2020 Safety Award

Building failures and post-disaster field work present unique opportunities to collect data that would not be possible in a laboratory.  However, this type of research involves sending NIST staff to locales with fragile physical and social infrastructure.  The nominees are recognized for developing a highly innovative safety management system that creatively addresses the inherent difficulties of deciding whether it is safe and appropriate to authorize a field deployment and provides relevant training and equipment to operate effectively in an uncertain, high-stress environment.  The nominees embody the spirit of the NIST Safety Award through their creativity, cooperation, and persistence in the pursuit of safely taking meaning from tragedy.