The Safety and Occupational Health Specialist serves as the Safety Specialist for the Safety Management Service, Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System (HCS). One vacancy is located in Tuskegee, AL and one vacancy is located in Montgomery, AL. These will also service the associated Community Based Outpatients Clinics in the following locations: Columbus, Georgia and Dothan, Ft. Rucker, Vet Centers and the Podiatry clinic at Maxwell Air Force Base.

Duties

Major Duties include but, not limited to: Conducts safety and occupational health surveys at a large health care system, recommends measures to eliminate or control hazardous practices and conditions, and prepares supplemental safety procedures for application. Assists the Emergency Management with conducting semi-annual disaster drills in preparation for real world events. Assists Greens Environmental Management System (GEMS) Coordinator with environmental compliance at CAVHCS. Prepares and revises safety instructions and guides that are relevant to current or planned contractor or health care system employees. Investigates mishaps, records circumstances of mishaps, estimates cost of property damage and prepares a final report of findings with recommendations. Provides technical safety training to supervisors and employees using a wide variety of material, publications, exhibits, protective devices and visual aids. Reviews construction and /or maintenance projects dealing with safety, fire protection and occupational health for compliance with fire codes and safety regulations. Assists Industrial Hygienist with surveys which support safety programs at the facility. Conducts inspections of external entities such as contract nursing homes, medical foster homes, community rehabilitation homes to determine safety of residents and compliance with existing codes and regulations. Applies the full range of safety standard independently, but frequently consults with the Safety Manager and other management officials on any deviation, problems, or unusual situations. Provides knowledgeable in the agency regulations, policies, procedures, manuals, and pertinent appeal rulings to accurately cite violations of safety and occupational health provisions and to explain basis for citations. Assists with interpretation of design criteria sufficient to review building plans, drawings, and sketches for compliance with applicable OSHA, VA, and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Safety and Occupational Health Specialist/PD8308-0 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved 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, 09/06/2023. 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-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. 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. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education s described below: Individual Occupational Requirements: Applicants must meet one of the below requirements for the Safety & Occupational Health Manager position 0081 occupational series: Education: Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study - 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. OR Experience: Specialized Experience: Experience in or related to safety and occupational health that provided the specific knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: 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: This information MUST be well demonstrated within the body of your resume. In addition to the individual occupational requirements above, you must also qualify for the GS-09 grade level based on your experience as described below: SpecializedExperience: You must have one year of 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: Experience applying safety and occupational health laws, regulations, principles, and/or procedures to resolve technical matters dealing with occupational safety and health requirements; analyzing new and existing processes, products, or systems to determine the probability of the outcome of hazards; experience conducting inspections of external entities such as contract nursing homes, medical foster homes, community rehabilitation homes to assess the safety of residents and compliance with existing codes and regulations; conducting safety and occupational health surveys in health care system making recommendations to eliminate or control hazardous practices and conditions; and experience providing technical safety training using a wide variety of publications and/or visual aids. OR Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related. OR Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. Only graduate education in excess 1 full year of may be used to qualify for positions at the GS-09 grade level. Such education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work. One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered as satisfying the 1 year of full-time study requirement. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Hazardous Materials Standards Project Management Public Safety and Security 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 administrative office setting, but frequently requires physical exertion such as when making inspections. There are occasions where moderate lifting is requinto. When there is need to inspect construction sites, climbing, crawling, starching and agility and dexterity may be involved. 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:Copies of transcripts must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation.

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 Central Alabama VA Medical Center-Montgomery 215 Perry Hill Road Montgomery, AL 36109 US
• Name: VHA National Recruitment Center
• Phone: (844)456-5208
• Email: [email protected]