{"id":13054,"date":"2026-01-15T07:59:51","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T12:59:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/?p=13054"},"modified":"2026-01-13T23:37:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T04:37:53","slug":"in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2026\/01\/15\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"In Memoriam: Those We Lost in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

T<\/span>his is always the saddest part about ushering in the New Year: remembering the health and safety and environmental activists that we’ve lost over the last 12 months.<\/p>\n

All of the people listed below are heroes and they are all missed.\u00a0 But all of them passed with the knowledge that — because of their work, their passion and their contributions — they saved lives. Most of the workers whose lives they saved or injuries and illnesses they prevented have never heard of them and don\u2019t know their work. And maybe that\u2019s as it should be. Because as we esteemed elders begin to look back and sum up our lives, there\u2019s no better legacy than the knowledge that our work saved lives and made the world a little better place to work and live. And that\u2019s enough.<\/p>\n

May their memories be a blessing and an inspiration to fight on.<\/p>\n

Azita\u00a0Mashayekhi<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Azita Mashayekhi died on July 13 at age 61. Azita was a industrial hygienist in the Teamsters Safety and Health Department for over 30 years, and a long-time colleague and friend of those of us in the national health and safety community.\u00a0 Azita was famously energetic and curious and creative, focusing on not just the main issues that her Teamster members faced but hazardous jobs your rarely think about.\u00a0 My inbox is littered with questions from her looking for information on hazards impacting cemetery workers, employees working overtime, parking attendants and others.<\/p>\n

Azita, who moved to the United States at age 18 after Iran’s 1979 revolution, was also an amazing photographer<\/a>, displaying in the Washington DC area. She was also instrumental in installing a colorful mural<\/a> on the wall outside the Community for Creative Non-Violence, a Washington D.C. homeless shelter near Teamster headquarters. For her, the need was obvious. \u201cIt\u2019s just a bad scene. I just thought we could use some color.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former OSHA head David Michaels recalled that “Azita was a very spirited advocate, with a memorable smile and way to convince you to help with whatever she was working on.” Her National COSH<\/a> co-conspirators remembered that “Azita fought tirelessly for safer workplaces, bringing energy, joy, and determination to the fight. Even after retirement, she stayed connected through the COSH Advisors, finding ways to support and uplift others. Her legacy lives on in the lives she touched and the workers she protected.”<\/p>\n

National COSH Director Jessica Martinez remembers how at COSHCON\u2019s awards night she brought light-up headbands, passing them around with the biggest smile, leading the room in song and dance. “That was Azita<\/span>: making serious work lighter and reminding us to celebrate each other.”<\/p>\n

Leo Gerard\"\"<\/h2>\n

Former United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard died on September 21 at the age of 78. Leo was President of the United Steelworkers from 2001 to 2019 and workplace safety and health concerns were center in his long career. He grew up in the town of Sudbury, Northern Ontario, site of a huge complex of smelters and mines extracting and refining nickel and other metals. His father was a union activist for the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, which became part of the Steelworkers. A close friend from those days remembers Leo as a child, hearing sirens whenever a worker was killed or badly hurt, not knowing whether it was his dad. \u201cHe wanted those sirens stopped, and he saw the union as the only way to stop them.\u201d<\/p>\n

At age 18, Leo followed his father into the industry and union activism, beginning his career unclogging air pipes at an Ontario nickel smelter. Health and safety concerns were central in the dangerous mines and smelters. He was elected area steward at age 22 and chief steward at age 26 where he worked closely with the safety committees to grieve unsafe conditions, defend workers who refused to work in unsafe conditions and those falsely accused of safety violations in order to cover up the company\u2019s negligence.<\/p>\n

Leo later spent much of his time as USW staff representative in Northern Ontario working on health and safety issues. He worked with uranium miners, including a failed attempt by the Canadian federal government to revise radiation standards. After becoming Canadian National Director (and International Secretary Treasurer), he led the union response to the 1992 Westray Mine Disaster, which killed all 26 miners. The USW had been organizing the mine at the time, and even though the mine would never reopen, it became a USW local so that the union could assist and represent the remaining miners and the families of those killed in all the subsequent legal battles. Under Leo\u2019s leadership, the union waged a decade-long fight for a law criminalizing corporate negligence leading to a workplace death or serious injury. The legislation, called the Westray Bill, finally became law in 2004.<\/p>\n

