Call it the OSHA relevancy scale. After the election, and staring at another four-year cycle at OSHA, we posed this question to several in-the-know sources: In terms of its various activities and their impact on safety pros, how influencial and relevant is OSHA after 40+ years of existence?
Mere days after the presidential election, the honeymoon is still on for the winners. That includes agencies such as OSHA, MSHA and EPA, whose top leaders were political appointments made after Obama’s 2008 win.
OSHA watcher in Washington lament the loss of one of the very few members of Congress with a serious interest in the agency – Lynn Woolsey, (D-Calif.), the ranking minority member of the House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Workforce Protection.
Most of the sources with longstanding OSHA connections that ISHN has contacted post-election contend that we are in for a revival of the Injury and Illness Prevention Program (i2P2). OSHA officials backed off discussing in public to any detailed degree the controversial rule during the 2012 presidential election race.
We could see history being made here. Many DC sources tell us the same thing: Dr. Michaels “loves” his job, according to one source, and has made it known in DC he wants to stay on. It would be the first time in OSHA’s 40+ year history that an OSHA chief has stayed in place for a president’s second term.
This would be Richard Fairfax, currently deputy assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health. Fairfax has worked in numerous positions at the agency since joining in 1980. One source who knows Fairfax says he is the longest-serving careerist at OSHA.
Educate managers, supervisors and employees that robust reporting of safety-related incidents leads to understanding, recognition, prevention and reduction of injuries, property damage, close calls, and related costs.
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