Investor Overview / Sustainability / CEO Statement

CEO Statement

Hexcel is committed to providing a safe workplace for our workforce, and for ensuring the protection of the communities and environments where we operate. We do this by integrating our values of Accountability, Responsibility, Innovation and One Hexcel into our daily operational practices, procedures, and behaviors to create a world-class environmental, health, safety, and product stewardship culture. Hexcel believes and is committed to preventing injuries, process safety events, and environmental impacts associated with our business.

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Environmental, Health & Safety Management System

Hexcel’s EHS management system is a series of policies, processes and expectations used to ensure we systematically meet compliance commitments and continuous improvement goals. By creating a corporate management system, Hexcel pro-actively seeks and acts to improve EHS performance, operating systems, safety conditions and workforce cultures, and reduce wastes and costs which subsequently improve performance and service. The pursuit and implementation of this robust, integrated system demonstrates our commitment, while reassuring our customers and stakeholders that a reliable, committed partner is in place to support their supply chain as a model corporate citizen.

Hexcel achieved corporate umbrella certification for both ISO14001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018 in 2019. Attaining both certifications against world renowned management system standards reflects the commitment of senior Hexcel leadership to drive continuous improvement in our EHS processes, by focusing on the reduction of injuries and illnesses and the impact of our operations on the environment, ensuring conformance to our numerous compliance obligations, and demonstrating sustainability as a valued supplier.

Our EHS philosophy and processes drive proactive engagement, consistent execution, and continuous improvement, supported by regular audits and evaluations to ensure that we:

  • Conduct business ethically and in accordance with Hexcel’s Code of Business Conduct and all applicable laws, regulations, and other compliance obligations.
  • Continually improve the design and safety of our processes, seek energy efficient options, and minimize waste generation through pollution prevention and sustainability strategies.
  • Ensure all products and intermediates are properly registered, meet applicable compliance obligations, and can be used safely for their intended purposes.
  • Provide our employees, customers, and other stakeholders with the information necessary to understand the environmental aspects, health and safety hazards of our operations and products, our EHS performance, and the sustainable future of our products.
  • Design, construct, and operate our facilities using the hierarchy of controls principles in a manner that protects employees and human health while minimizing operational impact on the environment and neighboring communities.
  • Partner with contractors, suppliers, and third-party providers who share our commitment to eliminate work-related injuries and incidents, and minimize environmental impacts.
  • Provide employees, contractors, and visitors with the skills, knowledge, and tools to create an incident-free workplace.
  • Regularly review our EHS performance, actively seek input from employees, and empower the workforce to participate and lead EHS continuous improvement.

Recordable & Lost Time Injury Rates

The importance of employee safety is paramount in everything we do. Our continued focus on safety over the last ten years has resulted in marked improvement in work conditions, site culture and our proactive spirit. We have reduced recordable and lost time injury rates (OSHA criteria) about 50% in the 10-year period of 2009 to 2019, while more than doubling sales during this period. We strive to maintain safety metrics that are consistent with world-class levels.

These safety improvements have been achieved through the implementation of these EHS tools and systems, including:

  • Greater leadership accountability for safety risks and mitigation, which includes having EHS report directly to the Chief Executive Officer;
  • Implementation of procedures and standards to support ISO45001:2018 certification, which is now the foundational process for how we manage health and safety throughout Hexcel;
  • Thorough root cause analysis and efforts to address systemic opportunities, and a more robust self-governance process;
  • Additional emphasis on peer-to-peer safety engagements – behavioral observations, positive safety interactions (PSI) and near miss reporting;
  • Improved best-practice sharing and targeted continuous improvement strategies throughout our business units and global operations such as cut prevention and line of fire injuries; and
  • Investing in safety improvements, such as more sophisticated machine guarding, additional layers of protection to create redundant control systems, and improved energy isolation systems and interlock devices.

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Safety kit

EHS Regulatory Compliance

EHS regulatory citations significantly reduced from 2013 to 2021 by:

  • Driving environmental accountability to line operations;
  • Implementation of robust EHS self-governance and compliance monitoring program; and
  • Developing open, trusting and collaborative relationships with regulators who recognize Hexcel’s commitment to 100% compliance.