OSHA Does The Darndest Things

"It's a bad tone to set when you're dealing with people dying in the workplace," said Barab, whose blog includes a weekly toll of worker fatalities. "It's, 'Look at all these stupid workers. Even the kids aren't that stupid,' " he said. "The implication is workers do stupid things."

Michael Wright , director of health, safety and environment for the United Steelworkers , said he read the speech on Barab's blog. "I think he was being insensitive, and he thought it was humorous. It insults accident victims," said Wright.

Union safety and health professionals thought the speech reinforced a management view that accidents are the result of behavior -- careless mistakes -- rather than a lack of training or hazardous work conditions.

"In the absence of a hazard, it's hard to have an injury or an illness," said William H. Kojola , industrial hygienist for the AFL-CIO . "This is focusing on the wrong cause. I was stunned."

In an interview, Foulke said he wasn't trying to offend anyone. He said the presentation, given in the auditorium of the Labor Department, was geared toward an audience of kids and their families.

"Kids recognize the importance of safety, and they want their parents to come home [from work] every day," said Foulke. "This is OSHA's goal and my goal. That's part of our charge that workers go home every day safe and sound to their loved ones."

"You had to be there for the whole thing," said Diane Hurns , spokeswoman for the ASSE. "The focus was on the kids. I don't think there was an effort to embarrass workers."

Foulke is no stranger to Washington or the constituencies that might take a speech the way they did.

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush appointed Foulke the youngest chairman of the OSHA Review Commission , an independent federal agency that hears appeals from companies cited by OSHA for safety infractions.

Foulke acted as chairman until 1994. He then spent another year as a member. During his time as chairman, he whittled away at a backlog of cases and generally was regarded as a good administrator and someone who got along well with people.

"He is as nice a guy as anyone who you would want to meet in your life," said Earl Ohman , former general counsel at the Review Commission. "He had a very good sense of deciding cases and what was right and what would fly."

Arthur G. Sapper , an attorney for management in McDermott Will & Emery 's OSHA practice, had a different read on the speech: "Ed never said all unsafe conditions are due to employee misbehavior. The criticism that he did [do that] is off the mark." Sapper was deputy general counsel at the commission before Foulke arrived.

When he left the commission, Foulke joined Jackson Lewis LLP , a South Carolina law firm, as a partner. The firm is known as a tough union buster and is advertising on its Web site a $595 seminar on "How to Stay Union Free."

Out for Comment

The White House has named Steven D. Aitken , a 17-year veteran and now deputy general counsel at the Office of Management and Budget , as acting director of its regulatory review office.