EARL R. OHMAN, GENERAL COUNSEL OF REVIEW COMMISSION, RETIRES

The Earl R. Ohman, Jr., General Counsel of the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (Review Commission), retires effective September 3, 2004 after more than 38 years of public service. Mr. Ohman has been General Counsel at the Review Commission for more than 20 years.

Mr. Ohman joined the Review Commission as a part-time law clerk in November 1973, in the early days of the agency created to function as a court system by the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. The cases on which the Review Commission rules involve disputes over alleged violations of job safety and health standards. As General Counsel, Mr. Ohman has supervised staff attorneys who prepare and present legal analyses to assist presidentially-appointed Review Commission members in adjudicating appeals from the first level decisions issued by agency Administrative Law Judges decisions. This includes, among other tasks, the presentation of cases to the Commissioners for disposition, and the drafting and editing of the Commissioners’ opinions. The General Counsel has also advised the agency Chairman and other agency component offices in areas ranging from personnel, to procurement and ethics.

Prior to becoming general counsel, Mr. Ohman served in varied legal posts at the agency until being appointed acting general counsel from August 1981 to April 1982. He again served on an acting basis in that position from January through March of 1984. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering at the U. S. Naval Academy, served in the U.S. Navy from 1967 to 1971, and earned his Juris Doctor at the George Washington University Law School. He and his wife, daughter and son reside in Arlington, Virginia.

OSHRC Chairman W. Scott Railton thanked Mr. Ohman for his years of dedicated service to the Review Commission and the public service.