Community involvement
During 2000 we focused on strengthening our involvement with local communities around our key sites and providing support for a number of national and international projects within the areas of healthcare, education, environment and the arts.

We were delighted to initiate a series of public lectures at the UK’s prestigious Royal Institution in London on the theme of genes, medicine and society. The series is designed to contribute to the public debate on the use of the knowledge provided by the mapping of the human genome and further advances in proteomics and genomics. Speakers will address key issues such as ethics, insurance, science and medical advances, during a two year period.

There was also a co-ordinated effort in Norway to raise the public profile of the importance of medical science and research and development. This included staff involvement and support and over £90,000 in sponsorship to several projects, such as an education stand staffed by our employees during the week-long street festival celebrating the 1,000th anniversary of the founding of Oslo; sponsorship of the Venture Cup, which encourages innovation and new business ideas in universities; and an exhibit at the Norwegian Technical Museum, featuring the development of industry and science in Oslo. A substantial donation was also made to the Norwegian Cancer Society to help fund research into the disease, and an automated haemotology analyser worth £70,000 new, was donated to the Lithuanian Veterinary Academy.

Amersham Pharmacia Biotech continues to sponsor, with Science magazine, the Young Scientist Award, won this year by Alka Agrowal for her work at Yale University on the evolution of the immune system. Amersham Pharmacia Biotech also supports the @bristol initiative, designed to raise awareness of science in the UK.

Highlights in the arts area included a concert by world renowned medieval choral singers, The Sixteen, at Gloucester Cathedral; the Christmas Concert by Det Norske Solistkor at St Martin’s-in-the-Fields, London; and the traditional Swedish Christmas Concert in Llandaff Cathedral, Cardiff. At Lindesnes, Norway, we supported open air theatre performances celebrating the region ’s history.

Staff have been encouraged to become more involved with their local communities and a number of programmes are in place at sites to help schools, community groups and charities through the provision of staff time and expertise. At Cardiff, staff help in reading schemes for local children, while in Amersham, the SET to Help education scheme continues to develop and now involves over 26 local schools. Staff have also been fundraising with the company’s support for many local good causes and charities and for less advantaged people in other parts of the world. In the UK, staff have supported Cancer Research Wales and the Everyman Male Cancer Awareness Campaign, while the company has donated over £189,000 to charities and other good causes. In the US, the focus was also on providing assistance to children and the disadvantaged. At Princeton, headquarters of the North American Imaging business, a staff collection enabled several hundred toys to be delivered to disadvantaged children at Christmas and donations of around £30,000 were made by the site to a number of good causes.

We remain a member of Business in the Community’s PerCent Club, the principal benchmark for socially responsible companies in the UK. Social responsibility was also integral in the assessment criteria for the Queen’s Award for International Trade won by our UK Imaging business for outstanding success in export sales during the 1990s, bringing the company’s total number of Queen’s Awards to 14. Overall, we are determined to retain our reputation as a considerate and committed supporter of the communities in which we operate.

Health, safety and the environment
June 2000 saw the publication of the group’s first public Health, Safety and Environment (HS&E) Review. Covering the period 1998–99, the Review outlined the policies and procedures in place to manage HS&E issues throughout the business. This takes place within the framework provided by our Health, Safety and Environment Policy and the various standards and procedures which underpin it, to which all operating sites are required to adhere. The Review commits the company to publish a full, public report on HS&E performance in 2002. To this end, data on a wide range of parameters, such as lost time accidents, energy usage, waste generation, materials recycled and emissions to air, etc, are now being collected. A base line of performance in 2000 will be set for future comparison and improvement targets.

A new group environment committee was established to oversee and co-ordinate policies and performance in environmental activities. The committee embraces all geographical regions and is empowered to ensure that the company’s standards reflect best practice and are upheld. Comprehensive audits of performance were conducted by group HS&E staff at four manufacturing and R&D sites during the year. A further 14 assessments were made of the procedures in place at facilities to ensure compliance with the policy and standards and a number of matters were identified for action in line with our requirement for continuous improvement.

An independent audit of the workplace environment at Nycomed Innovation AB in Sweden found that employees’ evaluation of their workplace environment was outstandingly positive compared to results from similar organisations. Improvements to the work environment were also undertaken at several locations in Europe and the US.

There were no prosecutions at any of our sites during the year. A European Commission investigation into our Cardiff, UK facility, prompted by a local citizens’ petition, concluded that the plant was operating in full compliance with all relevant European and UK legislation. Plans to introduce new recovery and recycling technology at the site will reduce emissions further. A recycling plant at Lindesnes, Norway reclaims waste iodine and contrast media and a new waste water treatment plant is being installed at North Arlington, US.

We participated for the first time in the UK’s Business in the Environment Annual Index of Corporate Environmental Engagement, which seeks to benchmark the UK’s top 350 companies on their environmental performance. As a new entrant, we ranked 67th out of the FTSE 100 and we aim to improve on this as our HS&E programmes develop. We also provided an Earthwatch Institute Fellowship as a prize for young members of the British Naturalist Association. This was awarded to 17 year old Andrea Geat, who will now participate in research on hawksbill turtles in Barbados.