On June 14, 2010, Dr. David Michaels, the newly-appointed head of OSHA, gave a speech at the American Society of Safety Engineers’ annual conference in Baltimore. He emphasized implementing an Injury and Illness Prevention Program. “We will be asking employers to find the safety and health hazards present in their facilities… and then fix those hazards,” he explained. ”ASSE and other professional organizations asked for this rule, and I believe it has the potential to change the culture of workplaces… in a way we haven’t seen since OSHA was created 40 years ago.”
In the next several years Dr. Michaels repeatedly stressed the need for what became known as “I2P2.” It became the talk of the safety world, debated by vocal supporters and critics.