Safety professionals from across the country gathered last week in Nashville for the 2026 Voluntary Protection Programs Participants’ Association (VPPPA) Safety+ Symposium, where Melissa “Mel” McKenzie was honored with the national VPPPA Emerging Safety Leadership Excellence Award.
McKenzie, a safety programs specialist at UCOR, was recognized for her worker-centric initiatives that helped the company surpass 8 million consecutive work hours without a lost-workday injury.
McKenzie has spearheaded multiple digital and field safety innovations. She directed a cross-functional team to design a consolidated mobile application that integrated UCOR’s safety observations, compliance reporting, and employee question platforms into a single dashboard. Under her leadership as UCOR’s Safety Observation Program lead, employee participation reached a record 8,500 submittals in 2025. She also modernized UCOR’s automated external defibrillator (AED) and field trauma kit programs to enhance emergency readiness.
McKenzie is also the president-elect of her local American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) chapter, which she helped revitalize to achieve Platinum status. A former equine facility owner who transitioned to industrial safety seven years ago, she serves as UCOR’s safety programs lead while simultaneously acting as corporate safety and health manager for Strata-G, cementing her role as a prominent mentor in the environmental cleanup sector.
