Doug Parker was nominated to lead the Department of Labor OSHA on April 9th.  He was approved by the Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee by a margin of 13 to 9 this past week following a confirmation hearing but a date has yet to be set for a vote by the Senate.

Previously Parker led the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health. In this capacity his Agency developed standards to protect agricultural workers during the COVID outbreak and Cal/OSHA imposed far higher penalties on plant operators compared to the Federal OSHA for deviations from optimal protection of workers. His Washington experience includes serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Policy and an advisor to the Mine Safety and Health Administration in the Department of Labor during the previous Democratic administration.  OSHA is currently led by Deputy Assistant Secretary, Jim Fredrick in an acting capacity.