On October 19, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) held its tenth public meeting on the agency’s whistleblower program. During the online event, participants raised issues and provided suggestions related to the program and whistleblowing at large.

Introductions and Changes OSHA Has Implemented

Douglas Parker, Assistant Secretary for OSHA, introduced the event. “We at OSHA believe it’s crucial that all workers feel comfortable bringing issues,” he said, highlighting the importance of whistleblowers and their power to shed light on problems that may otherwise go unnoticed. He laid out the goal of these public meetings: identifying how OSHA can deliver better customer service and assistance the agency can provide to explain the whistleblower program to employees and employers.

Parker talked about how the agency is listening and implementing changes that are results of conversations and input from the OSHA public meetings. One change he mentioned was the updating of the investigations manual, which was the first major overhaul since 2011. Parker also said that the agency “updated internal training,” “added frequently asked questions on immigration,” and made updates to the retaliation webpage.

Lee Martin, Director of the Directorate of Whistleblower Protection Programs (DWPP), mentioned that during these meetings, the agency receives “a lot of useful feedback.” Martin mentioned that notes from the meeting will be uploaded to this page.

Rob Swick, the...

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