TEC Loss Control Manager Earns National Award

Danny Williams, Texas Electric Cooperative’s Loss Control manager, earned the 2014 Herman C. Potthast Award for his dedication to training, safety and service.

The National Utility Training and Safety Education Association bestows the award each year to a job training and safety instructor in memory of Herman C. Potthast, who demonstrated dedication, leadership and cooperation in this field. NUTSEA announced that Williams received the award during its 72nd annual conference in Colorado in September.

“To me there is no greater honor [than] to be chosen by my peers to receive such a prestigious award for the work I have done in safety and training,” Williams said.

Williams began his electric cooperative career in 1965 and has worked as TEC’s Loss Control manager since 2007. At TEC, he oversees a team of Loss Control specialists who provide safety and electrical instruction to almost 100 co-ops, contractors and municipal utilities around the state, reaching 22,000 electric utility workers each year. Because he has inspired so many of those workers also to become safety instructors and managers, he ensures that electrical workers’ greatest tool—their intellectual training—will be at the ready for decades to come.

Williams’ colleagues say that his patience in the field and in the classroom transforms him from an instructor into a mentor, which allows his students to effectively bond with his message.