{"id":2761,"date":"2018-01-19T18:25:58","date_gmt":"2018-01-19T23:25:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/?p=2761"},"modified":"2023-02-18T12:59:42","modified_gmt":"2023-02-18T17:59:42","slug":"lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2018\/01\/19\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\/","title":{"rendered":"LATE BREAKING: Lac M\u00e9gantic Rail Workers Acquitted"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-2110\" src=\"http:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/canada-train-300x182.jpg\" alt=\"Lac M\u00e9gantic\" width=\"404\" height=\"245\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/canada-train-300x182.jpg 300w, https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/canada-train-768x466.jpg 768w, https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/canada-train-800x485.jpg 800w, https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/canada-train.jpg 940w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 404px) 100vw, 404px\" \/>A jury has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/montreal\/lac-megantic-criminal-negligence-verdict-1.4474848\">acquitted<\/a> all three rail workers charged with criminal negligence causing death of 47 persons in the 2013 Lac-M\u00e9gantic rail disaster.<\/p>\n<p>For those of you who may not have been following this story, Montreal, Maine and Atlantic (MMA)\u00a0locomotive engineer Tom Harding, 56, rail traffic controller Richard Labrie, 59, and operations manager Jean Dema\u00eetre, 53, had all been charged with\u00a047 counts of criminal negligence causing death \u2014 one count for each of the victims of the rail disaster &#8212; after the derailment of a runaway train\u00a0carrying 73 cars of highly combustible crude oil early on July 6, 2013.\u00a0 The jury deliberated for nine days.<\/p>\n<p><strong>This is a victory not just for the three rail workers, but also for the families of the victims who those truly to blame to be held responsible, and a victory for all workers who battle against the tendency of management &#8212; and often governments &#8212; to take the easy way out by blaming workers for these events. Blaming workers is not only wrong, but it does nothing identify the real causes and prevent future, similar tragedies.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I have written about this tragedy and the trial\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/?s=lac+megantic\">several times before<\/a>,\u00a0specifically how the rail workers are being blamed for a railroad with a weak safety culture and a clear failure of management to establish and enforce safe procedures. MMA, an American-owned company, has since gone bankrupt.\u00a0<strong> If you&#8217;re interested in a detailed description of the incident, the system safety failures and a detailed summary of the Canadian Government\u2019s investigative report, read my first post <a href=\"http:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2017\/09\/28\/lac-megantic-blame-worker-steroids\/\">here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>A Company At Fault<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Harding, the train engineer and sole crew member on the huge one-man train, was accused of not setting enough brakes. But as other <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/montreal\/a-train-with-a-faulty-engine-an-apocalyptic-explosion-and-other-revelations-from-the-lac-m%C3%A9gantic-trial-1.4408081\">employees testified<\/a> during the trial, the safety culture at MMA were seriously lacking. For example:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Michael Horan, the former MMA\u00a0assistant director of transportation, spent six days in the witness box, describing a work environment in Quebec in which his team received little material support from the U.S. head office. Though he was in\u00a0charge of safety and training, Horan testified he had no budget or training for\u00a0how to teach safety standards.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">In his testimony, Horan\u00a0also described the pushback from MMA employees about the company&#8217;s\u00a0move to one-man train crews. He testified at least nine handbrakes should have been applied to the train Harding left idling at Nantes on the eve\u00a0of the disaster.<\/p>\n<p>Another employee testified that<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">it was common practice for MMA&#8217;s top management to play loose with railway regulations. He confirmed the maximum weight allowed\u00a0for an MMA\u00a0tanker train at the time of the disaster was 6,300 tonnes, not counting locomotives. The train involved in the tragedy\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/montreal\/mma-trial-train-overweight-1.4367611\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">weighed 9,100 tonnes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, although trains have more than one breaking system, MMA had instructed engineers not to use one of the backup systems and another backup system had been turned off when the lead locomotive caught fire the night of the disaster.<\/p>\n<p>Even the relatives of the victims were happy with the verdict:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Jean Clusiault, who lost his daughter Kathy in the explosion,\u00a0praised the verdict outside the courtroom.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8220;I felt relieved because these are not the right people who should be there,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Clusiault\u00a0said\u00a0Harding, Dema\u00eetre and Labrie didn&#8217;t deserve to be blamed for the fatal rail\u00a0disaster and explosion in downtown Lac-M\u00e9gantic.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8220;These are human beings\u00a0with families\u00a0who worked hard all their lives,&#8221; Clusiault\u00a0said.\u00a0&#8220;These aren&#8217;t killers. We treated them like killers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Blame the Worker<\/h2>\n<p>As I said before, the theme here is one that we\u2019ve heard many times before \u2014 the tendency of those who have responsibility for a catastrophe to shift blame onto individual workers instead of identifying and addressing the root causes and systemic problems that could prevent future catastrophes.<\/p>\n<p>This was the story not of careless, lazy workers but of a railroad carrying hazardous cargo, supported by an extremely\u00a0complicated, safety sensitive procedures, that cut corners on safety and maintenance wherever it could, had a non-existent training program and a government oversight agency that failed in its mission to protect workers and the public.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, only the most superficial analysis of this horrible tragedy would conclude that these three rail workers should be blamed for the deaths of 47 people and possibly imprisoned for the rest of their lives.\u00a0 Happily the jury saw through this charade. A conviction might have helped take the blame off of others. But it would have done nothing to identify the true root causes of this catastrophe or to prevent future events.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A jury has acquitted all three rail workers charged with criminal negligence causing death of 47 persons in the 2013 Lac-M\u00e9gantic rail disaster. For those of you who may not have been following this story, Montreal, Maine and Atlantic (MMA)\u00a0locomotive engineer Tom Harding, 56, rail traffic controller Richard Labrie, 59, and operations manager Jean Dema\u00eetre, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[148,280,276],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blame-the-worker","category-lac-megantic","category-railroads"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>LATE BREAKING: Lac M\u00e9gantic Rail Workers Acquitted - Confined Space<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A jury has acquitted all three rail workers charged with criminal negligence causing death of 47 persons in the 2013 Lac-M\u00e9gantic rail disaster.