Edward Stern, Senior Program Analyst – Expert Systems, OSHA/Dept of Labor

Mr. Stern’s remarks are his own, and he is not speaking for or representing OSHA or the EPA Compliance Assistance Advisory Committee

Edward Stern has worked in the US Department of Labor for 30 years, as a senior economist and policy/program analyst. He joined OSHA in 1985 to study regulatory feasibility, costs, benefits, and impacts. For twelve years, he supervised research and economic modeling of the costs and benefits of proposed regulations in the Directorate of Policy. After focusing on the regulatory burdens of small business, he initiated and coordinated the development of expert systems to reduce regulatory burden.

He has guided teams of scientists, engineers, doctors, nurses, systems analysts, and attorneys from OSHA, the Department of Labor, trade associations, and labor organizations to develop "Expert Advisors" to transfer agency decision-making expertise to the public via the Internet.

In CY1999 and 2000, Stern served, part time, as the spokesperson on this strategy for Vice President Al Gore’s National Partnership for Reinventing Government. The strategy has been picked up by DOL, SBA, EPA, INS, and some states.

For CY 2002 to 2004, he is a private citizen member of the EPA Compliance Assistance Advisory Committee, appointmented by the Administrator of EPA. He focuses particularly on the problems of small business.

The OSHA Interactive Expert Advisors were recognized: 

• By hundreds of Web reports and magazine articles of trade associations, professional organizations, and government agencies, as a break through technology that provides expert answers, rather than more information.

• In 1997, by the Federal Chief Information Officers Council and Industry Advisory Council as one of twenty "Best IT Practices in the Federal Government." 

• In 2000, by the Ford Foundation and the John F. Kennedy School of Government as a Finalist in the Innovations in American Government Award competition. 

• In 2001, by the General Accounting Office's report on Regulatory Management, for the Senate Government Affairs Committee, as a model for other agencies. 

• In 2003, by Deloitte Research as a model for e-Gov.

Stern has spoken at government, professional, and industry conferences on this compliance assistance strategy. He has written for and given interviews to government, business, IT, and professional magazines on this strategy. He says that his work depended on the advice and cooperation the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the National Multi-Housing Council, the Synthetic and Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association, the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy, various unions, and other stakeholder groups.