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Earlier this year, Stuart Bradie, KBR President and CEO, announced the KBR CEO Award for Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE) Excellence. This prestigious award was created to recognize an individual or group demonstrating exceptional HSSE leadership or extraordinary improvement in HSSE performance. Nominations for the inaugural award were received through each business unit president and a number of excellent candidates were considered.

However, one individual stood out as someone who goes above and beyond to ensure Zero Harm is achieved. David Wilson, Director of Construction, was announced as the inaugural recipient of the KBR CEO Award for HSSE Excellence and was recently recognized at a ceremony with KBR's senior leaders in Houston. Wilson is a shining example of the principals of Zero Harm and Courage to Care. Throughout the year, Wilson has been a champion of KBR's safety tenets and has demonstrated leadership by challenging his project teams to make measurable and marked improvements on safety indicators for the wellbeing of every employee.

Wilson was nominated by Ken Schmidt, Senior Vice President, E&C Americas Construction, and his nomination was endorsed by a number of senior leaders throughout the company. In his nomination Schmidt wrote, "David is tireless in promoting and coaching our projects on the pursuit of Zero Harm. He consistently challenges me to help carry the message whenever he needs support in shaping the culture at each site to ensure safety is the most important part of the job." According to Schmidt, when a safety incident occurs, Wilson is thoroughly engaged in the incident investigation process. Based on his experience from this process, Wilson has made recommendations for improving KBR's safety reporting procedures so it delivers value and promotes safety conversations in every step along the way.

Mike Acuna, Director of HSSE, commented on Wilson's award saying, "The thing that stands out about David is that he does not attempt to shy away from the difficulties and challenges of implementing a relatively new philosophical view on how to execute safety on his assigned construction projects. David will not hesitate to go where it is uncomfortable during his analysis of the Zero Harm process."

Wilson operates with the firm belief that having a safety program with specific plans in place is vital and is only achievable with the support of leadership at KBR. "We are all accountable for the safety of our employees," said Wilson. "My job is to coach and remind every employee about our safety process so that they can be accountable for executing the detailed plan to avoid an incident. We cannot have a conversation about progress, productivity or schedule when we are experiencing poor safety performance," he continued. Wilson cares deeply about employees making it home safely each day and ensures that everyone plays a role in the Zero Harm culture at construction sites by supporting front line supervisors to do whatever it takes to avoid a safety incident.

David Wilson accepts the Award for Health, Safety, Security and Environment Excellence from KBR CEO Stuart Bradie.

"David's leadership when it comes to safety is truly commendable and his tireless and passionate advocacy for Zero Harm is a model we should all imitate," said Stuart Bradie. "David delivered clear and significant improvements in KBR's HSSE performance, a requirement to be recognized with this award. I am pleased to present him with the KBR CEO Award for HSSE Excellence," Bradie said.

Congratulations to David for his hard work in championing KBR's Zero Harm culture and his recognition as the 2015 CEO Award for HSSE Excellence. Congratualtions also to the other outstanding nominees for the 2015 award:

Nominations for the 2016 award are now being accepted through April 2017. KBR employees should contact their local HSSE manager for more information.