By: Marcia Bedbury
Straughan is a proud member of the Contractor Safety Forum (CSF). The CSF committee provides a platform for Contractor Executives to promote and demonstrate management leadership in the safety programs of Johnson Space Center (JSC), its contractors, and civil servants. This committee brings together contractor and civil service senior management on a quarterly basis to receive information on safety, health, and environmental related topics, and provides an opportunity for safety representatives to share “best practices”.
The CSF has an annual awards presentation where companies are recognized for outstanding safety and health performance as a valued contractor at JSC. On March 19, 2025, the CSF awarded JEST (composed of Straughan and HazTrain) the Safety and Health Excellence NOVA Award for 2024. Straughan has been presented with the NOVA award for the last seven years.
One of the requirements is to highlight an example of our safety and health program or an accomplishment that we were most proud of for 2024.
The Straughan JEST team diverted many different “wastes” from entering landfills, contaminating the environment, or threatening community safety and health by diverting them to certified recyclers. At JSC, the team managed to recycle 144,880 pounds of wood and divert 4,399 pounds of light ballasts from the landfill in 2024. These best practices not only benefit the JSC community, but also the surrounding Houston community by recycling products that would otherwise take up space in a landfill and serve no other purpose.
Through the volunteer Coffee to Compost Program, we diverted 800 pounds of compostable material from landfills in 2024. This brings our ten-year running total to 179,452 pounds of material diverted from landfills since 2014.
Additionally, our Environmental Outreach Program held five informational seminars advertising on-site recycling and composting opportunities.
The JEST team recycled 217 pounds of alkaline batteries in 2024 through a pilot project carried out in conjunction with the JSC Custodial contractor. Over the course of 5 years, 14,000+ batteries were recycled through this program, which enabled funding to be secured for another three years starting in 2023.
The JEST Team also participated in the 2024 Earth Day Event and the 2024 Safety and Health Day Events, in which we prepared a booth with information regarding the environmental programs onsite.