Original Date: 10/20/1997
Revision Date: 01/18/2007

Northrop Grumman established several environmental programs that meet chemical compliances and map out future environmental risks. The company has engineered these risks out of several of its manufacturing processes.

Environmental issues can have a major impact on a manufacturing facility’s bottom line. The risk of having an out- of-compliance penalty, resulting from external audits, is commonly reduced in industry by performing self audits. The self-auditing process implemented at Northrop Grumman has significantly reduced external audit findings. In the past 11 quarters, the company has had no out-of-compliance penalties from external audits. In addition, the environmental services staff has gone beyond routine environmental audits for chemical risk elimination. Through re-engineering, the staff is replacing or eliminating the need for such chemicals in the first place. These chemical replacements have succeeded because of extensive, cross-functional efforts by several departments.

Northrop Grumman’s Hazardous Materials Control system consists of a Chemical Review Board, Procurement Controls, a Chemical Tracking system, and an Inspection program. This network of control ensures that unapproved chemicals do not enter the facility. In order for someone to use a chemical in their process, the requesting person must fill out a chemical review survey. This survey details specific chemical information, and identifies the exact task to be performed by the chemical. Then, the chemical review survey follows the Chemical Review Board Process Flow as shown in Figure 2-5.

The Chemical Review Board maintains system integrity by tying together environmental, engineering, procurement, health, and safety issues as well as others. The Board validates chemical compliances with federal, state, and local regulations; identifies employee exposure; updates the Material Safety Data Sheet library; verifies waste profiles; and establishes reporting parameters. Procurement Controls ensure that only approved materials are purchased. If someone wants to order a specific chemical for an application on the shop floor, the Procurement department cannot purchase the chemical unless that chemical has been reviewed through the appropriate process. The Chemical Tracking system secures the control of all material from the time it enters the facility until it is entirely consumed. The Inspection program verifies floor level compliance, increases employee awareness, assists with floor level training, and ensures system integrity.

This network of control throughout Northrop Grumman provides strict documentation of hazardous materials. In addition, the Hazardous Materials Control system has assisted the company in its goals of reducing hazardous materials for current and future needs.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.