Dave Johnson

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.

Jobs creation and avoiding the fiscal cliff are top of mind issues of national business groups following the election. More narrow issues, such as OSHA policies and standards, are for another day, probably sometime in 2013, especially if OSHA makes noises about new standards.

Peg Seminario, longtime director of health and safety for the AFL-CIO, told ISHN in an exclusive day after the election interview, “We don’t buy at all the claim that regulations kill jobs. Quite the opposite, according to recent research.”

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.

For some time now I have contended we are, and have been for probably 10-15 years, in the post-OSHA era. Remember Al Gore’s attempt to “reinvent” OSHA to be more “customer friendly”? Specifically I am referring to OSHA standards-setting.

Many global EHS managers travel abroad about once a quarter. Thirty-eight percent make three to four trips to foreign countries each year. And they put in long days at foreign sites.

The first thing we noticed in this year’s annual White Paper EHS State of the Nation reader survey was age. It could be that morbid mindset that seems to settle in with age: the older you get the more you tend to check ages.