Management approach

Environment, Health and Safety Policy

At Edwards Lifesciences, we recognize that safe and environmentally responsible operations bring shared value to our patients, employees, stakeholders and the communities in which we operate. We are committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace by identifying and controlling hazards and risks, minimizing our impact on the environment through pollution prevention efforts, and operating in compliance with legal requirements and applicable standards. Through a culture of engagement and ownership, we will set goals and communicate our progress on a journey of continual improvement.

The EHS Policy applies to all Edwards employees, facilities, activities, products and services as defined within the scope of our EHS management systems.

EHS Management System

We established an EHS Management System in alignment with the ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018 management system principles of the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle and continual improvement. Critical elements of our EHS Management System include:

• Establishing an Edwards EHS Policy rooted in our Credo and Aspirations.
• Demonstrating leadership commitment to EHS.
• Identifying significant risks, opportunities, environmental impacts and health and safety hazards.
• Adopting EHS objectives at both corporate and manufacturing plant-levels.
• Establishing and implementing systems to maintain compliance, prevent injuries and reduce pollution.
• Executing EHS programs, processes and operational controls.
• Evaluating performance through internal and third-party audits and management reviews.
• Identifying and executing continual improvement opportunities.

Governance

The Compensation and Governance Committee of our Board of Directors has oversight of Edwards’ sustainability efforts, including our environmental policy and its management, and it periodically reviews programmatic progress. Our Chairman and CEO has performance management objectives related to improving our sustainability strategy, performance and disclosures.

ISO certification

In 2016, Edwards set the expectation that by 2023, all of our manufacturing facilities achieve certification against the internationally recognized ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management System and ISO 45001:2018 Occupational Health and Safety Management System standards. We allow new manufacturing plants three years from date of start-up to achieve these certifications.

Compliance

Complying with EHS laws and regulations in each country and municipality in which we operate is the minimum requirement for us to conduct business. We work to maintain compliance with all applicable EHS laws and regulations through our robust EHS management systems, strong EHS governance and auditing and a culture of employee ownership and accountability. Edwards’ EHS operating model ensures that operational compliance is monitored and reported to senior management on an ongoing basis. We empower employees at every level to take responsibility for, understand and fulfill compliance obligations relevant to their roles. Our EHS experts educate our employees, provide them with the tools to effectively do their jobs and monitor their performance in the spirit of continual improvement.

Energy and emissions

We are committed to reducing our impact on the environment and as such we have an aggressive target to achieve carbon neutrality for our direct operations by 2030 and set and achieve science-based targets. We understand the importance of addressing climate change and are committed to driving a meaningful reduction in our greenhouse gas emissions, even as we continue to grow our business to reach more patients.

As part of our journey toward carbon neutrality, in 2021, Edwards established science-based targets with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in line with a 1.5°C scenario. Edwards Lifesciences commits to reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 42% by 2030 from a 2021 base year. Edwards Lifesciences also commits to reduce scope 3 GHG emissions 51.6% per USD of value added within the same timeframe.

We have voluntarily reported our energy and GHG emissions management practices and data through CDP since 2014. For more information, please see our 2022 CDP Climate Change response.

Climate risk

A changing climate brings a range of potential risks to Edwards. We have facilities around the world that face different potential climate-related risks such as hurricanes, droughts and wildfires that could possibly impact our ability to manufacture and transport our products. We identify and assess climate-related risks as part of our integrated approach to managing overall business risk. We have an Enterprise Risk Council, which guides Edwards’ risk management strategy. Led by our SVP of Risk Management and composed of select executive and senior leaders, the Council meets quarterly to conduct a systematic review and mitigation planning for strategic, operational, financial, regulatory, cybersecurity and climate-change risks. The Council periodically reports strategy, key findings and progress directly to the Board of Directors as recommended by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations

We conduct a formal analysis of the likelihood, potential consequence and required response related to various climate transition and physical risks.

Water

Water management is part of our EHS management system. Even though Edwards is a relatively low water use manufacturer, we recognize the importance of using this shared resource efficiently. We focus on water use and discharge within our areas of operational control, including all manufacturing locations and non-manufacturing regional offices.