As union president, Leo helped strengthen and improve the USW Emergency Response Team which provides on-site assistance to badly injured workers and the families of those killed in the workplace. Its work complements that of the USW Health, Safety and Environment Department, which investigates, on-site, nearly every fatality and many serious accidents. Leo always saw safety and health as a global issue, helping to found the world\u2019s first global union-management safety and health committee at ArcelorMittal.\u00a0 \u00a0He also led the Steelworkers to create the BlueGreen Alliance<\/a>, a partnership with the Sierra Club, to push for cleaner manufacturing.<\/p>\n

On a personal note, I talked with Leo many times at USW conferences and meetings.\u00a0 You meet a lot of union Presidents and politicians in my line of work. he never had to be convinced that workplace safety and health issues were important. You could always tell that Leo “gets it” and held the firm belief that keeping members alive and healthy needed to be one of the core elements of unionism.\u00a0 We need more like him.<\/p>\n

(Thanks to former USW Health and Safety Director Mike Wright<\/a> for most of this.)<\/p>\n

Bob Alvarez\"\"<\/h2>\n

Bob was a long-time advocate for and organizer of workers who suffered<\/a> from the legacy of the nuclear arms race.\u00a0 I worked a bit with Bob in the late 1970s when he was working for the Environmental Policy Institute, research nuclear waste and advocating for compensation for former uranium miners and nuclear workers who were suffering from cancer and various other serious diseases from their on-the-job exposures throughout the Cold War. He was shocked to discover that no one really knew or cared about these workers:<\/p>\n

The nuclear weapons industry was largely exempt from federal oversight. Contaminated water was often poured into streams and lakes. Storage containers built in the 1950s were starting to leak.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically you had a system that was deliberately set up under conditions of secrecy, isolation and privilege where they weren\u2019t accountable to anyone but themselves,\u201d he told NPR in 2000.<\/p>\n

In the 1980s, he worked for Ohio Senator John Glen where he confronted the Atomic Energy Commission and Department of Energy DOE who were holding back information on the health effect suffering by nuclear workers.\u00a0 Bob’s work led to the agency’s agreement to finally to share its data and provide funding to NIOSH for independent scientists to conduct epidemiologic studies on DOE workers.\u00a0 \u00a0 He also helped build the case for the massive environmental cleanup program necessary to remediate the decrepit and ultra-hazardous conditions that endangered workers and the communities in Ohio and across the weapons complex. He helped enact legislation in 1988 that created the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board which put a (largely unenforceable) check on the worst of the DOE\u2019s reckless pursuit of production ahead of safety. Bob later worked for six years as a senior adviser in the Department of Energy under Bill Clinton’s Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, where he worked with then Assistant Secretary of Environment, Safety and Health, David Michaels, to build the case for passing a federal compensation program for atomic workers, a goal that had repeatedly eluded the unions and attorneys representing sick workers since the 1950s.<\/p>\n

Former workplace safety and health advocate Richard Miller, a close friend and coworker of Bob and his wife Kitty Tucker (who was also a worker and environmental advocate),\u00a0 wrote that “Breaking the AEC\/DOE monopoly of radiation effects research unlocked government secrets and finally enabled credible research. \u00a0Bob\u2019s fingerprints are all over the efforts to unravel the web of secrecy and insularity that bred scientific corruption. \u00a0His legacy\u2014inside and outside of government\u2014has had a lasting impact on the lives of many who never met him or will ever know his name.”<\/p>\n

Sheldon Samuels\"\"<\/h2>\n

For those of us who started off in the workplace safety and health field in the 1970s and 1980s, there was almost no one more supportive than Shelly Samuels. He was always smiling, friendly and willing to help — and accompanied that help with tons of fascinating stories.\u00a0 Shelly was Director of Health, Safety and Environment for (now defunct) Industrial Unions Department of the AFL-CIO, and Special Representative for Nuclear Weapons Workers Health of the Metal Trades Department.<\/p>\n

He was one of the few leaders still alive who was present at the creation<\/a> of OSHA:<\/p>\n

