Washington — David Keeling’s nomination to lead OSHA has advanced to the full Senate, after a 12-11 party-line vote by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on June 26.
During a recent confirmation hearing, the former UPS and Amazon safety executive shared his three main goals for the agency:
Modernization in regulatory oversight and rulemaking: Using technologies and predictive analytics to move beyond “simple regulatory compliance and post-injury response to injury prevention and informed design.” Keeling said this would involve taking advantage of existing global industry consensus standards, “which have gone through much more rigorous review, regular updating and continuous improvement than have many of OSHA’s existing rules.” He didn’t say, nor did his written testimony expand on, which consensus standards the agency would use.
Expanding OSHA’s cooperation and collaboration efforts: Keeling specifically mentioned the agency’s potential collaboration and cooperation with professional groups, companies and unions. “We all want the same thing,” he said, “although we differ sometimes on what the best road is to get there. We must move beyond existing silos and self-imposed barriers to achieve real improvement.”
He also floated modernizing and updating OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Programs. “The current VPP programs provide a basic platform, but it’s only a start. Critical work needs to be done in this area to achieve successful outcomes.”
OSHA’s “enforcement transformation”: Keeling said the agency could harness existing data “to greatly enhance onsite safety efforts through predictive analytics.” He didn’t specify what kind of data and what type of predictive analytics. He also said OSHA must engage “at-risk employers and employees through proactive risk mitigation and reduction programs before a worksite tragedy has taken place or a fatality has occurred.”
He concluded: “We should never get to a worksite after it’s too late. If confirmed, I’m committed to working with each of you so that no family sits down at the dinner table to an empty chair.
“I believe that by working with this committee and the stakeholders across ideological spectrum, we can achieve real and meaningful progress, and I hope to achieve these goals with your help.”
In her opening statement, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) noted that OSHA expects to conduct around 10,000 fewer workplace safety inspections this coming fiscal year than in FY 2024 (the most recent year for which data is available). The agency’s FY 2026 budget justification states that the agency is expected to conduct nearly 25,000 inspections. OSHA conducted more than 34,600 inspections in FY 2024.
“Reducing the number of inspections leads to more unsafe environments, more injuries and more families facing uncertainty that comes from losing hours on the job or dealing with a work injury,” Baldwin said.
At press time, the Senate hadn’t scheduled a vote on the nomination.
