Cultivating workplace safety and health is not just common sense; it is the right thing to do. Working for OSHA has given me countless opportunities to teach our constituents and the public why workplace safety and health should matter for everyone, but especially for populations that are not aware of their rights or afraid to act on their rights.

I am the voice of caution for our nation’s workforce. I did an accident investigation where a worker on a temporary visa died of heat stress in our Illinois cornfields. In the most literal sense, he worked himself to death, tending to our crops. He and the company that hired him lacked appropriate training. 

Experiences like these have renewed my passion for what I do and re-emphasized why health and safety on the job are so important. 

I get to evaluate employer’s efforts to prevent serious accidents and hear the worker’s perspective on their employer’s efforts. These interactions almost always result in meaningful improvements to worker safety, and positive feedback about OSHA’s efforts to enhance workplace safety and health. 

Since I have a flexible work schedule and often work from home, my job with OSHA allows me to spend more time with my wife and son. This is especially important since my service in the military often took me away from them.

I am grateful for the service I provide to our nation as an OSHA compliance officer. I am grateful that I get to be the voice of the silent worker who is fearful to say anything about safety in their workplace for fear of losing their job. I am grateful for the impact I bring workers in many industries, especially those exposed to the possibility of serious injury or death. 

I’m passionate about working for OSHA because I’m making a positive impact on the worker’s life. There’s no more satisfaction than saving lives.

Me apasiona trabajar para OSHA porque tengo un impacto positive en la vida de los trabajadores. No hay mayor satisfaccion que salvar vidas.

Working for OSHA has been an absolutely rewarding experience! To wake up every morning knowing that what I do helps to ensure a safe and healthful work environment for all Americans keeps me inspired to always do my very best. 

OSHA encourages professional development amongst their employees and is a very inclusive environment that allows all of its employees to show up as our true authentic selves! I am grateful for the wonderful colleagues I get to work with and the positive impact we make in the lives of millions of Americans every day. 

With OSHA, you don’t have a job, you have a PURPOSE! 

On January 29, 2009, my family’s life forever changed when my Uncle Bobby was fatally injured while at work. Since that day, my passion has been to listen to and help family members in their time of need and to help them find the answers to the many questions they may have after such a loss.

I am grateful to be working for OSHA as the new Family Liaison, striving to honor our fallen workers and assist families that have been directly affected by an occupational incident, illness or disease. 

I am a second-generation OSHA employee. I am grateful to work with so many different people in so many different industries. Every day is a new day that affords me the opportunity to learn.

I would like workers and employers to know OSHA wants to make sure everyone goes home from work with all their parts and pieces they arrived with. No paycheck is worth your life. 

I began my career with OSHA in 1991 as an industrial hygienist in the Baton Rouge Area Office. I served as a compliance safety and health officer and an assistant area director in the Denver Office from 1995 thru 2004. And I have sincerely enjoyed each of those opportunities.

I truly LOVE being the VPP Manager in Region VIII. My co-workers are terrific and helping sites achieve long-term success and excellence in safety and health has proven to be very fulfilling. During my time in enforcement, I got a chance to meet a lot of people, but serving as the VPP Manager has afforded me the opportunity to get to know people.

I am grateful for the opportunity to go to such a variety of workplaces and see how things are made and how work gets done in a wide range of industries.

Throughout those 33 years, I have learned so much about American workers and wholeheartedly appreciate the sacrifices many have made, as they prove every day that they are the backbone of this country.

I investigated a fatality where an African American worker was run over by a frontend loader. This facility was a composite recycling, it was a dark, dirty and a very smelly job. There were no safety and health policies and procedures in place, and I cited everything but the kitchen sink.

As I was interviewing workers, I asked them what changes they wanted to make to this place a better place to work in. I negotiated for what the workers asked for, a shower and a clean room to change when work ended. This why I sated 33 years; I can make a difference in workers lives, specifically workers of color.

“Working at OSHA means I have the opportunity to be part of the long struggle to improve workplace conditions in the U.S. 

One day I was assigned to investigate a fatal accident. I realized something familiar about the location and remembered I had been at the same site about one year earlier at the start of the project. I choked back emotion, fearing I had missed something the first time. It turned out that the worker at the scaffolding company started at the very end of the project. It was an experience that I’ll never forget. 

My role is to be a field presence and represent the ideals of safety and health regulations.”

I realized being a doctor was not for me near the end of my college days studying biomedical engineering. Thankfully, I was introduced to Industrial Hygiene, which prompted me to pursue a master’s degree in public health.  

