Division of Industrial Relations Administrator Victoria Carreón has appointed William Gardner as Chief Administrative Officer of the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) effective July 19, 2021. He will be responsible for leading the state’s efforts to ensure safe and healthful working conditions by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance.
Gardner has more than eight years of workplace safety experience. He joined Nevada OSHA in 2017 and has served as a supervisor for the past two years. Prior to joining Nevada OSHA, he served as a safety specialist and manager in private industry where he was responsible for achieving compliance with safety standards for thousands of employees at multiple facilities on a fixed budget.
“Mr. Gardner has extensive workplace safety experience and took a key leadership role during the COVID-19 pandemic by managing intake and resolution of an unprecedented number of workplace safety complaints,” Administrator Carreón said. “I look forward to working with him to continue to improve workplace safety outcomes in Nevada.”
Gardner is a Certified Safety Management Specialist. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Homeland Security and Emergency Management and a Master of Arts degree in Organizational Management from Ashford University.
About the Division of Industrial Relations:
The Nevada Division of Industrial Relations is the principal regulatory agency responsible for workplace safety and worker protections in the state of Nevada. Comprised of five sections – the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Worker’s Compensation Section, the Mechanical Compliance Section, the Mine Safety and Training Section, and the Safety Consultation and Training Section – DIR works to protect Nevada’s workforce and provides a broad scope of training and support to the regulated community. For more information, please visit http://dir.nv.gov.
About Nevada OSHA:
Nevada OSHA operates as an approved state program as defined by section 18 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 and is required by the Act to operate in a manner that is at least as effective as the federal OSHA enforcement program. Operating out of district offices in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada OSHA conducts inspections and investigations intended to identify hazardous conditions which could harm Nevada’s workers and enforces state and federal laws protecting the state’s workers. From July 2020 – June 2021, Nevada OSHA conducted 641 inspections and removed 11,570 Nevada workers from safety hazards. For more information visit http://dir.nv.gov/OSHA/.
The Nevada State Plan, at the time of publication of this media release, is funded by a grant of $1,602,700 federal funds, which constitutes 50 percent of the State Plan budget. Fifty percent, or $1,602,700 of the State Plan budget, is financed through non-governmental sources.