Renewed Emphasis on Compliance Aid

Ed Foulke, co-chair of the firm's Workplace Safety and Catastrophe Management Practice Group, was interviewed for an article in the October 3 Bloomberg BNA Occupational Health and Safety Daily about what he hopes a new administration will be able to accomplish in providing compliance assistance programs not only at OSHA, but throughout the federal government. Ed was the Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) under the George W. Bush administration from 2006 to 2008. He said he envisions a White House office of compliance assistance and corporate sustainability, "to work with every agency in government and help companies comply with whatever they're responsible for." Such an office would help employers comply not only with OSHA rules but also with, for example, the Labor Department's wage and hour rules and the Environmental Protection Agency's various regulations. "Every federal department would have the responsibility of saying, ‘Here's what we're doing,' and they'll report to the White House on how to help employers comply with the rules."