The incumbent serves as the Assistant Safety and Occupational Health Manager in the Safety and Emergency Management Program Services of the Eastern Oklahoma VA Healthcare System (EOVAHCS) located in Tulsa, OK. This position reports to the Safety Manager. The Assistant Safety and Occupational Health Manager is responsible for assisting the Safety Manager with planning, organizing, administering, and evaluating a comprehensive safety management program in a health care setting.

Duties

Major duties and responsibilities include: Plans, designs, constructs modifies improves or maintains facilities either by in house or contractual effort. Regulates and enforces Safety policies programs and activities. Establishes standards, promoting improvements, evaluating compliance, and if necessary, directing action to secure satisfactory results. Acts as technical expert on issues related to safety in a health care facility, with intimate knowledge of Joint Commission, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), NFPA (National Fire Protection Association), NIOSH (National Institute For Occupational Safety & Health), ADA (American Disabilities Act), and CARF (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities) standards. Resolves difficult and complex technical, project management, and organizational problems using innovative and original approaches. Issues reports of analyses and tracts status of corrective and preventive actions. Plans, organizes, oversees, and provides technical assistance for projects to resolve safety problems. Initiates corrective actions for occupational safety, environment of care, and fire protection inspections. Re-Manages computer programs and databases (such as ECOMP- Employment Compensation Operations Management) to enhance management of safety programs. Plans and manages projects and programs that are related to the development and implementation of safety policy, guidance, and procedures of the Medical Center. Independently assess the facility to address safety considerations by researching regulations and technical material as necessary to provide a comprehensive review. Advises and consults on the overall planning and programming requirements for and problems encountered in the day to day operations of a health care facility. Measures the effectiveness of existing healthcare safety programs applying various analytical methods and recommend solutions to problems. Analyzes safety programs within a health care setting and facilitate needed solutions, including the development and implementation of training and educational programs related to environmental programs. Ensures safety programs meet regulatory compliance (JC, OSHA, NFPA, NIOSH, ADA, and CARF) at the VAMC. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday; 8:00am - 4:30pm Telework: Ad-hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Safety & Occupational Health Manager/PD142680 Financial Disclosure Report: Not required Physical Requirements: The work includes two types of physical demands. The first is performed in an office or workplace setting, and sedentary in nature. The second is field work, including inspections, tests, and observations. This work requires regular and recurring physical exertions related to frequent inspections and surveys, requiring considerable walking, reaching, standing, crouching, bending, stretching, climbing, and similar movements. Occasionally, there may be a need to lift and carry moderately heavy objects. The incumbent is frequently exposed to mechanical hazards ranging from power tools to operating machinery, and chemical/biological hazards while performing laboratory inspections, maintenance shop surveys, emergency response, and patient decontamination duties. Incumbent may be exposed to health hazards when performing inspections, tests, and monitoring various work processes. Work requires some degree of agility and dexterity when, for example, it involves inspecting construction sites or other areas. Visual acuity is required to conduct inspections and complete administrative work. The incumbent may be required to do frequent driving. Work Environment: The regular and recurring work is carried out in an office or workplace environment. The work is usually performed in a well-lighted, heated, and ventilated space. Normal safety measures prevail. The work occasionally requires special safety precautions such as utilizing safety gear or following a particular set of safety procedures. The less frequent portion of work is performed in a complex medical care and research environment involving regular and recurrent exposure to hazards such as moving machine parts, irritant chemicals, fumes, physical stresses, energy sources, cramped/confined spaces, high noise levels, adverse weather conditions, and high temperatures. Work assignment may be detailed to different locations within the same week. The incumbent is assigned to work in all areas of the medical center, with regular exposure to infectious diseases, contamination, active biological materials, radiation, and large numbers of hospital inpatients whose physical and mental condition limits their ability to protect themselves.

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 12/08/2023. Individual Occupational Requirements (IOR)To qualify, all applicants must first meet the Individual Occupational Requirement - The Safety & Occupational Health Manager, 0018 has an Individual Occupational Requirement. In order to be appointed into this position, applicants must meet the following requirement. In addition to meeting the Individual Occupational Requirement applicants must also have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. 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; Specialized Experience: 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. OR; Certificates: Certification as a Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH), or Certified Health Physicist (CHP), or similar certification that included successful completion of a written examination meets the requirements for GS-5. Applicants may also qualify for higher grade levels based on their education and/or experience. 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: 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. 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. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Interpret Instructions, Specifications (includes blueprint reading)Production Support ServiceReliability And DependabilityTechnical Practices 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. 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 Jack C Montgomery VA Medical Center 1011 Honor Heights Drive Muskogee, OK 74401 US
• Name: Kenneth Meech
• Phone: 918-577-4753
• Email: [email protected]