Nathan A Smiley, CSP

Nathan Smiley serves as Chief of the Occupational Safety and Health Management Branch (OSHMB) for the USGS, where he leads a team of safety and health professionals responsible for Bureau-wide policy development, regulatory compliance, emergency management, accident prevention, and external program evaluations. He also oversees specialized high-hazard programs including aviation, diving, firearms, large vessels, radiation, and watercraft operations ensuring safe and effective support for USGS scientific missions.

Smiley most recently served as the USGS Southeast Region Safety and Occupational Health Manager, where he restructured the safety program adding 6 fulltime Center Safety Specialist positions and one Regional Safety Specialist position and successfully encouraged several to attain professional certification. He implemented annual initiatives, the first of which successfully reduced delinquent safety trainings by more than 84% (over 6000 trainings) and played a key role in developing and implementing COVID-19 safety policies to keep science operations moving safely during the pandemic.

Smiley began his USGS career in 2000 as a Hydrologic Aid at Caribbean Florida WSC in Tampa before transferring to the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, where he served as lead diver and field operations specialist supporting coral reef and seagrass studies. He designed and deployed seafloor monitoring systems and spent extensive time on domestic and international research expeditions. He later became the Southeast Region Dive Safety Officer, supporting more than 40 divers across multiple offices and serving on the Dive Safety Board. He subsequently contributed to marine operations management and served as Collateral Duty Safety Program Coordinator and earned his Certified Safety Professional (CSP) credential.

With more than 25 years of experience in scientific research and safety leadership, Smiley brings extensive technical expertise and operational insight to his Bureau-level role at USGS.