The huge grand concourse was strangely quiet and nearly empty. Walking through Washington's Union Station on Wednesday, November 15, at 7:15 a.m., it seemed like a Sunday morning. Across the front page of The Washington Post ran the headline: "Workers Go Home; Talks Go Nowhere." A phone call to OSHA's Office of Public Information triggered this taped message: "The government has been shut down due to a lack of funding, and OSHA will not reopen for business until the funding impasse has been resolved." On Tuesday, the first day of the shutdown, OSHA administrator Joe Dear had a friend drop him off for a speech across the Potomac River in Pentagon City, Virginia. As he left the meeting, several attendees in the back of the room pulled out change and offered to pay his cab fare home.

It's been that kind of year for Dear, who often seems to be on his own without much support. The federal government's partial work stoppage (OSHA still handled emergencies) epitomized the state of OSHA affairs: frustrating, disappointing, and strange.