Wondering who’s running OSHA these days? A career government attorney. Donald G. Shalhoub is the current deputy assistant secretary, responsible for oversight of the work of the OSHA’s ten regional offices across the country and the Directorates of Enforcement, Construction and Cooperative and State Programs in the national office.

It’s a caretaker role Shalhoub will continue in until probably this summer, after a new assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health is nominated and confirmed. The process of naming a new OSHA boss, always time-consuming and a low priority in any administration, has been delayed even more by the intense attention to economic stimulus legislation by the Obama administration and Congress.

Shalhoub was selected to be the deputy assistant secretary for OSHA on Oct. 1, 2006 by then-OSHA boss Ed Foulke.

According to his biography posted on OSHA’s web site, immediately prior to this position, Shalhoub served as the first Ombudsman for the compensation program created by Part E of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, having been appointed to that position by Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao on Feb. 24, 2005.

A career government attorney, Shalhoub held a variety of positions in the Office of the Solicitor at the U.S. Department of Labor from 1985 to 2005, serving as Deputy Associate Solicitor for the Occupational Safety and Health (1987-2003), Labor-Management Laws (1985-87) and Civil Rights (2003-05) Divisions. From 1983-1985, he served as Chief Counsel to the Chairman of the Federal Labor Relations Authority.

Shalhoub received his Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Peter's College in 1972 and his Juris Doctor degree from Loyola University School of Law in 1976, where he graduated as a member of the Loyola Law Review. He received a Masters' Degree in Labor Law from Georgetown University in 1977.