Elizabethtown native receives presidential appointment

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WWAY) — President Joe Biden has appointed Elizabethtown native Dr. Sylvia E. Johnson to the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB).

Johnson’s nomination to the position was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December 2021.

“I am honored that President Biden nominated me and grateful that the Senate confirmed me,” Johnson said. “The President has entrusted me with what I consider to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to align my past experiences with my personal calling to ensure that workplaces remain safe and healthy for all workers.”

The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board is an independent, nonregulatory federal agency that investigates the root causes of major chemical incidents. The agency was created under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.

Johnson has spent the last two decades working in various aspects of workplace safety and health. She has worked as a faculty member at various universities and taught undergraduate and graduate courses in environmental public health, health research, and statistics.

While working for the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), Johnson worked as an occupational epidemiologist, where she conducted workplace hazard assessments and investigated incidents that involved worker deaths due to chemical, biological and physical hazards. She recalled the “gut-wrenching” experience of sitting alongside individuals who had lost colleagues to an industrial accident.

“In every hazard investigation I led, I worked with management to fix unsafe conditions so that employees were protected, and the work continued,” Johnson said.

For the past 17 years, her work took her to the Nation’s Capital, where she has been involved in advocacy efforts around environmental and occupational health and safety.

Most recently, Johnson has been working for the National Education Association (NEA), where she has focused on workplace safety as schools have grappled with reopening their doors to in-person learning after COVID-19.

Johnson noted that she had the opportunity to advocate on a great number of legislative priorities, but she is most proud of her work to ensure adequate funding for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, along with her work on the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which is the primary U.S. chemical management law.

She credits her career successes to her parents, the late Herbert and the late Annie Johnson, who were lifelong residents of Elizabethtown. Johnson noted that her parents taught her and each of her brothers that “service to others is a privilege and an obligation.”

“My mother and father taught my brothers and me that service and hard work were not optional,” Johnson said. “However, what really drove my career was my desire to not just find answers, but to offer solutions that will keep workers safe and healthy.”

Johnson lost her mother to a debilitating lung condition that she suspected to have been related to her work in a local shirt factory.

“I remember her (Annie Johnson) coming home covered in cotton dust from the shirt factory every day,” recalled Johnson during the July 29 Senate Subcommittee on Chemical Safety, Waste Management, Environmental Justice, and Regulatory Oversight confirmation hearing.

Johnson shared that her mother enjoyed her job but had to quit because she became ill.

“Watching my mother suffer and witnessing her death at the age of 61 left me wishing her work environment had been safer. There were no federal protections, regulations, or even recommendations during her time at the factory,” Johnson said.

Johnson is a graduate of Tar Heel High School. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Fayetteville State University. Johnson earned a master’s degree in biomedical engineering with a concentration in industrial hygiene from Medical College of Virginia, now known as Virginia Commonwealth University. She also earned a PhD in health services research from Old Dominion University.

“I would have never imagined while growing up in Elizabethtown that the President of the United States would nominate me to serve. This honor reminds me of how blessed I was as a child to grow up and see hardworking people every day. Throughout my career, those examples drove me to work hard and to do the best I could. I will forever be grateful and proud of my Elizabethtown upbringing and roots.”