Incumbent is the Safety & Occupational Health Manager and acts as Safety Section chief under the authority of the Chief, Facilities Management on matters relating to occupational safety and health at the VA Medical Center. The incumbent is responsible for planning, organizing, administering and evaluating a comprehensive safety management program in a health care setting.

Duties

Major duties include, but are not limited to: Responsible for the supervision of Industrial Hygienist, Radiation Safety Coordinator, and Supervisor Safety & Occupational Health Specialist. Advises and provides counsel to employees regarding policies, procedures, and directives of management. Selects or recommends selection of candidates for vacancies, promotions, details, and reassignments in consideration of skills and qualifications. Assigns and reviews work performed by subordinates based on priorities, selective consideration of the difficulty and requirements of assignments and capabilities of the employee. The incumbent serves as the Safety Program Manager and is directly responsible for managing and providing leadership and technical expertise for the NMVAHCS Occupational Health, Safety, Fire Protection, and Environmental programs. This program must meet changing requirements of regulatory agencies including but not limited to VA, VHA, JCAHO, OSHA, EPA as they relate to the facilities mission. Serves as an expert on issues related to Environmental Statutes and Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements, as well as for new or enhanced information system software related to Occupational Safety and Health and Environmental programs. The incumbent conducts proactive risk assessments that evaluate the potential adverse impact of buildings, grounds, equipment, occupants, and internal physical systems of the safety and health of patients, staff, and other people coming to the hospital's facilities. The incumbent conducts periodic environmental tours to identify environmental deficiencies hazards, and unsafe practices. Incumbent develops and conducts a comprehensive safety education program through formal training sessions with Environment of Care coordinators and supervisors, computer-based modules, and specialized topic training as needed. Publicizes safety articles and disseminates safety education materials to various services throughout the facility. Incumbent keeps abreast of latest development in the field of safety and occupational health management systems by reviewing technical publications, attending technical conferences or professional society meetings, and discussion with industry representatives. Incumbent conducts accident investigations including fire situation investigations to determine causes document severity of personal injury and/or property damage, and initiate corrective actions. Incumbent is closely involved in all aspects of the NMVAHCS facility construction program, including reviewing plans, and specifications, participating in preconstruction meetings, and preforming jobsite inspections to ensure compliance with OSHA and Life Safety Codes for health care occupancies and other safety related requirements. Incumbent provides technical expertise for the design, modification, construction, operation and maintenance of facilities to comply with safety requirements. Incumbent is involved with determining any potential impact of construction on infection control within patient care areas. Incumbent develops Life Safety Measures (ILSM) for each situation where a building's life safety system is impacted by construction or other factors, and provides training as necessary to impacted staff, and maintains those files. Incumbent serves as the primary NMVAHCS liaison for the Annual Workplace Evaluations (AWE) OSHA program evaluation and facility inspection. Incumbent develops abatement plans and assigns, and estimated completion date for each specific finding. Incumbent oversees documentation of actions, planned or taken, to correct deficiencies identified in the report and enters information online using the web-based CEOSH Facility SAFE site. The incumbent serves as the Green Environmental Management Systems (GEMS) Coordinator and is directly responsible for coordinating the efforts of VA Medical Center staff involved with the GEMS to ensure that the GEMS is developed and implemented in accordance with VHA and VA Medical Center policy and guidance. Telework: Not Authorized Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Safety & Occupational Health Specialist/PD11055O 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, 12/21/2023. 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: Basic Requirements: Education: 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. 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. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: 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. GS-12 Qualifications 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: 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 and Developing safety and occupational health standards, regulations, practices, and procedures to eliminate or control potential hazards. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Health Risk AnalysisLead or SuperviseRisk ManagementStrategic Thinking 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 work is sedentary during non-emergency situations. However, participation in field exercises and operational support missions may require strenuous physical activity to include carrying persons and equipment, walking long distances, climbing, working long hours, long periods of standing, bending and stooping. May include various housing and living conditions to include non-climate controlled, limited privacy sleeping facilities (for example, cots, tents, "hot-bunking", gymnasiums or similar) During emergency situations the incumbent may be required to remain available 24 hours per day, seven days per week for multiple weeks. Is subject to work under emergency notification and contact procedures. EMS will be provided and must carry a government provided mobile communication device. 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 the GS-12 grade level.

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.

Contacts

• Address San Diego VA Medical Center 3350 La Jolla Village Drive San Diego, CA 92161 US
• Name: Sergio Ramos
• Phone: (858) 642-1568
• Email: [email protected]