As the Assistant Area Director of the U.S. DOL-Occupational Safety and Health Administration Oklahoma Area Office, Carmen M. Martinez leads a staff of safety and health professionals in the state of Oklahoma dedicated to protecting workers and enforcing OSHA regulations. She began her career in safety and health while serving our country in the United States Navy. Her dedicated service in the Navy inspired her to further her professional career in safety and health. Realizing her passion, she obtained a Bachelor of Science degree with an emphasis in Industrial Safety from the University of Central Oklahoma. In 2007, during her last year of college, she began working for the very agency that inspired her, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. She obtained a position as a Compliance Safety and Health Officer in the OSHA Fort Worth Area office. Since 2013, she has served in the position of Assistant Area Director in the Oklahoma Area Office and enjoys sharing her years of safety and health experiences with groups of American workers in hope they too are inspired to accept the enormous responsibility and challenge of improving safety and health in the workplace.