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NYCHA Now
Exceptional Colleagues Highlighted June 2023 SafeNYCHA 

NYCHA Recognizes Staff at 2023 Safety Awards 

Nii Akrofi Smart-Abbey

NYCHA’s 2023 Safety Awardees and Safety Associates were honored at a June 28 Safety Awards Ceremony for their efforts to create, practice, and uphold healthy and safe working environments. 

At the awards ceremony, held at the Johnson Community Center in Harlem, awards were also presented for two employee-nominated categories: Safety Innovation and Safety Leadership. The honorees were: 

  • Supervisor City Laborer for Mold Remediation Arturo Vargas won the Safety Leadership award for motivating employees and developing team members to work safely. The Rear Loader Compactor Collection Crew, which has implemented innovative practices and solutions to improve safety in their work, won the Safety Innovation award. 
  • Pomonok Houses in Queens took the award for Best Safety Performance by a large development, while the award for best performance by a small development went to Bailey/Fort Independence in the Bronx.  
  • The Office of Mold Assessment and Remediation (OMAR) was recognized with the large department best safety performance award, while the small department award went to the Lead Hazard Abatement Unit.  
  • Five Safety Associates – employees who volunteer to identify and resolve safety concerns and attend their boroughs’ Safety Congresses – were recognized at the ceremony: Gary Davis, Nicholas Echevarria (Queens/Staten Island), Kevon Malik Hoyte (Bronx), Wanda Moses (Manhattan), and Desiree Williams (Brooklyn). Also recognized were two Safety Associates from the Heating Management Services Department, Jannique Bou (Manhattan) and Saifudiyn Davis (Bronx), along with Luis Quiñones, a former Bronx Safety Associate who is now a Maintenance Worker in Bronx Property Management.   

The Safety Awards were re-instituted in 2022 with new criteria and two employee-nominated categories.  

NYCHA’s Chief Operating Officer Eva Trimble speaks at the 2023 Safety Awards

Stressing the importance of working in a safe environment, Chief Operating Officer Eva Trimble said: “The most important thing about safety is being able to ask yourself, is what I’m doing right now safe for me, for my colleagues, for residents? More than anything, I think safety is about leadership.” 

In his remarks, Daniel Greene, Executive Vice President for Property Management Operations, said NYCHA’s aging infrastructure presents stringent requirements for safety.  

“The testament to NYCHA workers is, every day we face something different, every day we face something unexpected, and every day, we’re expected to adapt to that – and safety is a key part of that,” he said. “When we encounter a new piece of equipment, a new requirement to address a hazard, we’re expected to do it safely and do it well…I think our Safety Associates are really the eyes and ears that ensure everything is done appropriately.” 

He also urged the Safety Associates to raise their concerns with the Environmental Health and Safety Department, Compliance Department, and their supervisors.  

Speaking on behalf of the Local 237 Union, Housing Division Director Carl Giles thanked the Safety Associates for sustaining the program over the past 10 years:  

“Today, I’m so grateful that we have the ability to ask people to teach us, show us, give us the right equipment, give us the right tools so we can get the job done in a safe manner.”