The Texas Gas Association recognized employees in Williams’ Barnett operations for an annual safety award.

The operations team was honored for recording no occupational injuries in 2019, a safety milestone the group also met in 2018 and is on track to meet in 2020.

“Here at TGA, safety is viewed as an inherent part of our members’ approach to the daily workload of their employees,” said Claudia Luna, TGA Safety Committee chair. “It is through your inclusion of safety as part of your day, from pre-job planning through execution of project that you have achieved an enviable safety record. Your demonstration of safety as a value is admirable.”

Mark Keitz, manager of operations, said the Fort Worth area team of about 60 employees worked nearly 160,000 hours in 2019 without any recordable injuries or lost time incidents.

“The safety culture here is strong and continually improving,” he said. “Every employee is trained to identify potential hazards and empowered to stop work to address any concerns.”

Keitz said planning ahead for any task is critical to safety.

“Shortcuts are not acceptable. We want to ensure they are getting all the time they need to do the task and the tools, training and leadership support to get it all done.”