In 1971 he was recruited by the industrial unions to develop the labor movement’s first education and research center for occupational and environmental health. He personally submitted the first petition for the first permanent standard under the OSHAct – for asbestos – and coordinated subsequent successful petitions for benzene, cotton dust, lead, vinyl chloride, carcinogens, sanitation, medical surveillance, radon daughters, and other standards issues. He conducted pilot industry-specific educational and research programs for the international labor movement such as “Superfund” workers training and authored the AFL-CIO policies on genetic testing and medical surveillance.<\/p>\n

And he understood the politics of worker protection and the reasons for industry opposition<\/a> to the existence of OSHA: ”A worker for the first time has legal access to his own medical records. All this is driving management up the wall because it amounts to worker participation in an area where management believes it has the sole prerogative.”<\/p>\n

Shelly was one of the founders<\/a> of the Workers Institute for Safety and Health (WISH) which was critical to my education when I joined AFSCME in 1982 and knew nothing. He also created the Workplace Health Fund to demonstrate that research, when formulated from the perspective of workers, could have very different results from traditional research framed industry or by academic elites. The last time I saw him was on a panel at the American Public Health Association conference in 1998 on a panel with Tony Mazzocchi and Eula Bingham. (For those of us in the health and safety field, it was similar to a panel American history featuring George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin.) Shelly passed away in November at age 96.<\/p>\n

Kent Wong\"\"<\/h2>\n

Kent Wong, former director of the UCLA Labor Center<\/a> from 1991-2023 and professor of labor studies and Asian American studies, died Oct. 8 at age 69. As director of the UCLA Labor Center for 32 years, Kent was renowned across Los Angeles and the nation for his labor and immigrant rights advocacy and his fierce dedication to undocumented communities. He focused on popular education, co-editing with former UCLA Labor Occupational Safety and Health (LOSH) Director Linda Delp “Teaching for Change: Popular Education and the Labor Movement<\/a>” which focused on the the role of education in movements for worker and workplace safety and health rights.<\/p>\n

According to his obituary<\/a>, Kent played a pivotal role in creating multiple major equity-focused organizations. In 1992, he founded the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), AFL-CIO, the first and only national organization of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander workers. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass remembered<\/a> how\u00a0 \u201cKent understood that Los Angeles\u2019s strength lies in its working people. ” He was a mentor to thousands of young people.<\/p>\n

Staff at the UCLA Labor Occupational Safety and Health (LOSH) Program\u00a0remembered<\/a> how Kent deeply understood the connection between worker health and social justice. He saw the fight for safe and healthy work as inseparable from the broader struggles for workers\u2019 rights, dignity, and respect. Linda Delp remembers Kent as a “fierce advocate and internationally recognized labor activist and educator, with the vision to connect worker rights with immigrant rights, the right to unionize and to fight for health and safe working conditions.” She called him a “strategy wizard” for his ability to secure funding to expand university-based labor and workplace health and safety centers in California.<\/p>\n

Both of Wong\u2019s grandmothers, who were born in the U.S., lost their citizenship when they married male Chinese nationals \u2014 the impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act, which went into effect in 1882.\u00a0 \u201cHe saw how citizenship is often a weapon used to divide communities and divide families,\u201d his son Ryan said.\u00a0Early in his career<\/a>, Wong was the staff attorney for a local chapter of the Service Employees International Union. He served as the founding president of the United Assn. for Labor Education, and a vice president of the California Federation of Teachers. When President Trump sent armed federal immigration agents into Los Angeles, Wong was shocked<\/a> and\u00a0spent the summer vigorously organizing training sessions for more than a thousand workers and union organizers to peacefully protest the Trump administration\u2019s crackdown on immigrant communities.<\/p>\n

Susan Michaelis\"\"<\/h2>\n

Susan Michaelis was a former Australian flight instructor and airline transport\u00a0 pilot with over 5,000 flying hours who became internationally recognized as a an aviation health and safety consultant and PhD researcher in the field of safety in aircraft contaminated<\/a> air supplies and hazardous substances.<\/p>\n

