Making Safety Fun
Ashley Lewis is a Caretaker J at Brownsville Houses who wants to keep herself and her colleagues safe at work.
As with all NYCHA developments, safety information at Brownsville Houses is posted in a location visible to all employees. However, in passing the bulletin board, Ms. Lewis felt that the information wasn’t exactly eye-catching. She decided to do something to make the safety wall more engaging.
“With the support of my management staff, I took it upon myself to make safety fun,” Ms. Lewis said.
Ms. Lewis had the walls painted a bright color and purchased special papers and letters to make the wall pop. Most important, the bulletin board features big and bright reminders for staff to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) at all times, various SafeNYCHA notices, and photos of herself and colleagues demonstrating proper use of PPE on the job. The wall also highlights actual samples of the different types of gloves and protective equipment required.
“Hopefully, this will promote other developments to enforce safety but also make it fun,” Ms. Lewis remarked. “You can’t walk past this wall without noticing it – it’s fun and bright and about something that is important for all of my peers. I’m proud of it.”
Ms. Lewis’ supervisor Rhashon Davis, Supervising Housing Groundskeeper, also thinks the wall is a great idea. He commented: “Our safety wall is indicative to how we function daily as a team while we efficiently serve our residents. Here at Brownsville Houses, we strongly believe that a verbal and visual safety reminder is essential to all NYCHA team members. Personal protective equipment is imperative to the safety of all staff members while working.”
