NYCHA Safety Awards Recognize Staff Efforts
For the first time, both winners of NYCHA’s Safety Awards are from the same department: Pest Management Department (PMD) Supervisor Jeffrey Sanders won for Safety Leadership and PMD Seasonal Worker Program Manager Reana James won for Safety Innovation.
“Mr. Sanders and Ms. James work tirelessly to ensure a culture of safety in the Pest Management Department,” said Senior Vice President for Operations Support Services Keith Grossman. “Both Mr. Sanders and Ms. James take a hands-on, detail-oriented approach to training their staff and ensuring that PMD staff are doing quality work in a safe manner.”
In his nomination form, PMD Deputy Director Aaron Almanzar extolled Mr. Sanders’ dedication and skills: “Mr. Sanders, who supervises the department’s Exclusion Team, has taken great efforts to advance NYCHA’s safety principles within his unit.”
Mr. Sanders leads monthly meetings on how to eliminate hazards in the NYCHA workplace. He provides safety training on such topics as ladder use, and ensures his staff get the proper personal protective equipment (PPE) and tools, such as gloves suited for wire lath work. “Mr. Sanders always prioritizes employee safety for every job,” Mr. Almanzar wrote, “conducting walk-throughs with tenant association members, all the while explaining the procedure of exclusion work (rodent control.)”
Mr. Sanders, who has been with NYCHA for three and a half years and has been in management for almost 19 years as a supervisor and regional manager in the health care industry, didn’t take full credit for the award. “It was a team effort,” Mr. Sanders said. “I certainly could not have been recognized without my fellow colleagues. I am sure they are as grateful as I am for this level of recognition.”
When he first arrived at NYCHA, Mr. Sanders supervised the door sweep team and its work to install 4,000 door sweeps across NYCHA. He then began supervising a 12-person team that collapses rat burrows at more than 40 developments a week. After that, he moved over to the Exclusion Team, which develops new ideas to close off entry points to rat burrows in grounds and buildings. “I eventually realized the excluder roll material we were using wasn’t as strong as we wanted it to be,” Mr. Sanders said. “After some critical thinking, galvanized steel wire lath became the choice of material used and has been very effective throughout all developments we’ve serviced. The team and I take pride in keeping residents and the public safe, as our intricate work shows.”
This year’s awards ceremony was co-hosted by the Environmental Health and Safety and Risk Management departments at 90 Church Street’s Ceremonial Room; Interim Chief Executive Officer Lisa Bova-Hiatt gave opening remarks and Chief Operating Officer Eva Trimble presented the awards honoring Mr. Sanders and Ms. James as well as the developments recognized for their safety performance: Farragut Houses and Highbridge Gardens.
Ms. James was awarded the Safety Innovation award for ensuring the safety of the department’s seasonal employees. With 20 years of safety and security experience, Ms. James joined the department about two years ago; she manages 60 seasonal workers as well as a supervisor and a caretaker. “Ms. James’ actions have helped to improve safety for the team of seasonals she supervises,” PMD Senior Director Josephine Bartlett wrote of Ms. James on her nomination form. “She wants to make sure everyone is safe while doing their job.”
One important aspect of Ms. James’ job is helping to create jobs for NYCHA residents within her department. “We’re creating a career path for residents in operations support and pest management,” Ms. Bartlett wrote. “We hire a lot of the seasonals that are residents. Ms. James makes sure workers have the right PPE such as goggles and face masks and ensures they know how to safely use equipment,” adding that, “Ms. James’ acute understanding of hazards that can exacerbate air quality for workers led to training on how to reduce the incidence of hazardous dust particles.”
Awards also went to developments that had the greatest reduction in injuries from the previous year and the highest safety training attendance rate. Brooklyn’s Farragut Houses won for most improved safety performance in a large development; Highbridge Gardens, in the Bronx, won for most improved safety performance in a small development. ”We are always supporting our staff to see how we can improve daily operations, showing easier, safer ways to get tasks done,” Farragut Houses Property Maintenance Supervisor Glenn Rueda said. He also credited the safety work done by Farragut Houses Property Manager Angela Williams. Highbridge Gardens’ Property Maintenance Supervisor Luis Perez credited Property Manager Zachary Hussar as a strong team member committed to increasing safety at the development.
According to Environmental Health and Safety Department Assistant Director Yvonne Armstrong, both developments had zero injuries in 2021 and also had the highest safety training attendance rates.
“I was very pleased that we were able to recognize the performance of these teams and individuals,” Environmental Health and Safety Department Vice President Patrick O’Hagan said. “I look forward to expanding this program and recognizing more employees for their daily efforts to create a safe workplace for their colleagues and a safer environment for our residents.”
