PHOENIX — The chairman of the state agency that oversees workplace safety in Arizona is stepping down.
Dale Schultz, chairman of the Industrial Commission of Arizona, said Thursday he is leaving the governor-appointed position after eight years.
Schultz told ABC15 that he has been serving on an expired term since January and stayed to make sure there was a smooth transition.
Dennis Kavanaugh, former vice mayor of Mesa, has been asked by the Governor’s Office to be the next chairman.
The commission is in charge of administering and enforcing workplace safety laws.
The announcement comes just weeks after ABC15 reported that Arizona workplace inspections and fines have declined dramatically over a five-year period.
Families whose loved ones have died on the job are pressing for reforms to the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or ADOSH, which is overseen by the Industrial Commission.
The families want to see ADOSH levy higher fines against companies that break safety laws and regulations. They also want ADOSH to increase inspections and want the governor to replace the remaining three commissioners.
Schultz told ABC15 last month that he is committed to increasing workplace inspections.
ABC15 also uncovered that a trenching company where two men died in 2020 had a history of safety problems and should have been cited by ADOSH for a repeated safety violation but was not.
Schultz made his announcement at the end of Thursday’s commission meeting. He has a history with the state agency, serving as an intern to the director in the 1970s and then being appointed a commissioner by then-Arizona Governor Doug Ducey in 2015.
In his closing remarks to the three other commissioners, Schultz said the Industrial Commission is there to facilitate the state’s economy and help people be safely employed.
“I just couldn’t be any more proud of what you guys have done to help make this, hopefully, a little bit better place than we found it,” he said.
The governor appoints the five commissioners, who serve staggered, five-year terms. The governor also appoints the director of the Industrial Commission, and the commissioners hire the ADOSH director.
A fifth commission seat has been open and unfilled for more than a year.
Email ABC15 Investigator Anne Ryman at anne.ryman@abc15.com, call her at 602-685-6345, or connect on Twitter and Facebook.
