President Biden to Nominate Douglas L. Parker, Chief of Cal/OSHA, to Lead Federal OSHA

​Earlier this month, President Biden announced that he intends to nominate Douglas L. Parker to lead the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Mr. Parker is currently the chief of California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, commonly known as Cal/OSHA, a position he has held since September 2019. Mr. Parker previously served in the Department of Labor under the administration of President Obama as deputy assistant secretary for policy with the Mine Safety and Health Administration, and he was a member of the Biden-Harris transition team.  

---

Before leading Cal/OSHA, Parker served as executive director of WorkSafe, a legal services provider based out of Oakland, CA, and as an attorney for the United Mine Workers of America. If confirmed, Mr. Parker would be the first Senate-confirmed federal OSHA chief since January 2017, and the first time the agency has been led by a safety professional in roughly 20 years. ​