This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
This Website Uses Cookies By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Learn MoreThis website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
Edward Stern served the U.S. Department of Labor for 40+ years as a senior policy and program analyst. He developed regulations, analyzed enforcement strategies, and innovated methods of compliance assistance. For the last 27 years, in OSHA, he analyzed health and safety risks and regulatory feasibility. He also led teams of scientists, IHs, engineers, doctors, nurses, systems analysts and attorneys from the Department of Labor and the public sector to develop the interactive, diagnostic “OSHA Expert Advisors.” Stern presented a study on bullying at the Labor and Employment Relations Association annual conference in 2007.
He wrote the workplace bullying and psychological aggression chapter of “Halt the Violence” (e-book, Amazon). He studies and writes on workplace bullying, and advises management and labor on this in Federal and state agencies. He is an accepted, expert witness on bullying in arbitration cases. As a retired Fed, he serves on the USDOL Workplace Violence Committee. He can be reached at edwardxa12@hotmail.com.
Many of the OSHA cases that cite “willful” violations present mysteries. The mysteries are why the alleged violations were categorized as willful. These charges are not a mystery to OSHA, but they are mysteries to readers of citations. Since the penalty for a willful violation can be over $130,000, there should not be any mystery about such charges.
Tennessee was the first state to pass the “Healthy Workplace Act” in 2014. The Act addresses “abusive conduct” in state and local government workplaces. By late 2018, parts of the state government and some of the major cities had adopted policies to implement the Act.
What the state and cities did can matter to you, even if your organization is not in Tennessee.
People will not risk their jobs to speak up about problems. They cannot afford it. That is reality. It is the very reason why the Occupational Safety and Health Act has protection for whistleblowers. It is also the reason for the Federal Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA).
When I opened the kitchen door to take out the trash, I saw the trashcan lid on the ground. I approached the can and saw a large possum resting on top of the trash.
