The Industrial Hygienist/Water Safety Program Manager position serves as the senior Industrial Hygienist responsible for the Water Safety Program, Ergonomics Program, Research Safety Program and Industrial Hygiene Program in the STVHCS Safety Service.

Duties

The incumbent provides all aspects of industrial hygiene and water safety support to areas and programs including the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center (PRC) and Polytrauma Transitional Rehabilitation Program (PTRP), which is one of only five in the country that provides acute, comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation for Veterans and service members to improve their physical, cognitive, communicative, behavioral, psychological, and social functioning after significant injury or illness. In conjunction with the Polytrauma units, the Safety Service supports the associated Fisher House located adjacent to the ALMD campus, providing the facility and VA employees support in all aspects of safety operations, such as life safety, water safety, ergonomics, and industrial hygiene. The incumbent performs work in Safety Service in line with the safety mission in coordination with the Chief, work that can change and evolve due to most work being governed by regulatory guidelines, accreditation requirements, directives, and executive orders that are subject to change at any time. Policies and practices must be updated, and the employee population trained on the ever-changing requirements that affect the safety culture of STVHCS. When dealing with the protection of life and health, the service must learn and utilize the most current testing methods and equipment, the most effective engineering controls and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) protection, and the safest chemicals and processes determined by current industry standards and innovation. The incumbent is responsible for the following: Perform comprehensive water systems inspections to ensure regulatory compliance. Study the results of inspections, determine compliance/need for correction, develop corrective plans of action. Provide technical advice to employees at all levels to ensure facility compliance to a multitude of federal, state and local regulations. Develop and conduct water safety training programs for targeted employees. Utilize a number of measurement techniques and instruments to assess environmental exposures. Perform water quality and safety assessments upon request. Work with Engineering and Environmental Management Service on comprehensive water safety program. Share data and cooperatively develop solutions. Develop data and graphical reports for presentation in several Safety and Health Care System meetings/boards/councils. Develop and organize events and educational activities, such as posters and presentations, and participate in safety fairs and other partner training events. Record and monitor expenditures in time, equipment, resources to project needs and budget for each fiscal year. Maintain all documentation (permits, certifications, policies, meeting minutes) demonstrating compliance and fulfilling regulatory and agency requirements. Represent Safety Service in external committees (such as Infection Control Committee) for water safety issues including reporting. Apply incident investigation and root cause analysis to track and identify trends. Complete work quickly and accurately using VistA/DHCP, Microsoft Office products, and various other data/information retrieval systems. Organize/direct monthly as needed water sampling and system inspections; maintain results database; reports findings, compliance and remediation. Support Green Environmental Management Program and Industrial Hygiene Program in aspects of water safety. Organize and facilitate the quarterly Water Safety Committee, coordinating membership, activities and reporting. Perform back-up support to supervisory IH/Service Chief and Industrial Hygienists as needed. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Industrial Hygienist (Water Safety Program Manager)/PD03965O Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

• You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this job
• Subject to a background/suitability investigation
• May serve a probationary period
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 12/15/2023. Basic Requirements: Individual Occupational Requirements (IOR). The education must be accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained. Applicants must meet one of the following requirements: 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 American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH). Specialized Experience/Education Requirement: In addition to meeting the basic requirements, you must have the education/experience described below: GS-11 grade level: One year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-09 grade level in the federal service); experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA's) and other characteristics to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes: knowledge of industrial hygiene concepts, principles and practices that enables the employee to conduct industrial hygiene studies, to develop sampling or control methods and to provide expert advice to staff in a broad range of industrial hygiene matters. Knowledge required in evaluating and applying methods and equipment to the practice of industrial hygiene, particularly in dealing with problems not readily treatable by standard methods. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. When combining education with experience, first identify the percentage of required education you have earned (when substituting, you cannot use the first 60 semester hours that you earned). Then identify the percentage of required experience you possess. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. For example, an applicant who has 9 semester hours of graduate level education (i.e. 50% of graduate education required) and 6 months of creditable specialized experience (i.e. 50% of the required experience) would equal 100% of the required experience for the position A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Compliance Inspection Problem Solving Communications Compliance Technology Application 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. Work Environment: The work environment requires regular and frequently recurring periods of standing, walking, bending, crouching; may be required to climb ladders, enter on roofs or in basements, work in chemical laboratory environments, including pushing and pulling carts to transport equipment, supplies, and/or hazardous materials, and standing and walking during training sessions, safety awareness activities such as safety fairs, and escorting contractors throughout facilities. There will be some periods of sedentary work while managing administrative duties. The work involves administrative tasks and field inspections. Field inspections may require significant physical exertion which involves carrying monitoring/sampling equipment, climbing, standing, walking, crawling and bending in the facility's interstitial workspaces and the sub-level pipe space. During routine inspections, the employee may be exposed to a wide variety of physical/chemical hazards and toxic agents which may require the use of personal protective equipment in the form of respirators, protective clothing, boots and gloves. 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: If your school has changed names, or is no longer in existence, you must provide this information in your application.

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