Continued Emphasis on Whistleblower Protection Likely, Says Former OSHA Head

Bloomberg BNA Occupational Safety & Health Daily quoted Ed Foulke for the July 11 article “Continued Emphasis on Whistleblower Protection Likely, Says Former OSHA Head” The article featured quotes from his presentation at the American Society of Safety Engineers' annual conference. Ed, who is co-chair of the firm's Workplace Safety and Catastrophe Management Practice Group and former head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) under President George W. Bush, told the conference that OSHA's current leaders will spend the remainder of President Obama's term solidifying their whistleblower enforcement program. "We saw four years of enforcement [during Obama's first term], which will continue, but now they're going to beef up whistleblower to create a lasting legacy." He predicted that the trend will continue even if Republicans win the White House in 2016, "It's not going to change," he said, noting that staff cannot easily be shifted from one directorate to another because of the federal budget process, which dictates long-range plans.