For 25 years, Nick Walters distinguished himself at OSHA, excelling in roles in the agency’s area, regional, national and state plan offices. Here are some of the highlights of his distinguished career.
Regional Administrator, OSHA Region V in Chicago, IL
Director – OSHA Directorate of Training and Education, in Arlington Heights, IL
Acting Director – OSHA Directorate of Enforcement Programs, Washington, DC
OSHA Executive Steering Committee Member – Provided guidance to the assistant secretary of OSHA on high level policy and operational issues as part of a four person committee consisting of two Regional Administrators and two National Office Directors.
Training and Education Executive Committee Chairman – Set national agency policy on training programs for all Compliance Officers, Whistleblower Investigators, and Managers.
OSHA Enforcement Weighting Taskforce Chairman – Led the development of a new weighting system for the most complex safety and health enforcement activities. The system allowed the agency to more accurately align limited resources required to perform inspection related activities. This tool greatly assisted the strategic planning process and focused efforts on the most resource intensive enforcement activity.
Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP) Taskforce Chairman – Led the development of a new program to identify the most severe violators of the OSHA requirements and to target their worksites for enhanced enforcement presence.
Severe Injury Reporting Taskforce Chairman – Developed the internal OSHA procedures for responding to employer reports of severe injuries under the new recordkeeping requirements.
Grain Handling Taskforce Chairman – Led a multi-region workgroup to address enforcement consistency issues in the grain handling industry. Developed training tools to be used throughout the Agency and made recommendations to the National Office to address concerns raised by stakeholders.
OSHA National Penalty Taskforce Member - Performed analysis of OSHA's new penalty calculation system and made recommendations for changes to the system based on concerns raised by stakeholders and Congress regarding impact on small businesses.
Whistleblower Executive Committee Member – Led the internal reorganization of the Whistleblower Program and provided guidance on agency policy, procedure and operating plan goals.
Occupational Safety and Health State Plan Association (OSHSPA) and Consultation Program Executive Committee Member – Worked in collaboration with the State Plan Association and Consultation Programs on national OSHA policy issues.
Oversight of egregious, criminal and section 11(b) cases in general industry and construction involving complex topics including lockout/tagout, machine guarding, confined space entry, fall protection, cave-in protection, process safety management, silica, lead, asbestos, respiratory protection and electrical hazards.
OSHA Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) - Led the regional office and Peoria Area Office in making improvements to their internal safety and health management systems, including preparation of the VPP application and on-site evaluation. This resulted in Chicago becoming the first regional Office and Peoria becoming the sixth area office in the country to be accepted into VPP as Star sites.