Huntsville Center safety chief earns national award

Huntsville Center
Published Aug. 31, 2022
Kellie Williams, Huntsville Center safety manager, delivers her remarks during the Army Safety Star award ceremony in June. On August 23, Williams was awarded the Department of Defense Safety and Occupational Health Management System Individual Achievement Award during a safety conference in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Elizabeth Canfil)

Kellie Williams, Huntsville Center safety manager, delivers her remarks during the Army Safety Star award ceremony in June. On August 23, Williams was awarded the Department of Defense Safety and Occupational Health Management System Individual Achievement Award during a safety conference in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Elizabeth Canfil)

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Kellie Williams, safety chief for the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, is good at many things.

Taking credit for a job well done isn’t one of them.

On August 23, she received national recognition as a leader in workplace safety when she was awarded the Department of Defense Safety and Occupational Health Management System Individual Achievement Award during a safety conference in Washington, D.C. An outside group of experts selected Williams from nominees across the Department of Defense for “developing and sustaining a world class safety culture” and leading Huntsville Center in its implementation of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Safety and Occupational Health System (CESOHMS), said Gilbert Cisneros, the DoD’s Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.

“Williams’s commitment to worker safety and health protection helped change the HNC culture, creating a shared understanding that ‘safety above all else’ is the number one imperative and is everyone’s responsibility,” he said.

Because of her hard work and dedication, Williams helped the Center become the first USACE organization to earn recognition as an Army Safety and Occupational Health “Star” site, said Cisneros.

Williams worked tirelessly over the course of five years to fully implement the new guidelines set forth by CESOHMS. The massive undertaking required the Center to shift its focus from measuring safety compliance to measuring safety performance and effectiveness, which Williams did by improving employee and supervisor engagement through simple processes and education.

She led her team in the creation of automated digital tools to collect data on the safety needs of employees and to identify and track hack hazards. They created an easily accessible SharePoint site with vital safety information and provided quality on-site training to educate employees.  These resources have been shared across the Corps of Engineers and, in many cases, are now considered best practices.

Williams said that her team, not she, deserves the recognition.

“Huntsville Center provided a lot of enterprise solutions to the rest of USACE, which not only helped us posture our organization to have a better safety culture, but helped the entire USACE community,” said Williams. “I think that made us stand out for this award, but did I do that myself? No, I credit the rest of my office with making that happen.”

Perhaps that humility is what makes Williams such a successful leader. Under her guidance, her team continues to provide innovative solutions that promote a safety culture in the workplace and educate employees on vital safety requirements. Their latest innovation--a virtual reality game that allows users to tour a virtual construction site and identify potential hazards and safety measures—is set to be released this fall.