Hers was a fascinating story<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n
As a young girl, she always dreamt about being a pilot, but there were very few opportunities for women to become commercial pilots in Australia at the time, so she completed a degree in marketing and saved up the money to become a private pilot. After teaching people to fly, she finally became an airline pilot, starting off in the challenging Northern Territory of Australia, flying to remote communities. In 1994, when she was 32, she started flying the British Aerospace BAe 146 and immediately noticed a strange smell in the aircraft. The breathing air supply was being contaminated with jet engine oil decomposition products. Despite being told there was nothing to be concerned about, she suffered increasing health effects from these exposures. Three years later in 1997, she collapsed after a flight and never flew as airline pilot again, three years of exposure to a complex mixture of chemicals, including organophosphates, carbon monoxide and endocrine disrupting chemicals had seriously impacted her health and she lost her airline pilot medical certificate.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
She started to research the issue, leading to an Australian Senate investigation into the problem, which concluded that the chemical exposures were impacting flight safety and crew and public health. While working on a PhD, he debriefed over 1000 passengers and crew who had all suffered similar exposures on other aircraft and later qualified as an air accident investigator.\u00a0 She subsequently discovered that one year before she started flying, a secret agreement was signed between British Aerospace, the aircraft engine manufacturer and two Australian airlines covering up the hazards. Michaelis and other crews were never told about the risks from breathing contaminated air on aircraft.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Susan died on July 9 from lobular breast cancer. She was diagnosed with the diseases 14 years before her death and become a leading campaigner for more research into the relatively rare form of cancer. In 2023, Susan launched the Lobular Moon Shot Project receiving a \u00a320-million five-year research project to finally understand the basic biology of invasive lobular breast cancer.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Sebasti\u00e3o Salgado\"\"<\/h2>\n

Salgado was a Brazilian photographer<\/a> who focused on recording workers in dangerous jobs. Salgado produced a number of extended documentary series including Sahel: L’homme en d\u00e9tresse<\/i>\u00a0(1986),\u00a0Other Americas<\/i>\u00a0(1986),\u00a0An Uncertain Grace<\/i>\u00a0(1990), and\u00a0Workers<\/i> (1993), a worldwide investigation of the increasing obsolescence of manual labor.\u00a0 He captured some of his most well-known images in 1986, of workers toiling in a gold mine in the northern Brazilian state of Par\u00e1.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sebasti\u00e3o Salgado’s straightforward photographs portray individuals living in desperate economic circumstances. Because he insists on presenting his pictures in series, rather than individually, and because each work’s\u00a0point of view refuses to separate subject from context, Salgado achieves a difficult task. His photographs impart the dignity and integrity of his subjects without forcing their heroism or implicitly soliciting pity, as many other photographs from the Third World do. Salgado’s photography communicates a subtle understanding of social and economic situations that is seldom available in other photographers’ representations of similar themes.<\/p>\n

