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.
OSHA’s enforcement chief told TRSA members (TRSA represents the $16-billion textile services industry that employs nearly 200,000 people at more than 2,000 facilities nationwide) that the agency is “struggling” with incentive programs that recognize employers for exemplary efforts in preventing workplace injuries and illnesses.