Edward Stern

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 served on the USDOL Workplace Violence Committee from 2014-15 and the USDOL Safety and Security Work Group from 2002-08. He can be reached at edwardstern@verizon.net.

Lessons from the Harvard Anti-Bullying Policy

An analysis of the policy enacted in September 2023 and what we can learn from it

Edward Stern

May 2, 2024

Harvard’s recent Anti-Bullying Policy (the Policy) has many good elements. It is missing important elements regarding the definition of bullying and how the Policy should work. There are lessons in this.

Maintaining a Civil Workplace

Safety pros can learn about how to maintain a civil workplace from anti-bullying policies at big universities

Edward Stern

August 27, 2021

If your business requires more skill than laborers off the street, it costs money to find and train the right employees. To keep the talent you have found and developed, you must maintain a civil workplace. Bullies chase away talent.

Former fed official encourages sending ideas and comments to OSHA

Edward Stern

May 13, 2021

Many of you have good ideas for OSHA. I know it is true because I got and used many ideas the public sent to OSHA on proposed regulations and on the OSHA Expert Advisor projects over my 27 years of work at the organization.

Who is blocking the bully policy?

Edward Stern

February 9, 2021

Many private and public entities have no anti-bullying policy at all. Some have policies with holes in them; some of the language undermines the policies’ stated purposes.

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The OSHA “willful” mysteries

Often there is no explanation for the charges

Edward Stern

March 2, 2020

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.

What happened to the Tennessee Healthy Workplace Act?

Edward Stern

September 9, 2019

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.

Anti-retaliation protection in the workplace

Anti-retaliation policies don’t always stop bullying

Shut down for speaking up

Edward Stern

May 11, 2018

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).

Unlocking a key to prevent psychological violence

Edward Stern

May 3, 2016

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.