On November 18, 2009, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee approved President Barack Obama’s nomination of Dr. David Michaels as the Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. During an Executive Session, a majority of the Committee voted in favor of the nomination. Senators Richard Burr (R-NC) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) voted against the nomination.

The Assistant Secretary of Labor is responsible for developing and enforcing OSHA regulations regarding workplace safety and health, as well as issuing interpretive guidance and opinion letters to assist employers in their compliance efforts with these regulations. 

Michaels currently serves as a Research Professor at the Department of Environment and Occupational Health at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. Prior to this role, Michaels served as Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environment, Safety and Health, where he was responsible for protecting the safety and health of workers around nuclear weapons facilities. In this position, he was the chief architect of an initiative to compensate workers who developed occupational illnesses from exposure to radiation, beryllium and other hazards.