For the storage and transport of our goods, we adhere to strict safety guidelines in order to prevent risk to people and the environment. Environment Health Safety Security Quality (EQ) (see Environmental Management), the Group function in charge of environmental protection at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, possesses the expertise to ensure warehouse and transport safety and sets our policies, standards and procedures. At the individual company sites worldwide, the Site Director or Site Manager is responsible for the implementation of our standards and regulations, as well as for issues pertaining to warehouse and transport safety.

The local Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) Manager supports the Site Director or Site Manager and employees regarding compliance with all applicable national and international EHS regulations as well as EHS Group policies, standards and procedures, providing technical guidance and advice.

The local Dangerous Goods Manager is in charge of advising the Site Director or Site Manager on all aspects regarding the transport of dangerous goods. Furthermore, the Dangerous Goods Manager’s tasks include monitoring of and compliance with legal requirements for the safe transport of dangerous goods, as well as the related health and safety procedures. In 2014, the main tasks and duties of the Dangerous Goods Manager were adapted to reflect the European regulation for the "Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser".

To evaluate and further improve our approach to managing transport and storage safety, we created a process and developed indicators for warehouses and transport in 2013. The results of the process have led to intensified training on cool and mixed storage. We are working to enhance this monitoring process as well as develop further key performance indicators for all sites and third-party warehouses.

Regular training is provided for our warehouse employees, as well as for those employees involved in the transport of goods. EHS Managers, Dangerous Goods Managers and Logistics Managers are regularly trained on our standards and procedures, changes to international requirements, and incident management. Our EHS managers meet regularly at the EHS conference in Darmstadt, Germany, whose agenda includes best-practice sharing as well as training on transport and materials storage. These topics are also covered in the three-day start-up training seminar that is mandatory for new EHS managers.

For the recently acquired company AZ Electronic Materials, we have retained the existing transport and storage safety systems for the time being, but will be incrementally migrating them to our system starting in 2015.

Storage safety

In order to safely store substances, we have implemented global safety concepts and standards for all our warehouses worldwide. The "Warehouse Safety" standard defines the operational measures needed to prevent substance leakage, as well as fires and explosions. According to this standard, risk evaluations must be conducted on all stored substances, including finished chemical and pharmaceutical products, raw materials, intermediates, waste, packaging material, and technical materials. In addition to this, the standard lays out mandatory rules of workplace conduct for all warehouse employees. All warehouses are audited thoroughly and regularly to check for compliance with safety requirements. The company revisited and revised its current safety concept during 2013 and 2014.

Our Group-wide standard “Warehouse requirements for third-party warehouses” defines the structural and organizational requirements for a facility. Third-party warehouse providers have to provide a statement on environment, health and safety before we sign contracts in order to show that they are in line with our warehouse requirements. Third-party warehouses are regularly assessed by our EHS Managers; in 2013 and 2014, we audited four of these warehouses and developed corrective action plans to address the findings.

Transport safety

For shipments transported by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany or on behalf of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, safety is our top priority. We want to ensure that shipments reach our sites and customers undamaged, with the correct labeling and documentation. Several substances that we ship are classified as hazardous materials. Hazardous goods transport – whether by road, rail, plane, or ship – is heavily regulated across the globe by conventions such as the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR ). The rules on the transport of dangerous goods are revised every two years; the changes are implemented by our local sites worldwide with support from our EQ Group function experts. In 2014, we introduced the new Group standard “Transport Safety”. In this standard, we define the safety levels for our sites based on the United Nations “Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods”. This is especially important for sites in countries that do not have local regulations for the transport of dangerous goods. We have refined our audit concept in order to monitor compliance with the transport safety regulations at company sites as well as the compliance of those partners involved in the transport of goods on our behalf.

During 2013 and 2014, no incidents of significant environmental or social impacts resulting from goods transport were recorded, nor were any incidents of non-compliance with international regulations.

In Germany, we participate in the German Transport Accident Information and Emergency Response System (TUIS), which provides qualified, rapid assistance for incidents involving chemicals transport.