Most of our water use occurs at our manufacturing sites and these locations annually assess their usage and incorporate appropriate water conservation and protection objectives into annual operating and capital investment plans. Water conservation activities our teams undertake at Edwards’ sites include water-efficient facility design (including LEED certified buildings), low-flow equipment and fixtures, installation of recycling or reuse systems, partnering with local utility providers on water recycling programs and utilizing drought tolerant plants and xeriscape design in our landscape and garden areas.

Company-wide, we regularly assess our water-related risks, which include higher cost of water, water shortages, rationing, fluctuations in water quality and unreliable water delivery in the case of drought or other climate-related changes. We identify opportunities to mitigate water-related risks and reduce our overall environmental impact.

We have voluntarily reported our water management practices and data through CDP since 2014. For more information, please see our 2022 CDP Water Security response.

Water use

Due to the nature of our business, Edwards does not require a significant amount of water in our manufacturing processes, nor do we store a significant amount of water onsite at any of our global locations, except for emergency fire sprinkler water reservoirs and tanks. Most of the water used at our facilities is for manufacturing employee handwashing, personal consumption, cafeteria and restroom use, landscaping and facilities equipment support. We use process water at some manufacturing facilities for production-related equipment and tooling, washing and chemical solutions dilution.

Spill prevention and response

We maintain Spill Prevention and Response programs at all Edwards manufacturing locations. These programs focus on risk identification and engineering, administrative and work practice controls such as secondary containment, double-walled tanks, alarm and notification systems, preventive maintenance, locked valves on fuel-tank containment structures and periodic visual inspections. Our EHS team trains personnel at each site on appropriate spill response and clean-up escalation procedures. We report all spills and releases in accordance with the expectations set by local or country government agencies. In 2022, we had no spills or releases above thresholds that required reporting to government authorities.

We work to protect surface and storm waters in accordance with Edwards’ global EHS Standards as well as with locally issued permits and government regulations. We do not conduct industrial operations in outdoor, storm water-exposed areas. All three of our U.S. facilities in California, Utah and Puerto Rico are covered under No Exposure Certificates (NECs) in accordance with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Clean Water Act. In addition, we employ structural and non-structural source control best management practices (BMPs) at each of our facilities to prevent contamination of storm water.

Waste

Edwards produces solid and hazardous waste throughout our product manufacturing process. As we continue to innovate new and transformational technologies, we work to minimize our waste footprint, contributing to our efforts to manufacture responsibly. As part of our ISO 14001:2015-aligned EHS Management System, our teams annually evaluate local waste volumes and downstream management practices to identify opportunities to reduce, reuse and recycle. We also have well-established programs in place to enable proper storage and handling of regulated waste such as chemicals, batteries and electronics.

While we enable responsible waste management at all non-manufacturing regional offices, the majority of waste we generate occurs at our manufacturing locations. Thus, the focus of our data collection and reporting efforts is on our manufacturing sites.

Health and safety

As we focus on helping patients, we also focus on the safety and well-being of our employees, onsite contractors and guests. Maintaining a strong and healthy workforce enables us to achieve our goals and dedicate energy toward the development of life-saving therapies. To achieve a safe workplace, we maintain robust EHS management systems, strong EHS governance and a culture of ownership and accountability. We recognize building the capabilities of our EHS team is fundamental to the success of our EHS program.

We continue to invest in the development of tools, systems and our team to help achieve our EHS objectives. Our commitment to preventing injury and illness and promoting well-being extends to both manufacturing and nonmanufacturing operations and includes all employees, contractors and visitors at our facilities.

Hazard identification, risk assessment and incident investigation

We use a risk-based approach to manage occupational health and safety, consistent with ISO 45001:2018 principles. The EHS teams at our manufacturing plants work with local supervisors and manufacturing associates to quantify risks associated with various job activities. We regularly conduct a range of risk assessments, such as sitewide safety risk registers, job safety analyses, industrial hygiene risk assessments, ergonomic risk assessments and Hazard and Operability Analysis. When we identify risks above a standard threshold, we implement control measures to eliminate or manage the hazards and risk. We follow the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety’s Hierarchy of Controls when identifying and implementing safety hazard control measures.

