The Trump Administration is expected to nominate Scott Mugno, a FedEx Vice President (of Safety, Sustainability and Vehicle Maintenance), to lead OSHA. Mugno is an attorney that started his career with FedEx in 1994. Mugno is expected to be nominated as the Assistant Secretary of Labor and would have the leadership role at OSHA.
According to the White House announcement, Mugno’s work at FedEx involved “developing, promoting and facilitating the safety and health program and culture.” He was a two-time recipient of the FedEx Five Star Award, the company’s highest recognition, for his safety leadership.
In a FedEx Blog post in 2009, he wrote that safety is “the right thing to do.” He said that safety at FedEx is the “bedrock of our company and the heart of our People-Service-Profit philosophy.” He emphasized that the company’s management “gets it,” starting with its chairman, whom Mugno quoted as saying “that no package we could ever carry is worth jeopardizing the safety of one team member.” The blog post also boasted that FedEx Express successfully reduced its injury rate by 73% and its vehicle accident rate by 50% since 1996.
Many are speculating on where Mugno would lead OSHA if confirmed, noting that his long career in both law and health and safety provides him with a deep substantive background. Some media reports have highlighted his prior comments expressing openness to the concept that some regulations perhaps should include sunset provisions as they age.
Before he worked at FedEx, Mugno was a lawyer for Westinghouse Electric Corporation’s Waste Isolation Division. He also served in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, where he served the Military Traffic Management Command and the 24th Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia.
He is a graduate of Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kansas and St. John’s University in Jamaica, New York.