Introducing Confined Space @ TPH

Yesterday, Jordan Barab mothballed his blog Confined Space, and workers and worker advocates lost a powerful online resource. The good news is that weâve gained a political resource, since Jordanâs departure from the blogosphere is due to his new staff position on the US House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor. Still, weâll all miss the combination of up-to-the-minute news, biting commentary, and ceaseless advocacy for worker health and safety that have characterized Confined Space since its inception in 2003. (See Revereâs post yesterday for more on how much Jordan has contributed.)

While we know that we canât duplicate Jordanâs work at Confined Space, weâre going to try to fill some of the void that his departure has left in the blogosphere. Jordan has instructed us in his methods for keeping up on worker health and safety news, and weâll be bringing some of that news to our readers as part of our occupational health blogging.

Thereâs also a great deal of interest in continuing the Weekly Toll feature in which Jordan and his tireless blogging partner â Tammy Miser, who runs United Support & Memorial for Workplace Fatalities â compile a list of workers whoâve died while on the job. This feature puts a human face on the issue of worker health and safety. It reminds us why itâs crucial to keep fighting for safe workplaces. We hope that Tammy and others will keep publishing the Weekly Toll, and that we can help bring it to the blogosphere.

As a service to the thousands of readers whoâve come to rely on Confined Space, weâre creating a special category of posts. Itâll be a slice of Confined Space at The Pump Handle â or âConfined Space @ TPHâ for short. Of course, we also invite Confined Space readers to check out our Occupational Health category and to read our posts on other areas of public health and the environment â and you can keep up-to-date by getting our RSS feed, or subscribing to our weekly e-mail digest. Confined Space archives will continue to be available on Jordanâs old site, and our posts will probably keep linking back to his past coverage.

Thanks to Jordan Barab for his tireless dedication to keeping us informed and fired up about worker health and safety. Weâll be watching for further greatness in his career.