\" \/>\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\/2018\/01\/19\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LATE BREAKING: Lac M\u00e9gantic Rail Workers Acquitted - Confined Space\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A jury has acquitted all three rail workers charged with criminal negligence causing death of 47 persons in the 2013 Lac-M\u00e9gantic rail disaster.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2018\/01\/19\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Confined Space\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-19T23:25:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-18T17:59:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/canada-train-300x182.jpg\" \/>\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=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/19\\\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/19\\\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jordan Barab\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bcc6bf185c17840824cfc3ef7522f3c5\"},\"headline\":\"LATE BREAKING: Lac M\u00e9gantic Rail Workers Acquitted\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-19T23:25:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-18T17:59:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/19\\\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":770,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bcc6bf185c17840824cfc3ef7522f3c5\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/19\\\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/canada-train-300x182.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Blame the Worker\",\"Lac Megantic\",\"Railroads\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/19\\\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/19\\\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/19\\\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\\\/\",\"name\":\"LATE BREAKING: Lac M\u00e9gantic Rail Workers Acquitted - Confined Space\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/19\\\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/19\\\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/canada-train-300x182.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-19T23:25:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-18T17:59:42+00:00\",\"description\":\"A jury has acquitted all three rail workers charged with criminal negligence causing death of 47 persons in the 2013 Lac-M\u00e9gantic rail disaster.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/19\\\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/19\\\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/19\\\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/canada-train-300x182.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/canada-train-300x182.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/19\\\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"LATE BREAKING: Lac M\u00e9gantic Rail Workers Acquitted\"}]},{\"@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 &amp; safety program from 1982-98. He also worked at the House Education and &amp; 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":"LATE BREAKING: Lac M\u00e9gantic Rail Workers Acquitted - Confined Space","description":"A jury has acquitted all three rail workers charged with criminal negligence causing death of 47 persons in the 2013 Lac-M\u00e9gantic rail disaster.","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\/2018\/01\/19\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"LATE BREAKING: Lac M\u00e9gantic Rail Workers Acquitted - Confined Space","og_description":"A jury has acquitted all three rail workers charged with criminal negligence causing death of 47 persons in the 2013 Lac-M\u00e9gantic rail disaster.","og_url":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2018\/01\/19\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\/","og_site_name":"Confined Space","article_published_time":"2018-01-19T23:25:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-18T17:59:42+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/canada-train-300x182.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Jordan Barab","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@jbarab","twitter_site":"@jbarab","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jordan Barab","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2018\/01\/19\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2018\/01\/19\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\/"},"author":{"name":"Jordan Barab","@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/#\/schema\/person\/bcc6bf185c17840824cfc3ef7522f3c5"},"headline":"LATE BREAKING: Lac M\u00e9gantic Rail Workers Acquitted","datePublished":"2018-01-19T23:25:58+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-18T17:59:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2018\/01\/19\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\/"},"wordCount":770,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/#\/schema\/person\/bcc6bf185c17840824cfc3ef7522f3c5"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2018\/01\/19\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/canada-train-300x182.jpg","articleSection":["Blame the Worker","Lac Megantic","Railroads"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2018\/01\/19\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2018\/01\/19\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\/","url":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2018\/01\/19\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\/","name":"LATE BREAKING: Lac M\u00e9gantic Rail Workers Acquitted - Confined Space","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2018\/01\/19\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2018\/01\/19\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/canada-train-300x182.jpg","datePublished":"2018-01-19T23:25:58+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-18T17:59:42+00:00","description":"A jury has acquitted all three rail workers charged with criminal negligence causing death of 47 persons in the 2013 Lac-M\u00e9gantic rail disaster.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2018\/01\/19\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2018\/01\/19\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2018\/01\/19\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/canada-train-300x182.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/canada-train-300x182.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2018\/01\/19\/lac-megantic-rail-workers-acquitted\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"LATE BREAKING: Lac M\u00e9gantic Rail Workers Acquitted"}]},{"@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 &amp; safety program from 1982-98. He also worked at the House Education and &amp; 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":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8s1ZU-Ix","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2761","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=2761"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3098,"href":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2761\/revisions\/3098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}