On February 10, President Trump nominated David Keeling to head the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Keeling was the director of global road & transportation safety at Amazon. He held this position from July 2021 until May 2023. Prior to that he was the vice president of global health & safety for UPS, having been with the company 18 years in total.
In his LinkedIn page, Keeling commented:
“I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to President Trump for nominating me to be the next OSHA Administrator at the US Department of Labor. It is an incredible honor, and if confirmed, I am excited about the opportunity to work with Secretary Lori Chavez-Deremer and Deputy Secretary Keith Sonderling to further OSHA's mission to enhance workplace safety and health."
Keeling is certainly very familiar with OSHA's operations, though perhaps not in the way one might expect for somebody nominated to run the agency. Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, a progressive consumer rights advocacy group, pointed out in a statement that "Keeling's work history with Amazon and UPS was marked by frequent [OSHA] citations for workplace safety and health violations."
In a statement from the International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA), the group congratulated Keeling on his nomination, and encouraged the Senate to confirm him as the next head of OSHA. ISEA added that "Keeling understands firsthand the critical role of workplace protections and the safety equipment professionals who provide them."
EHS Today talked with Phillip Russell, a partner at Ogletree Deakins, about the nomination. "I don't know David, but my fear is that this nomination will not bring about the innovation and change that we need at OSHA. Since 1970, through different administrations, we have never stopped to ask about innovation and change at the agency. We haven't asked if the agency is operating as it's supposed to be under the statute and whether or not it's effective. And I just don't see Keeling as being the person that is going to take us where the agency needs to be."
On his LinkedIn page, Russell made the following comments:
As I have shared here before OSHA is long overdue for an overhaul. Since its establishment in 1970, it has substantially operated in the same manner. But many of the same hazards and fatalities persist. Something has to change and I have addressed many of those things here.
I don't know Mr. Keeling, but I share the concerns of many employers and industry associations about the involvement of the Teamsters in his selection and that of SOL nominee, Lori Chavez-DeRemer. I don't think anyone reasonably expects the Teamsters to be leaders in innovation and change at the DOL and OSHA.
We need to reform OSHA and get the agency focused on real workplace hazards and workable solutions with industry. The last four years have seen too many politically motivated targets motivated by coziness to Big Labor. Warehouses and retail operations are not getting workers killed, yet OSHA has spent crazy resources on those industries and specific employers in them - all at the urging of Big Labor. That must stop because other industries have seen continued exposures and fatalities.
Having shared my concerns, I hope I'm wrong. And I offer my support. Let's fix OSHA and save more lives while recognizing that employers and industry associations are critical to that success.
