Environmental Health, and Safety

Environmental Management, Health & Safety

As we pursue our strategy of Better Care for a Better World, we strive to design, manufacture and deliver our products – and operate our business – in a way that protects the environment and promotes the sustainable use of natural resources, while extending a zero-waste mindset across the value chain.

Kimberly-Clark has an Environmental Policy that serves as the foundation for our commitment to protection of the environment, directing our emphasis on environmental compliance and the management of water, energy and climate emissions, waste, and responsible fiber sourcing, in both our operations and our business. The Policy further informs our strategic approach to our integrated EHS management system. Our policy requires compliance with applicable EHS laws and regulations, which helps to protect our employees and the environment and also reduces the risk to our business—by helping the company avoid fines, penalties, legal liabilities, and threats to business continuity.

EHS Maturity Model

We have defined six EHS leadership imperatives to be integrated across our operations in the near-term/as part of our sustainability strategy[?]: (1) Consistent EHS leadership, (2) Positive EHS interactions, (3) Risk tolerance reduction, (4) Workforce empowerment to drive impact, (5) Consistent critical EHS work practices, and (6) Aligned incentives and metrics.

These imperatives provide the foundation for an EHS Maturity Model and inform three objectives to improve site performance with a collaborative approach across Environment, Health and Safety:

1. Improving Mindsets, Behaviors and Capabilities. Providing role specific EHS training for our teams and fostering a culture of accountability for EHS.

2. Reducing risk and promote compliance with relevant standards and regulations. Applying global performance standards that supplement local regulatory requirements.

3. Managing EHS systematically via the Kimberly-Clark EHS Management System. Enabling ongoing improvement, this system is modeled on the ISO 14001 and 45001 framework and has been a longstanding approach within Kimberly-Clark’s manufacturing facilities, often embedded with the site’s lean manufacturing processes. Although Kimberly-Clark does not mandate ISO certification, the integrated EHS Management System effectively supports sites that wish to pursue it.

Our sites are [required][expected] to routinely assess their own performance against the EHS Maturity Model and identify gaps and improvement opportunities. In addition, our staff teams conduct EHS Maturity Health Checks and formal EHS Audits to verify self-assessment results and assess compliance/conformance to regulations and standards.

In addition, our operations and environmental teams work to deploy initiatives aligned to our Sustainability 2030 goals, including managing energy to reduce climate emissions, diverting manufacturing waste from landfill to beneficial uses, improving water efficiency and engaging in community water programs.

Kimberly-Clark also has a policy to manage occupational safety and hygiene globally for the protection of our employees, contractors, and visitors, and to aggressively drive toward the [reduction and?] elimination of occupational injuries, illnesses, disabilities, and fatalities.

Learn about our Environment Goals here.

Learn about our Health and Safety data here.

Aspirations and Goals

By 2030, we want to drive our EHS performance to industry leading levels in the following key areas:

• Drive Leading EHS Maturity level as measured in our transformation process across all operations.

• Achieve stable and industry leading Incident levels.

• Control and mitigate EHS risks.

• Work to eliminate high severity EHS risks.

Learn about our Environmental Policy here.

EHS Management System

Kimberly-Clark’s integrated EHS Management System, modeled on the ISO 14001 and 45001 Management Systems, is implemented in the manufacturing facilities, distribution centers, and offices that are under our full operational control. Our integrated system helps enable a standardized and efficient approach to management of EHS within our operations.

Kimberly-Clark does not mandate certification to the ISO management system standards. However, our integrated EHS Management System effectively supports sites that seek to pursue third-party certification.

Key elements of our approach to EHS Management at our operating facilities include:

• EHS Management System: policy, organization, planning, and implementation of a control plan.

• EHS Performance Standards: specific requirements for managing our significant EHS risks and achieving and demonstrating compliance.

• EHS Audits: assessments of a facility’s conformance to EHS performance standards and compliance with EHS regulations. This includes an adjustment of EHS maturity level.

• EHS Improvement Planning: gap closure to address non-conformities and improve EHS maturity.

• EHS Training: Kimberly-Clark’s EHS Management System requires environmental, health and safety training with regards to policies, risks, regulatory requirements, the employee’s role in contributing to a safe work environment.

Enterprise Risk Management

Kimberly-Clark’s Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework is designed to identify, assess, and mitigate risks that can impact the company’s financial results and reputation. Safety, environmental and sustainability risks are integrated into our ERM framework.

The ERM framework is supported by:

• An enterprise risk assessment that collects inputs of key internal stakeholders, with individual risks assigned to risk owners who develop and maintain mitigation plans.

• A Global Risk Oversight Committee composed of executive leadership, which provides oversight and direction for the company’s ERM program.

• Processes to monitor for emerging risks, including dialogue with peers and consultants.

High Severity Injury/Illness and High Risk Near Miss Reduction

As part of our ongoing work to drive out high severity injuries and illness, we define our incidents by impact and potential impact, and then implement solutions based on the hierarchy of controls to eliminate, substitute, or engineer out our highest level risks.

Pollution Control

As part of our commitment to complying with applicable environmental laws and regulations, we strive to have emplaced at our facilities appropriate pollution control devices to protect the environment. We also leverage our EHS Management System and maturity model to promote practices that help our pollution control devices operate within specified ranges and to maintain regulatory requirements.

Reducing Waste in Our Operations

We understand the value of the materials in our product and packaging categories and seek secondary, beneficial uses of these materials. We are committed to seeking opportunities to reduce, reuse, and recycle waste streams of all types from our facilities, distribution centers, and offices that are under our full operational control. We strive to regularly improve our processes and implement innovative solutions to recover our waste to circular economy solutions.

Kimberly-Clark intends to continue to focus on achieving zero waste to landfill across our operations, including manufacturing facilities, distribution centers, and offices that are under our full operational control.¹ At local facilities, waste inventories are to be taken to catalog each waste stream’s composition, quantity, consistency, and handling practices. This process helps gauge the risk profile and identify opportunities to recover our waste to circular economy solutions.

You can see our most recent operational waste data here.

Emergency Preparedness

Kimberly-Clark requires all sites to have a documented Emergency Prevention, Preparedness, and Response Plan and Program that includes the following key elements:

• Program coordinator: assignment of a person to serve as the site Emergency Coordinator

• Incident command structure: implementation of a site incident command structure that establishes a clear emergency chain of command during actual emergencies

• Emergency identification, risk assessment, and pre-planning: Implementation of a process for the identification and assessment of potential emergency events to determine EHS risks and necessary emergency pre-planning

• A functional emergency alarm system: designed, maintained, and tested periodically according to manufacturer, Global Risk Management, and EHS regulatory requirements

• Adequate emergency evacuation routes and exits: required for each area; must be clearly marked and provided with adequate emergency lighting, with direct unobstructed access maintained at all times

• Documented emergency response plan: implemented in all sites, with clear roles and responsibilities and specific emergency response procedures

• Process for scheduling, conducting, and evaluating periodic drills: a post-event assessment and a regular improvement process are required, analyzing the feedback from drills and actual incidents and developing improvement plans if needed