OSHA Director Scannell Resigns
Gerard Scannell announced his resignation as director of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Monday.
He is stepping down to become a vice president at Johnson & Johnson, the New Brunswick, N.J., company where he had worked for 10 years before taking over at OSHA.
Before Scannell’s tenure, OSHA had come under fire as being either pro-business or pro-labor, depending on which political party held the White House. Longtime OSHA critic Joseph Kinney, who runs the National Safe Workplace Institute in Chicago, said Scannell “has tried to serve all the people. His performance has been extremely responsive.”
Scannell’s departure had been rumored for weeks.
Labor Secretary Lynn Martin said she was accepting his resignation, effective Jan. 17, with “sincere regret.”
During Scannell’s term, OSHA collected several record-breaking, multimillion-dollar settlements from corporations that violated safety laws, Kinney said.
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