This position is for an Industrial Hygienist in the Safety and Emergency Management Service at the Birmingham VA Medical Center. This position is covered by AFGE bargaining unit. Per the AFGE Master Agreement, the Area of Consideration will be: 1st Area of Consideration: Current permanent Facility (including satellites) employees. 2nd Area of Consideration: Current permanent VA employees (including VEOA). 3rd Area of Consideration: All other Status candidates.

Duties

Major duties and responsibilities of this position include, but are not limited to, the following: Evaluates matters involving industrial hygiene, decontamination, respiratory protection, asbestos control and abatement, formaldehyde, hearing conservation, confined space, hazard communication, ergonomics, thermal extremes, indoor air quality, nitrous oxide, mercury and heavy metals, halogenated anesthetic gases, chemical and biological hood testing, and anti-neoplastic drugs. Conducts occupational health inspections to determine compliance with published health standards and regulations. Analyzes a situation and makes decisions on how to eliminate or reduce occupational health hazards to an acceptable level. Conduct, facilitate and manage qualitative and quantitative exposure assessments, to include environmental sampling. Performs analysis to determine nature and degree of toxic materials present. Selects or devises methods and instruments, conducts measurements, and studies and tests materials associated with the work operation or environment. Conducts studies of work operations and processes, examining work environments, analyzing findings, promulgating recommendations, and preparing various reports. Manages computer programs and databases to enhance management of industrial hygiene programs. Actively participates in and advises facility committees on matters related to industrial hygiene and decontamination. Serves as leader of facility emergency decontamination response team; responds to incidents involving hazardous materials during and after normal working hours. Participates in developing courses of instruction for personnel, preparing course agenda, making arrangements for demonstrations, drills/exercises and giving technical instruction on industrial hygiene and decontamination subjects. Work Schedule: Monday to Friday, 07:30 AM to 04:00 PM. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Industrial Hygienist/PD089590 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: 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, 10/19/2023. 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 and/or education as described below: Individual Occupation Requirement (IOR): Applicants must meet one of the following requirements. The education must be accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained: A bachelor's or graduate/higher level degree in industrial hygiene, occupational health sciences, occupational and environmental health, toxicology, safety sciences, or related science; or A bachelor's degree in a branch of engineering, physical science, or life science that included 12 semester hours in chemistry, including organic chemistry, and 18 additional semester hours of courses in any combination of chemistry, physics, engineering, health physics, environmental health, biostatistics, biology, physiology, toxicology, epidemiology, or industrial hygiene; or Certification from the Board for Global EHS Credentialing, formerly known as American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH). GS-12 Experience: 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: the recognition, evaluation, corrective actions, and elimination of environmental conditions in the workplace that causes sickness, impaired health, or illness. This experience must demonstrate a professional knowledge of the theory and application of the principles of industrial hygiene and closely related sciences such as physics and engineering controls. Such work must have involved experience in all of the following areas: the acquisition of quantitative and qualitative data, and the measurement of exposures for a variety of chemical, physical, and biological stresses; the analysis of the data acquired and the prediction of probable effects of exposures on the health and well-being of workers; and the selection and recommendation of appropriate controls, including management, medical, engineering, education or training, and personal protective equipment. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Technical Competence Health Risk Analysis Teaching Others 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 inspections require moderate "physical exertions", including walking, standing, crawling, kneeling and bending. Moderate lifting and carrying of equipment, use of personal protective devices, and work in hazardous and confined spaces is required. Use of all appendages, good vision and hearing are necessary. Emotional and mental stability are required. Periodic travel to BVAMC Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) and Veterans Centers (typically by government vehicle) is required to conduct Industrial Hygiene program evaluations or to perform other survey activities. 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.

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 Birmingham VA Medical Center 700 South 19th Street Birmingham, AL 35233 US
• Name: VHA National Recruitment Center
• Phone: (844)456-5208
• Email: [email protected]