This position, located within the Buffalo VA Medical Center, Buffalo, New York, responsible for maintaining the VA WNYHS Life Safety Program. Serves as the technical authority for life safety and fire protection, with responsibility for assuring adequacy of Medical Center and off-site facility fire protection systems and programs.

Duties

Performs periodic regulatory mandated on-site and off-site inspections and testing. Inspects construction project sites to determine compliance with applicable occupational safety standards (e.g. exits, means of egress, occupant load capacity, adequacy of sprinkler protection and fire alarm systems, and material storage). Promotes safety and accident prevention throughout the facility at all times. Participates in occupational safety, environment of care, and fire protection inspections and initiates corrective actions at all VAWNYHS facilities. Conducts construction, renovation, and maintenance project design review for fire protection code compliance, as assigned. Investigates accidents, fire accidents, or other safety related mishaps for root cause and develop lessons learned. This may include obtaining witness statements, photographing the incident scene and preparing a final report of findings with recommendations to correct unsafe acts or conditions. Coordinates the VAWNYHS fire drill schedule. Provides technical safety training to supervisors and employees. Reports unsafe environmental, mechanical, physical and workplace practices to the VAWNYHS Safety Manager. Manages the collection of data, scheduling and coordination of inspection, testing, and maintenance of fire equipment; and drills. Continually monitoring completion frequencies for compliance with VA, NFPA, OSHA, CARF, and JCAHO requirements. Completes all assignments in a safe manner. Other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Full Time Monday - Friday 8:00am-4:30pm Telework: VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Safety & Occupational Health Specialist (Fire/Life Safety)/PD081020 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/03/2023. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS 11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS 9. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-9 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Managing safety or occupational health program elements. Developing and recommending safety and occupational health policy to higher levels of management. Applying safety and occupational health laws, regulations, principles, theories, practices, and procedures to advise on or resolve technical matters dealing with occupational safety and health requirements. Developing safety and occupational health standards, regulations, practices, and procedures to eliminate or control potential hazards. Developing or implementing programs to reduce the frequency, severity, and cost of accidents and occupational illnesses. Analyzing or evaluating new and existing jobs, processes, products, or other systems to determine the existence, severity, probability, and outcome of hazards. Designing or modifying workplaces, processes, products, or other systems to control or eliminate hazards. Inspecting or surveying workplaces, processes, products, or other systems for compliance with established safety and occupational health policies or standards and to identify potential new hazards. Training of workers, supervisors, managers, or other safety and occupational health personnel in safety or occupational health subjects. Work in occupational fields such as industrial hygienist, safety engineer, fire prevention engineer, health physicist, and occupational health nurse. Note: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hour worked per week. ~OR~ Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must You possess a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree. The Major study must be-- safety or occupational health fields (safety, occupational health, industrial hygiene), or degree in other related fields that included or was supplemented by at least 24 semester hours of study from among the following (or closely related) disciplines: safety, occupational health, industrial hygiene, occupational medicine, toxicology, public health, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biological sciences, engineering, and industrial psychology. NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation. ~OR~ Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have equivalent combinations of successfully completed graduate level education and specialized experience that may be used to meet total experience requirements. This education must include courses directly related to the work of the position (as described above). This education must have been obtained in an accredited technical school, junior college, college or university for which high school graduation is the normal prerequisite. NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: CommunicationsComplianceProblem SolvingSafety EngineeringTechnical Competence Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements : The work is generally sedentary. However, extensive walking, climbing and standing is involved when conducting on-site and off-station inspections and surveys, handling and/or assisting in emergency situations that may involve strenuous activity while also wearing heavy protective clothing and equipment for extended periods and follow-up evaluations. Work might require frequent lifting and carrying of safety equipment weighing up to 40 pounds. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Education

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address VA Western New York Healthcare System 3495 Bailey Avenue Buffalo, NY 14215 US
• Name: Sarah Cassidy
• Email: [email protected]