07.28.09

Chairs Miller and Woolsey Praise Expected Nomination of Dr. David Michaels as OSHA Head

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, and Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), the chair of the Workforce Protections Subcommittee, today praised President Barack Obama’s announcement of his intention to nominate Dr. David Michaels as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.

“President Obama is to be commended for his intent to nominate Dr. David Michaels to lead the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration,” said Miller. “Dr. Michaels' expertise and leadership is needed as OSHA continues to restore vital health and safety protections for America’s workers. I look forward to working with Dr. Michaels and Secretary Solis to ensure the agency has the tools it needs to accomplish this mission.”
 “Given the impressive credentials Dr. Michaels will bring as the OSHA administrator, I am confident that the initiatives launched by Secretary Solis to issue long overdue safety standards and bring back more vigorous enforcement of workplace safety and health standards will be realized,” said Woolsey.

Dr. David Michaels, an epidemiologist, is currently a research professor at the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. He has conducted numerous studies of the health effects of occupational exposure to toxic chemicals, including asbestos, metals and solvents, and has written extensively on science and regulatory policy.  

Michaels served as Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environment, Safety and Health between 1998 and 2001, responsible for protecting the health and safety of workers, communities and the environment surrounding the nation’s nuclear weapons facilities.  In that position, he worked on a bipartisan basis to help enact the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000, an initiative to compensate nuclear weapons workers who developed occupational illnesses as a result of exposure to radiation, beryllium and other hazards.