In addition to our regular risk assessments, we encourage all employees to be proactive in identifying hazards in their work areas. Employees are free to report any hazard or concern without fear of reprisal and some of our safety reporting programs allow for anonymous reporting. Edwards’ sites employ various methods to facilitate hazard identification, including safety suggestion boxes, Facilities Help Tickets, Good Saves programs and other near miss and safety concern reporting programs. Local teams also monitor for hazards during facilities reviews, product design review and routine inspections or safety walks.

When EHS-related incidents occur, we require the completion of a thorough investigation to identify the root cause and ensure corrective actions are taken to remove the immediate hazards and prevent a recurrence. The responsible supervisor and manager at the specific site conduct the incident investigations with support from the local EHS team. The incident investigation process may include interviews, a walkthrough of the incident scene, document review and review of surveillance videotape or photos. We clearly communicate with our employees that the purpose of an incident investigation is to prevent a recurrence, not to find fault or assign blame. Our EHS team tracks the corrective and preventive actions introduced based on the findings of the incident investigation to ensure completion.

Employee participation

We use a multi-faceted approach to engage our global employees in Edwards’ safety efforts. We tailor engagement strategies based on country customs and local practice. Key elements of our employee participation efforts include:

• Site-level safety committees
• Employee suggestion and hazard reporting programs
• Process improvement and Kaizen activities
• Cross-functional team evaluation of equipment and product lines during design, purchase and validation

Training and awareness

We provide EHS training to employees to support our efforts to comply with all applicable EHS regulations and we educate our employees on safe and environmentally responsible work practices. We use a variety of formats to deliver training material, including instructor-led, web-based, read-and-review and on-the-job training. To encourage active engagement and gauge the effectiveness of the delivery, our training often includes a written quiz, practical examination or worker observation. Training requirements vary by location and by role, based upon local EHS legal requirements and employee job assignments. For EHS topics that are not covered in formal training courses but might require general employee awareness, we socialize content through safety communication boards, televisions onsite, electronic newsletters, EHS Incident Alerts and team huddle safety talks.

The continual development of our global EHS professionals is fundamental to the success of our EHS program. Members of our global EHS team create annual development plans as part of our Talent Development Program. We encourage members of our EHS team to pursue degree and certificate programs, and attend industry conferences, seminars and external training classes. Currently, many of our global EHS professionals hold Lead Auditor certifications in one or both ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018, creating a network of internal auditing resources.

Ergonomics

Cumulative trauma illnesses represent approximately 43% of Edwards’ work-related injuries and illnesses. The majority of our cumulative trauma illnesses occur at our valve network manufacturing locations, where manual sewing of tissue valves introduces the ergonomic risk factors of repetition, force and sustained postures. As such, we pursue aggressive strategies in our manufacturing plants and engineering departments that aim to address ergonomic risks with appropriate prevention and control measures throughout the design and manufacturing process, including:

• Quantitative risk assessments through detailed video and in-person analysis, ergonomic measurement equipment (e.g., force testing), and an Edwards-developed ergonomic risk assessment tool
• Elimination and substitution of high ergonomic risks through automation or redesign during the Product Development Process, based on risk assessment data
• Ergonomic manufacturing tools, equipment and fixtures including tissue-holding templates and custom sewing needles
• Engineering improvements at the individual workstation level, including ergonomic worktables, chairs and microscopes
• Stretching and microbreak programs
• Employee ergonomics training and awareness campaigns
• Rotation programs organized by operation risk assessment score to ensure manufacturing lines and rotations are evenly balanced
• Early injury and illness identification and intervention programs, which include individual ergonomic assessments
• Onsite occupational health staff dedicated to providing individual ergonomic support as needed

Occupational health

We believe the well-being of our employees has a direct impact on the success of our company. At each of our manufacturing locations, we provide benefits associated with occupational health commensurate to the worker population, culture and availability of such programs. For example, while all our locations provide access to off‐site medical clinics, our larger locations also employ on‐site nurses and medical professionals to assist in both work and non-work-related injury and personal health needs.