It only took the United States Senate 1747 days to confirm a new head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA has been without a head since January 2017. President Joseph Biden nominated Mr. Doug Parker on April 9, 2021, and the Senate confirmed him on October 25, 2021. We have to remember that former President Donald Trunp nominated Scott Mugno in October 2017, but Mr. Mugno withdrew in May 2019 after waiting for 19 months for the Senate to confirm him.
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| Mr. Doug Parker, Assistant Secertary to OSHA |
Mr. Parker had his Senate confirmation hearing held on May 27. Obviously, many of the questions posed to Mr. Parker were related to the pandemic and the soon to be released OSHA emergency temporary standard regarding protecting workers from COVID-19 for General Industry.
Mr. Parker has served as the head of California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (CAL/OSHA) since September 2019. In his confirmation hearing he defended CAL/OSHA's emergency temporary standard on COVID-19 and strongly defended OSHA's plans for a new emergency temporary standard. Currently, OSHA's emergency temporary standard for COVID-19 only applies to healthcare and healthcare support service workers.
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| OSHA is 50 Years Old |
It is obvious from his experince at CAL/OSHA and other similar safety-related organizations he has the skill set and leadership abilities to be the new head at OSHA.