Salgado died last May at age 81. He was somewhat controversial:<\/p>\n

He was at times criticized for cloaking human suffering and environmental catastrophe in a visually stunning aesthetic, but Mr. Salgado maintained that his way of capturing people was not exploitative.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy should the poor world be uglier than the rich world?\u201d he asked in an interview with The Guardian<\/strong> in 2024. \u201cThe light here is the same as there. The dignity here is the same as there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is always the saddest part about ushering in the New Year: remembering the health and safety and environmental activists that we’ve lost over the last 12 months. All of the people listed below are heroes and they are all missed.\u00a0 But all of them passed with the knowledge that — because of their work, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[249],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-memorium"],"yoast_head":"\nIn Memoriam: Those We Lost in 2025 - Confined Space<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In Memoriam: Those we lost last year. All were heroes who worked to save workers lives. They are all missed\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2026\/01\/15\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In Memoriam: Those We Lost in 2025 - Confined Space\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In Memoriam: Those we lost last year. All were heroes who worked to save workers lives. They are all missed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2026\/01\/15\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Confined Space\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-15T12:59:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-03-154143.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1156\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"744\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jordan Barab\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@jbarab\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@jbarab\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jordan Barab\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"15 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/15\\\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/15\\\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jordan Barab\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bcc6bf185c17840824cfc3ef7522f3c5\"},\"headline\":\"In Memoriam: Those We Lost in 2025\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-15T12:59:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/15\\\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":2828,\"commentCount\":4,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bcc6bf185c17840824cfc3ef7522f3c5\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/15\\\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/Screenshot-2026-01-03-154143.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"In Memoriam\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/15\\\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/15\\\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/15\\\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\\\/\",\"name\":\"In Memoriam: Those We Lost in 2025 - Confined Space\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/15\\\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/15\\\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/Screenshot-2026-01-03-154143.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-15T12:59:51+00:00\",\"description\":\"In Memoriam: Those we lost last year. All were heroes who worked to save workers lives. They are all missed\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/15\\\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/15\\\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/15\\\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/Screenshot-2026-01-03-154143.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/Screenshot-2026-01-03-154143.png\",\"width\":1156,\"height\":744,\"caption\":\"Sebasti\u00e3o Salgado\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/15\\\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"In Memoriam: Those We Lost in 2025\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/\",\"name\":\"Confined Space\",\"description\":\"A newsletter of workplace safety and labor issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bcc6bf185c17840824cfc3ef7522f3c5\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bcc6bf185c17840824cfc3ef7522f3c5\",\"name\":\"Jordan Barab\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/21009251506_93991fca44_w.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/21009251506_93991fca44_w.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/21009251506_93991fca44_w.jpg\",\"width\":400,\"height\":267,\"caption\":\"Jordan Barab\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/21009251506_93991fca44_w.jpg\"},\"description\":\"Jordan Barab was OSHA Deputy Assistant Secretary from 2009-2017. He ran AFSCME's health & safety program from 1982-98. He also worked at the House Education and & Labor Committee (2007-2009, 2019-2021) and the Chemical Safety Board.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/jordan-barab-81b0218\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/jbarab\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/author\\\/jbarab\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"In Memoriam: Those We Lost in 2025 - Confined Space","description":"In Memoriam: Those we lost last year. All were heroes who worked to save workers lives. They are all missed","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2026\/01\/15\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"In Memoriam: Those We Lost in 2025 - Confined Space","og_description":"In Memoriam: Those we lost last year. All were heroes who worked to save workers lives. They are all missed","og_url":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2026\/01\/15\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\/","og_site_name":"Confined Space","article_published_time":"2026-01-15T12:59:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1156,"height":744,"url":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-03-154143.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Jordan Barab","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@jbarab","twitter_site":"@jbarab","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jordan Barab","Est. reading time":"15 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2026\/01\/15\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2026\/01\/15\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\/"},"author":{"name":"Jordan Barab","@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/#\/schema\/person\/bcc6bf185c17840824cfc3ef7522f3c5"},"headline":"In Memoriam: Those We Lost in 2025","datePublished":"2026-01-15T12:59:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2026\/01\/15\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\/"},"wordCount":2828,"commentCount":4,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/#\/schema\/person\/bcc6bf185c17840824cfc3ef7522f3c5"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2026\/01\/15\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-03-154143.png","articleSection":["In Memoriam"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2026\/01\/15\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2026\/01\/15\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\/","url":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2026\/01\/15\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\/","name":"In Memoriam: Those We Lost in 2025 - Confined Space","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2026\/01\/15\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2026\/01\/15\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-03-154143.png","datePublished":"2026-01-15T12:59:51+00:00","description":"In Memoriam: Those we lost last year. All were heroes who worked to save workers lives. They are all missed","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2026\/01\/15\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2026\/01\/15\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2026\/01\/15\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-03-154143.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-03-154143.png","width":1156,"height":744,"caption":"Sebasti\u00e3o Salgado"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2026\/01\/15\/in-memoriam-those-we-lost-in-2025\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"In Memoriam: Those We Lost in 2025"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/#website","url":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/","name":"Confined Space","description":"A newsletter of workplace safety and labor issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/#\/schema\/person\/bcc6bf185c17840824cfc3ef7522f3c5"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/#\/schema\/person\/bcc6bf185c17840824cfc3ef7522f3c5","name":"Jordan Barab","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/21009251506_93991fca44_w.jpg","url":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/21009251506_93991fca44_w.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/21009251506_93991fca44_w.jpg","width":400,"height":267,"caption":"Jordan Barab"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/21009251506_93991fca44_w.jpg"},"description":"Jordan Barab was OSHA Deputy Assistant Secretary from 2009-2017. He ran AFSCME's health & safety program from 1982-98. He also worked at the House Education and & Labor Committee (2007-2009, 2019-2021) and the Chemical Safety Board.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jordan-barab-81b0218\/","https:\/\/x.com\/jbarab"],"url":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/author\/jbarab\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-03-154143.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8s1ZU-3oy","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13054"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13155,"href":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13054\/revisions\/13155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}