The incumbent functions as a Safety and Occupational Health Specialist for the Cincinnati, Ft. Thomas, CBOC's and all Satellite locations.

Duties

The Cincinnati VA Medical Center is a two-division campus located in Cincinnati, Ohio and Fort Thomas, Kentucky serving 15 counties in Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky, and Southeast Indiana with 6 Community Based Outpatient Clinics located in Bellevue, KY; Florence, KY; Lawrenceburg, IN; Hamilton, OH; Clermont County, OH, and Georgetown, OH. Cincinnati VAMC also supports two off main campus locations in the Cincinnati area via an Eye Center and Mental Health Outreach Community Division. Duties include, but are not limited to: Performs special projects concerning Health, Safety, and Fire Protection hazards and recommends control measures. Consults on personal protective equipment, material handling, and other engineering and administrative controls. Investigates fires and both routine non-lost and lost time accidents involving persons and/or property. Analyzes findings, determines causes, and elimination factors. Prepares reports and presents them to the Chief, IH&S. Reviews and makes recommendations for revisions of Policy Memoranda (rules, regulations, guides, standard operating procedures) for Occupational Safety and Health Programs. Promotes safety projects in VA and the community. Participates in safety, fire, disaster and related planning conferences. Coordinates Safety Program functions with the supervisors, employees, and employee representatives. Assists with environmental monitoring, record keeping, personal protective equipment selection and training, and hazardous material/chemical monitoring and waste disposal. Maintains the master chemical inventory for all Cincinnati, Ft Thomas, CBOC's, and all Satellite locations as well as maintaining all applicable MSDS files. Prepares the annual SARA III report for the Cincinnati and Ft. Thomas Division and provides applicable information to the Ohio and Kentucky LEPC and other required offices. Develops and maintains computer databases for the Respiratory Protection Program, Chemical Inventories, MSDS's, Medical Surveillance (Employee Health issues relative to annual medical evaluations of employees, chemical exposure requirements, hearing conservation, etc.). Work Schedule: Monday - Friday (730am - 4pm) Compressed/Flexible: Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Safety & Occup Hlth Spec/PD078290 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, 09/01/2023. 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-9 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7. 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-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Knowledge and awareness of Industrial Hygiene (IH), Safety, and Fire Protection principles, practices, procedures, codes, standards, and regulations applicable to the performance of the full range of complex IH, Safety, and Fire Protection procedures for a Medical Center. This includes a separate nursing home facility in Ft. Thomas, Kentucky, CBOC facilities, and a full-time research and laboratory department; Through knowledge of industrial hygiene practices and occupational health principals, practices, procedures, and regulations applicable to a full range of complex industrial hygiene responsibilities in the Medical Center environment; Knowledge of hazardous materials and ability to recognize and identify them; Has a thorough understanding of recognized standards covering fire prevention techniques and procedures, agency and installation manuals, rules and regulations, and local, state and federal fire prevention codes. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have master's or equivalent degree OR, 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree OR, a related LL.B. or J.D.. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education with at least 1 full year in excess of graduate level education combined w/ education. The total percentages of graduate level education & experience must equal at least 100%.. 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: Office as well as fieldwork is required. Field inspections require moderate physical exertion in caring equipment and climbing steps and ladders, as well as extended periods of walking, standing, bending, stooping, and reaching. In addition, occasional entry in hazardous work areas is required where respiratory protection (i.e., negative pressure and/or powered air purifying respirators and self contained breathing apparatus), head, face, eyes, electrical shock, hearing, or temperature extremes is required. The incumbent must be able to lift and carry a minimum of 50 pounds, pass an annual respirator physical and hearing test. 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

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 Cincinnati VA Medical Center 3200 Vine Street Cincinnati, OH 45220 US
• Name: Bradley Schultz
• Email: [email protected]