This position reports directly for the Chief of Safety, and as a profession safety team member, provides general safety and fire protections, and training for the South Texas Veterans Health Care System.

Duties

Independently performs inspections/evaluations of full scope of workplaces and occupations at Audie L. Murphy Campus, outpatient clinics, and other Veteran placement facilities. Studies the results of inspections, determines compliance/need for correction, develops corrective plans of action. Provides technical advice to employees at all levels to ensure facility compliance to a multitude of federal, state and local regulations. Utilizes a number of measurement techniques and instruments to assess environmental exposures. Performs air quality and safety assessments upon request. Works with Engineering and Environmental Management Services on a comprehensive workplace EOC program. Shares data and cooperatively develops solutions. Applies accident investigation and root cause analysis to track and identify trends. Investigates accidents, incidents, and potential hazards that fall within the scope of safety and occupational health. Schedules, performs, documents monthly fire extinguisher checks, suppression system and extinguisher inspections, alarm tests and drills. Tracks ergonomic requests, performs evaluations, maintains equipment, advises customers of scope and limitations of ergonomics program. Maintains environment of care (EOC) program Performance Logic (PL) database. Gives guidance to management users of PL. Manages and reports data from PL database. Organizes/directs weekly Environment of Care Rounds through main campus and outpatient clinics and offices; maintains rounds database; reports findings, compliance and remediation. Completes work quickly and accurately using VistA/DHCP, Microsoft Office products, and various other data/information retrieval systems. Develops and conducts general, life safety, and work-site-specific training programs for employees. Develops and organizes events and educational activities, such as Safety Month fairs, seasonal safety posters, ergonomic safety training, etc. Develops data and graphical reports for presentation in several Safety and Health Care System meetings/boards/councils. Performs back-up support to other specialists (fire safety, general safety, industrial hygiene) as needed. Supports Safety Specialists in the facility's Lock Out/Tag Out program, Confined Space program, and Ergonomics program. Represents Safety Service in external committees (such as Patient Safety and Internal Readiness), for safety issues, including reporting. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday / 0700-1600 Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Safety Technician/PD028160 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, 11/06/2023. 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-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-06. 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. Individual Occupational Requirement: Applicants must possess experience that involved: (l) identifying, preventing, or eliminating safety hazards in work methods or environmental conditions; or (2) safety training or promotion. Such experience must have provided a practical knowledge of occupational and environmental safety hazards, survey techniques, and control and preventive methods. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: biological technician, medical technician, engineering technician, fire prevention inspector, and environmental health worker. AND: 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-06 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Assisting with continuous life safety program inspections at hospitals under the guidance of a Safety Chief or Safety Specialist; AND applying standards from governing associations to maintain fire protection systems such as fire hydrants, sprinkler systems, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, fire alarm pull stations, fire and smoke doors, fire and smoke partitions, and other fire protection components. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have one (1) 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 with major study or at least 24 semester hours in any combination of subjects such as safety, fire prevention, industrial hygiene, or other directly related subjects.. 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. Part-time graduate education is creditable in accordance with its relationship to a year of full-time study at the school attended. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED). OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond one (1) 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. Part-time graduate education is creditable in accordance with its relationship to a year of full-time study at the school attended. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED). You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Compliance Inspection Problem Solving Risk Management Technology Application Communication Compliance 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: Applicant must be able Moderate lifting and carrying (15-44 pounds), Staring pulling, pulling hand over hand, pushing, reaching above shoulder, use of fingers, both hands required, walking, standing, crawling, repeated bending, climbing with use of legs and arms, both legs required, operation of crane, truck, tractor, or motor vehicle, ability for rapid mental and muscular coordination simultaneously, near vision correctable at 13" to 16" to Jaeger 1 to 4, Far vision correctable in one eye to 20/20 and to 20/40 in the other, depth perception, ability to distinguish basic colors, ability to distinguish shades of colors, hearing (aid may be permitted), emotional & mental stability, prosthetic limbs permitted. 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.

Note: If your school has changed names, or is no longer in existence, you must provide this information in your application.

Contacts

• Address Audie L Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital 7400 Merton Minter Boulevard San Antonio, TX 78229 US
• Name: VISN 17 SSU USAS Group
• Email: [email protected]