The Safety Manager is responsible for the coordination and leadership of a highly complex, diversified Safety Program. They provide supervisory and management oversight for all safety personnel and operations.

Duties

The Safety Manager performs a wide variety of Safety, Occupational Health, and Fire Protection functions which include participation in the planning, organizing, development, implementation, and monitoring of the Safety, Occupational Health and Fire Protection Program for this Healthcare System as set forth in VHA handbook 7700, JCAHO, NFPA, OSHA, EPA and ANSI standards and other requirements. The major duties includes but not limited to: Primarily identifying environmental, occupational and fire hazards, determines causes for actual or potential failures in human factors, equipment or mechanical performance and develops techniques and measures to eliminate or control resultant unsafe acts or conditions. The work requires the application of safety and occupational laws, standards, and regulations and the promotion of educational activities to achieve an awareness of risks and corresponding accident prevention measures and protection devices. Utilizing the expertise derived from the education and knowledge of the various sciences and professional experience to create or develop procedures, processes, standards, specifications and systems to achieve an optimal elimination or control of the hazards and exposures that are detrimental to people and/or property, research, planning, design and consultation. Performing the duties of the Industrial Hygienist and a variety of industrial hygiene functions which include implementation of the industrial hygiene programs, exposure monitoring, health screening, personal protective equipment traini11g, employee education and training, record keeping and hazardous waste management. Training and experienced in hazardous materials emergency response and is responsible for compliance with federal requirements regarding hazardous materials spills and hazardous waste management for the facility. Planning, developing, and conducting required NFPA Life Safety Code, occupational health & safety, and fire protection/prevention inspections of the entire Healthcare System including all buildings and grounds on a quarterly basis reporting all deficiencies. Providing technical assistance, advice, and recommendations to other appropriate personnel and departments in coordinating the implementation of policies through verbal and written communications. Responding to fires, hazardous materials spills, and other emergency incidents. Assessing and making accurate decisions of emergency situations and clearly communicate with all appropriate personnel. Performing Life Safety Code and general safety inspections in Community Residential Care Homes. In addition, they perform Life Safety Code Inspections of the Contract Nursing Homes and conducts appropriate follow-up visits to assure the health and safety of the veterans placed in those facilities. Planning, developing, and conducting fire/safety training for the facility to include orientation and refresher training for all employees as required by law and VA policy. Planning, developing and conducting specialized training required by federal law such as Hazard Communication, Hazardous Materials Awareness Training for First Responders, Hands on Fire Extinguisher Training, Confined Space Entry and Lock Out/Tag Out. Performing investigations, evaluations, and conducts analysis of fire hazard incidents, personal injury incidents and unsafe practices/conditions to determine cause, origin and other contributing factors. Preparing written reports of findings and determinations with recommendations of remedial corrective actions necessary to effect modification of behavior/practices, changes In Healthcare System policy and/or the use of personal protective equipment. Recommending corrective action to the immediate supervisor to abate/control identified unsafe working conditions or practices. VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package: HR Specialist Total Rewards Work Schedule: 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 Manager/PD07240 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/18/2023. 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-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. 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 as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 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 in or related to safety and occupational health that provided the specific knowledge, skills and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. Managing safety or occupational health program elements, developing, and recommending safety and occupational health policy to higher levels of management. Apply 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 standard, regulations, practices, and procedures to eliminate or control potential hazards. Developing or implementing programs to reduce 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. Inspecting or surveying workplaces, processes, products, or other systems for compliance with established safety and occupational health policies and 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. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Accident InvestigationCompliance InspectionCustomer Service 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: This position consists of office as well as field work. Physical inspections of all buildings and grounds including all basements, sub-basements, attics, tunnels, confined spaces and other areas. This includes extended periods of walking, standing, bending, climbing, crouching, reaching, and lifting as well as the use of personal protective clothing and equipment. 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.

Contacts

• Address VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System 2200 SW Gage Blvd Topeka, KS 66622 US
• Name: Charlene Johnson
• Phone: (314) 939-9137
• Email: [email protected]