FORT WORTH, Texas - The Fort Hood Directorate of Public Works continues to earn recognition for its commitment to safety, communication and mission readiness. DPW team members received honors from the Texas Chapter of the American Public Works Association on Feb. 3, at the TX-APWA Public Workshop and Equipment Roadeo.
Presented with the Exceptional Performance Award for Journalism and Exceptional Performance Award for Safety, the awards highlight a safety culture built on leadership, teamwork and everyday actions that protect Soldiers, civilians and the public.
Brett Becker, occupational safety and health specialist, DPW Operations and Maintenance Division, was recognized for his contributions to safety communication and program development. His efforts included completing 74 facility inspections, each conducted with attention to identifying hazards, mitigating risks and ensuring compliance with applicable occupational health and life, health and safety standards.
For Becker, the Exceptional Performance Award for Journalism underscores the importance of communication in keeping people safe.
“This award is very meaningful to me because effective communication plays a critical role in safety,” Becker said. “I strive to communicate with our workforce in ways that align with current trends so employees remain informed and aware of activities within the directorate.”
Becker’s impact extends further through his publication of directorate-wide safety bulletins that provide essential information on incident trends, contributing factors and lessons learned from mishaps, injuries and recordable accidents. These bulletins ensure the workforce not only understands the who, what, when, where and why behind each event, but also gains valuable insight to prevent recurrence.
He emphasized the recognition reflects the dedication of DPW’s workforce, particularly those performing high-hazard jobs under challenging conditions.
“Any success associated with this recognition is a direct reflection of our supervisors, work leads, and especially the technicians who perform hundreds of high-hazard jobs every day, often under challenging conditions such as recent freezing weather, while continuing to support the warfighter safely,” Becker said.
Looking ahead, Becker hopes his work continues to reinforce thoughtful decision-making and situational awareness.
“Our employees are consistently balancing the demand to complete maintenance work orders with the responsibility to work safely, and that balance is not easy,” Becker said. “Highlighting that reality reinforces the importance of planning, situational awareness and accountability at every level.”
That philosophy is echoed by TC Coffman, occupational safety and health program manager, DPW Safety Office, who was the recipient of the Exceptional Performance Award for Safety. Coffman stressed safety excellence cannot be credited to one individual, but to an organization that truly lives its values.
“This recognition is important because it communicates to a greater population the Army does care about its people — Soldiers and the civilians that support them,” he said. “This recognition is not mine alone; it serves as validation that the Directorate of Public Works at Fort Hood, Texas, is doing it right … not perfect, right. That means our DPW teammates have bought into safety and caring for one another and that our leadership is committed to supporting their efforts.”
Under Coffman’s leadership, the DPW Safety Office has evolved from a compliance-driven function into a proactive, data-informed and people-centered safety organization that enhances mission readiness and civilian workforce resilience. Coffman has cultivated a culture of accountability and empowerment that permeates every level of the directorate, illustrating that meaningful safety success requires full organizational buy-in.
“An organization doesn’t succeed or excel in safety because of one person or because they have a safety professional and standard operating procedures,” he said. “If the entire organization isn’t living safety, it cannot be successful and is guaranteed to hurt themselves and possibly even the customer or public.”
Recognition from APWA at both the state and national levels validates the collective efforts of the DPW team, Coffman added. “I hope the entire DPW feels the pride I do when we are recognized for taking care of what’s most important – life,” Coffman said. That shared commitment to safety was also on display Feb. 5 during the presentation of the Safety Hero of the Quarter award, recognizing Jesse Encarnacion for consistently leading by example and looking out for others in the workplace.
During the presentation, Adam Alexander, chief of DPW OMD, highlighted the significance of peer-driven nominations and the trust they represent.
“One of my visions was this safety award needs to come from boots on the ground,” Alexander said. “You’re the ones out there working day in and day out with one another.”
Alexander noted the nomination spoke volumes about both the recipient and the organization as a whole.
“It tells me a lot about the organization … that we’re not perfect and we’re going to make mistakes, but we’re confident in our mission and … we’re not afraid to recognize that other teammates in this organization make us successful,” he said.
He emphasized safety success depends on behind-the-scenes collaboration across DPW divisions.
“Supply, engineering, environmental — they support this mission day in and day out. You just might not always see it,” Alexander said. “When all the unit safety officers vote and agree that this individual stood out, that says a lot.”