro- duce their goods while conserving resources and reducing CO2 emissions. Carbon materials exhibit extraordinary
properties, making them uniquely suitable for a wide vari- ety of applications and solutions.
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When it comes to waste, SGL Group aims to avoid waste in preference to recycling or disposing of it. Here, it is an advantage that carbon, our material, and most of the resid- ual materials incurred in the production process are highly recyclable. If it is not possible to avoid waste, it can often be reused in other products. Examples are recycling tar from graphite production as an energy source, or using recycled carbon fibers in fleece textiles or secondary components for automotive production.
Handling emissions and chemical substances responsibly is a key aspect of environmental protection at SGL Group. In this context, SGL Group has invested in equipment with Best Available Techniques (BAT) for environmental protec- tion. These investments focused on methods to clean pro- duction exhaust fumes, such as regenerative thermic oxi- dation (RTO) in which exhaust gases undergo thermic cleaning for contaminants, with the bulk of the heat being regained. Better heat recuperation is thus combined with high cleaning performance.
SGL Group uses a variety of tools to minimize risk. In this regard, there is a group-wide approach to recording, analyz- ing and evaluating risk, which is expanded regularly. This not only deals with potential work accidents, but also the consequences of fire or natural catastrophes. In so doing, the economic consequences of crises, such as dealing with environmental damage or damage from interruptions to production are analyzed.
Implementation of REACH
When handling chemicals, SGL Group provides support and assistance in the step-by-step introduction of protection targets in European chemicals policy and meets the REACH requirements. Exchanging information on the use of sub- stances is an integral part of SGL Group’s collaboration with suppliers and customers. This includes exchanging detailed risk and exposure assessments with customers
and suppliers as part of the legal requirements. In addition, we provide our customers with relevant product informa- tion such as safety data sheets for all substances and prod- ucts produced by SGL Group in a standardized global web- based system.