Last week, the Senate confirmed the nomination of Cynthia L. Attwood to be a member of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC). The OSHRC is the independent federal agency responsible for adjudicating contests of citations or penalties resulting from an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) workplace inspection. The agency, which functions as an administrative court, is also charged with establishing procedures for conducting hearings, receiving evidence, and rendering decisions.

Attwood served for eight years as an attorney advisor for the Department of Labor's (DOL) Administrative Review Board (ARB), and then for three years as an Administrative Appeals Judge on the ARB. In addition, Attwood spent more than 10 years in the Senior Executive Service at the DOL, both as the Associate Solicitor for Occupational Safety and Health and as the Associate Solicitor for Mine Safety and Health. After receiving her law degree from the University of Minnesota, Attwood began her career as a civil rights litigator at the Department of Justice. Attwood’s term with the OSHRC will expire on April 27, 2013.