House Aide Jordan Barab Named Acting Head of OSHA

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis has named Jordan Barab, a House Education and Labor Committee staffer, as deputy assistant secretary for the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. Barab, whose appointment was announced April 8, also will be acting head of OSHA, beginning April 13.

House committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) said that Barab "will bring a tremendous amount of valuable health and safety experience to an agency that has been neglected for far too long." Barab, senior policy advisor for the committee, has worked for the panel for two years on health and safety matters.

He came to the House committee after working for the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board for four years. From 1998 to 2001, Barab was special assistant to the federal OSHA chief. Before that, he was director of safety and health for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), for 16 years.

AFL-CIO safety and health Director Peg Seminario called Barab "an excellent choice" for the OSHA post and noted his long experience in the safety and health field.

Tom Ichniowski has been writing about the federal government as ENR’s Washington Bureau Chief since the George H.W. Bush administration, and he has covered at least five major highway bills. A recognized expert on government policy on infrastructure and regulation, Tom is also a Baltimore native and Orioles fan who grew up rooting for Brooks and Frank Robinson. He is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia’s graduate school of journalism, where he once used “unrelentless” in a headline.

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