NSC honors five security managers with distinguished service to safety award
The highest award of the National Safety Council was presented at the NSC Safety Congress & Expo 2025 in Denver, with exceptional contributions to global health and security being recognized in the workplace.
The National Safety Council honored five people with the Distinguished Service to Safety Award, the highest price for security specialists from NSC. The recipients were honored at the NSC Safety Congress & Expo 2025 in Denver.
After checking the nominations of the public and the NSC members, the committees of the NSC Division recognized the following security managers:
Kevin R. Cannon, Senior Director, Safety, Health & Risk Management, Associated General Contractors of America (AGC)
Kevin is a recognized security manager who plays a crucial role in promoting national improvements in building security. With more than three decades of experience, he leads strategies for the commercial building trade in the USA and the security of thousands of employers and employees positively.
Shaun Carvalho, Chief Safety Officer, Shawmut Design and Construction
When Chief Safety Officer, who was responsible for the security of over 60,000 workers annually, recorded incidents at work on the working day under his leadership by 47%since 2019. Shaun has created a strong culture of care that focused on the wellness of the employee and has implemented innovative security strategies that have contributed to the maintenance of zero-osha quotes in the past nine years.
Dr. Jay R. Harb, Vice President, Global EHS, Xylem Inc.
As a globally recognized EHS manager with over 30 years of leadership experience in high-risk industries and Fortune 500 companies, Jay has introduced effective security initiatives worldwide for thousands of employees and promoted cultures, accountability and operational excellence in security.
William “Jack” Jackson, Senior Consultant, Safest start
For decades, Jack, a prominent safety data leader and top speaker, has spent decades of changing the security culture of some of the most dangerous industries. He has retained himself as a prominent mentor in this area and strengthened over 90,000 experts worldwide, while he was classified in the top 10 speakers by NSC for nine years in a row.
Dr. Veera Kumar Mohan, specialist for internal quality assurance – health, security and environment, Abu Dhabi Vocational Education and Training Institute (Advveti)
Dr. Veera was recognized as a global laser in work and security education for work and security education, with over two decades of experience in safety management in production, construction, engineering and education. He has developed a revolutionary curriculum, including VR-based security training, helped setting up national and global qualification standards and trained thousands of security specialists directly.
“The recipients of Distinguished Service to Safety Award show what it means to be a real security manager and hero,” said Lorraine Martin, CEO from NSC. “Your lifelong commitment to make our jobs safer has contributed to preventing and saving countless injuries.”
The award was launched in 1942 and honored security specialists whose work has developed violation prevention worldwide. Further information on the Distinguished Service to Safety Award and other NSC awards can be found at NSC.org/awards.
About the author
Stasia Demarco is the content editor for OH & S.