They came early on an cold, wet December morning to hear OSHA's new boss speak at length for really the first time on what he wants to do with the agency. Normally, 10 to 20 faithful followers of OSHA affairs--a small clique of Washington lobbyists and lawyers--come to the Department of Labor for meetings of the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health. But for this meeting, close to 50 people took up most of the available seats in Room N3437 to hear a "dialog, an exchange of views," as it was billed, between the advisory committee and Charles Jeffress, who had been sworn in as assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health almost exactly one month earlier.
"You need to know who I am, how I like to work with folks, and the direction I'd like to see the agency move in," a smiling, confident Jeffress told the committee. With a disarming soft twang and a penchant for addressing groups as "y'all," the North Carolinian went on to describe himself as a manager, not a technical safety and health expert.