The head of North Carolina's workplace safety program is a top contender to head the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, the Raleigh News and Observer reported today.
Charles Jeffress, who took over North Carolina's troubled OSHA program 1993 in the aftermath of a much-publicized 1991 poultry plant fire in which 25 workers were killed, is being pushed by several North Carolina House members to head the federal agency -- a post that has been a bureaucratic hot seat in recent years.
A key North Carolina Republican, House Education and the Workforce Workforce Protections Subcommittee Chairman Cass Ballenger, told the newspaper: "I think he's well qualified. He's done a good job [in North Carolina]."
Others on the list include Acting OSHA Director Gregory Watchman and Michael Wright, safety and health director of United Steelworkers. But Ballenger said he has heard Jeffress is the top choice.
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