This position is a trainee position leading to the full performance level of Safety and Occupational Health Specialist. The primary purpose of this position is to serve as a mid-level trainee in the Safety and Occupational Health section under the Office of the Associate Director. The incumbent is given a variety of developmental assignments in order to broaden skills and provide experience for progressively more complex assignments.

Duties

Major duties include, but not limited to: serves as the Life Safety Specialist within the Occupational Safety and Health Office at the Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center works with higher level specialist to identify opportunities for improvement through an ongoing effort of hazard identification, evaluation, solution implementation, monitoring, and collaborating with others works with higher graded specialist to conduct internal gap analyses of the Life Safety program. Assist higher level specialist with issuing reports of gap analysis and tracks the status of corrective and preventive actions assist higher level specialists with coordinating responses to VA and external Life Safety audits, surveys, inspections, etc. performs pre-Occupancy inspections of all spaces prior to the occupancy of any employees after renovations, construction, or new leases for purposes of Safety and Life Safety hazards responsible for the preparation of safety and fire prevention-related reports, correspondence, checklists, and hazard abatement evaluations after all inspections, drills, etc. works with higher level employees to review construction drawings and provide technical expertise for determination of location and adequacy of smoke walls, fire walls, sprinkler systems, alarms, occupancy requirements, exits, evacuation routes, types of doors, size of hallways, and other Life Safety and safety requirements conducts Risk Assessment of all construction designs, modifications, and maintenance of facilities for all Life Safety issues perform routine inspections on the VA campus to include: life safety, fire extinguisher, fire sprinkler, fire and smoke wall, fire and smoke door, exit door, interim life safety measures (ILSM), fire hydrant testing, and fire alarm assists higher level specialist on the following: conduct and evaluate fire drills (quarterly and annually) in various locations throughout the VA Campus and Community-Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOC) manages computer programs and databases to track the management of Life Safety programs Monitor contracts for fire alarm inspections, testing, and maintenance for fire alarms, sprinklers, pumps, and all associated equipment perform Safety and Life Safety inspections during the following: Construction Rounds with the Contracting Representative (weekly of all construction sites or more frequent depending on requirements) and Environment of Care (EOC) Rounds (semi-annual inspections of all areas throughout the hospital) coordinates with local fire departments for support to the VAMC. Communications include but are not limited to notifications of conditions within and around the VAMC that would interfere with the local response to emergencies Work Schedule: Monday - Friday; 8:00 am - 4:30 pm Telework: Ad-hoc - VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Financial Disclosure Report: Not required Travel: Travel to CBOCs for inspections, fire drills and inspection of community nursing homes ****All required documentation must be uploaded before the announcement closes, to support eligibility.**** Failure to submit documentation will constitute the application being categorized as incomplete and therefore ineligible for referral.

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/06/2024. 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-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. 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: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Experience related to conducting safety inspections, monitoring safety compliance, working with stake holders to develop corrective action plans, preparing accident and injury reports, conducting investigations, conducting fire and emergency drills, maintaining safety contracts for items such as fire protection equipment and extinguishers or other substantially similar specialized experience. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a Graduate degree within a technical or scientific field such as 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, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond . You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: CommunicationCompliance InspectionEducation and TrainingProblem SolvingTechnical Competence 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: Work is performed in a wide range of environments and includes exposure to potentially hazardous conditions such as asbestos, chemical spills, extreme temperatures and damaged or defective buildings and structures. Work activity may involve prolonged periods of sitting, standing, climbing, work in cramped spaces, walking and bending. Incumbent occasionally lifts and moves moderately heavy objects. Some degree of agility and dexterity is required to conduct inspections. 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/. ****All required documentation must be uploaded before the announcement closes, to support eligibility.**** Failure to submit documentation will constitute the application being categorized as incomplete and therefore ineligible for referral.

Education

A legible 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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

****All required documentation must be uploaded before the announcement closes, to support eligibility.****
Failure to submit documentation will constitute the application being categorized as incomplete and therefore ineligible for referral.

Contacts

• Address Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center 1111 East End Boulevard Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711 US
• Name: Katrina Paul
• Phone: (412) 822-3584
• Email: [email protected]