Meet John Williams, NYCHA Safety Associate

They are on the front line of helping to identify potential safety hazards for NYCHA workers and the larger community.  

NYCHA’s Safety Associates take on a volunteer role in addition to their regular job duties to ensure that safety-related issues are reported to their supervisors and help prevent on-the-job injuries. They also serve as advocates for safer working conditions, and with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, that means being a lookout for proper protective gear on employees in the field.  

John Williams, Caretaker and Safety Associate at Brooklyn’s Brevoort Houses, is a 41-year NYCHA employee who grew up in Brooklyn’s Tompkins Houses and first joined the Safety Associate program when it was launched in 2013. Having also worked as a Safety Associate at three other Brooklyn developments, Mr. Williams recently spoke about his experience and how he believes the role helps keep the NYCHA community safe for its workers and residents.  

Why did you first want to get involved with NYCHA’s Safety Associate program? 

I was at a union meeting and one of the shop stewards told me that they were starting the Safety Associate program in Brooklyn, because she did it in Manhattan. She asked me if I wanted to be involved, and I said ‘Sure, why not?’ From that point on, being that I was a shop steward and I had the duty to make sure our workers were safe anyway, I just felt it was another opportunity to make sure everybody is safe.   

What are the key responsibilities of a Safety Associate? 

I go around to the buildings and observe things, and I’ll also ask the workers if there’s certain things that need to be addressed in their building. Maybe once or twice a week, depending on how big the property is, our job is to do safety checks in certain buildings. I’ll choose two or three buildings and do a safety check that consists of me making sure all of the door handles to the staircases are working properly, making sure all of the elevators run, and the light fixtures are working. I write all of this down, and when I leave the building, I report it to the supervisor and I give them a list of things that need to be done. If you stay on top of your job as a Safety Associate, it benefits the workers as well as the residents.  

How has this role changed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic? 

Now with COVID, my job is about anticipating safety concerns even more so, because I need to make sure all of the workers have masks on, have safety helmets, and have all the PPE (personal protective equipment) for whatever tasks they’re taking on.  

What are the most important things people should know to help keep the NYCHA community safe? 

I always tell people that you want to go home the same way that you came in. So whatever it takes to protect yourself, that’s what you need to do.