For the first time, I embraced the idea of being able to prevent people from getting sick in the first place. The years that followed led me to working as an Industrial Hygienist, an Environmental Safety Specialist, and finally to my first position in OSHA as a safety engineer. Over the years, I’ve been promoted and now I’m the Kansas City Regional Administrator.

Without OSHA rules and regulations, many employees would have no protections at all. It’s easy to look at statistics to see if we’re meeting all the metrics, but what is impossible to quantify are the lives saved.

Our team helps OSHA fulfill its mission during emergency response and recovery operations for natural and manmade disasters and emerging infectious diseases. 

OSHA means Representation and Honor. I am an Asian American, who grew up in a hard-working family with deep-rooted immigrant (Korean American) working values and culture. Through my work over the years at OSHA, I’ve realized that I am a voice for the Asian American and Pacific Islander worker and business community.  

AAPIs deserve healthy and safe working environments, just as all workers do, and I will continue to serve to strengthen those protections. 

I am OSHA – every day, all day! Safety has been a fundamental part of my life, as the daughter, sister, niece, cousin, aunt and mother to a family of ironworkers. 

Through the teachings of my father, I learned that safety is not a choice, but a way of thinking. For the past 12 years, it is natural for me to extend my OSHA knowledge beyond my day work of processing Freedom of Information Act requests, to my family, friends, and neighbors. 

As a Compliance Officer, I have the opportunity to work in new and different environments on a daily basis. Whether you’re an employee or a manager, it is always in your interest to ask questions. 

Compliance officers and OSHA as an agency want to help businesses, employees, and employers be successful in providing a safe and healthful place for the American workforce to make a living. 

I have worked for OSHA for more than 23 years in various roles including secretary, supervisory secretary, compliance safety and health officer, program analyst and program specialist.

I have been involved in disaster response efforts for Hurricane Sandy and performed fit testing and distributed respiratory protection during the World Trade Center response. I have also been responsible for training other safety professionals at the area office level. 

There is no career more rewarding as I know that my work has made a difference in the lives of workers as I helped to enhance their safety and health in the workplace. I have also acquired a network of intelligent, caring peers that helped me to develop my skills to be the best that I could be when I was working in the field. 

As a Compliance Assistance Specialist, I provide general information about OSHA and compliance assistance resources. Working for OSHA means that I can help workers, regardless of their immigration status, by ensuring that they have a safe and healthy workplace.

It gives me great satisfaction knowing that I can make an impact and even potentially save a worker’s life when I share the importance of OSHA. The people I engage with spread the importance of safety and health to their friends, colleagues and loved ones.

As an investigator, I visited a site to interview an employer and their employees regarding a case. I did not know, but this site was a participant of one of the agency’s safety and health recognition programs. Every worker I spoke with said they loved working there because it was so safe, and they helped contribute. After being at other worksites where there have been fatalities and accidents, seeing the worst of the worst, I cried with happiness that everyone worked together to provide a safe workplace. I realized at that point employers CAN make a difference. 

I have been with the agency for over 30 years in various roles from Compliance Officer to Deputy Regional Administrator. I come to work each day because I know the difference that OSHA can make in the lives of America’s workers.

I have conducted inspections in workplaces where the only safety and health professional they have ever seen was myself. There is no better feeling than knowing that your work removed an employee from harm’s way. 

If you are looking for a career where you can make a positive difference in others’ working lives every day, I encourage you to come work for OSHA. Our job is not easy, but it is rewarding. 

I have a deep appreciation for being able to contribute to providing a safe workplace for America’s workers. I have met so many workers in various industries that are passionate about the work they do. They deserve to be safe while providing for their families. 

I am proud that I can make that contribution to ensure their safety by answering their questions and providing tools that they can utilize to remain safe. 

OSHA allows me to directly impact people’s lives in a positive way, primarily in our workforce. It provides a getaway to help minimize or eliminate safety hazards in the workplace. 

As a safety professional for many years, I had challenges that affected my prompt reaction to safety issues such as budget, staffing and leadership. OSHA enables us via the OSH Act to have a fast and long-lasting positive safety impact in each of our inspections. 

Saving the lives of America’s workers that could be at risk due to improper safety practices or lack of safety programs is invaluable. Helping an employer be better brings me a lot of satisfaction. 

My role as a supervisor is to support our team of investigators, so they are best equipped to complete the OSHA mission.

I recently had the opportunity to testify in court on a successful case. It will likely set the precedence for years to come. That experience reinvigorated my passion for the job and reminded me that real people depend on us to do our job to the best of our abilities.