Patricia Williams Named Manager of Brookhaven Lab's Safety & Health Services Division
December 8, 2004
UPTON, NY - Patricia Williams has been named manager of the Safety & Health Services Division at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, effective December 1.
In her new position, Williams is responsible for managing 25 people and a yearly budget of approximately $3.2 million. The Safety & Health Services Division oversees safety engineering, industrial hygiene and chemical management for the Laboratory's approximately 2,700 employees and its contractors and visitors. It assures compliance with the U.S. Department of Energy's orders and the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety & Health standards, and monitors the workplace for all forms of non-radiological hazards to workers, such as chemicals, magnetic fields, confined space, ergonomics, heat stress, traffic, and electrical hazards. The division also monitors and analyzes all reported accidents resulting in injuries at the workplace to prevent future accidents and make the Laboratory as safe as possible.
"My goal is to assure that the Lab achieves its objective to make safety personal at the Laboratory," Williams said. "Through continued management commitment and active involvement of employees, guests and contractors in workplace safety, we will develop a robust safety culture and see consistent improvement in our performance. We do a good job of identifying and controlling non-routine hazards. As safety becomes a personal value, we will pay more attention to the routine things like making sure our seatbelts are on, following the speed limit and wearing our personal protective equipment. We'll practice safe habits all the time - at work and at home."
Throughout her 17 years at Brookhaven Lab, Williams has championed numerous safety initiatives, including, most recently, a pilot project in which three Laboratory organizations have registered to be part of the OHSAS 18001, which is an internationally recognized system for assessing occupational health and safety management systems that helps companies to reduce risk and improve overall safety performance. By October 2006, Williams plans to have the entire Laboratory registered under OHSAS 18001.
Williams earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Stony Brook University in 1985 and became a board-certified safety professional in 1993. She went on to earn a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Manhattan College in 1995. She was an assistant project engineer for J.T. Falk & Company, Inc., in New York City, and was a safety-engineering intern for the U.S. Army Materiel Command in Texas before joining Brookhaven Lab in 1987 as a safety engineer.
After several promotions, Williams joined the Laboratory's Plant Engineering Division in 1994 as manager of the Safety, Training & Quality Group. She then worked her way up through the ranks to become manager of the Environment, Safety, Health, Training & Quality Group for facilities and operations in 2001. She held that position until she took on her current responsibilities.
Among her many significant achievements, Williams has reduced Plant Engineering's personnel injuries by 80 percent over an eight-year period. She also has been actively involved in numerous committees at Brookhaven, including those focused on traffic safety, work planning and diversity. She is currently co-chair for Brookhaven Women in Science, a not-for-profit organization at the Laboratory whose aim is to promote the advancement of women in science.
2004-10252 | INT/EXT | Newsroom
