This position is required to assist the Maintenance and Repair Chief in the development and implementation of a comprehensive fire safety and protection program. He/she shall implement the routine scheduled preventive maintenance and inspection program on building fire service equipment and assist in conducting fire and life safety and industrial hygiene workplace evaluations throughout the Medical Center complex.

Duties

This position is required to assist the Maintenance and Repair Chief in the development and implementation of a comprehensive fire safety and protection program. He/she shall implement the routine scheduled preventive maintenance and inspection program on building fire service equipment, conduct NFPA required fire drills, fire and life safety workplace evaluations; and assist the Industrial Hygienist in collecting, transporting, and storing of hazardous waste (chemicals) throughout the Medical Center complex. In this capacity, he/she shall assist the Maintenance and Repair Chief in providing limited general administrative supervision of specific program elements such as preventative maintenance, fire and life safety, training employees, etc. He/she is responsible for assuring a safe and healthful work and care environment is maintained by conducting work site assessments and physical plant inspections. Major duties include, but are not limited to: Required to perform routine scheduled preventive maintenance and inspection on building fire service equipment. Conducts fire safety workplace evaluations throughout the Medical Center complex. Accompanies OSHA, EPA, or other occupational health and safety inspectors on inspections of the VA facility. Assists the Emergency Manager in performing/conducting disaster drills that related to chemical decontamination. Assists the IH in the development of the environmental health and safety programs. Assists the Maintenance and Repair Chief, Safety Officer (SO), IH or RSO in other safety related tasks as directed by them. Maintains files, both on paper and in the computer as directed by the Safety Manger, or IH. Materials typically included are: forms used and records of surveys, inventories, quarterly fire suppression and fire drill response reports, etc. Ensures that fire response by staff is adequate in all departments of the Medical Center Complex. Take actions to correct deficient areas. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday; 7:30a.m. - 4:00p.m. Telework: This is not a telework position. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Safety & Occupational Health Specialist/PD20800 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 time-in-grade and specialized experience requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement, 05/23/2024. 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 within 30 days of 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. 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-7 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Individual Occupational Requirements (for positions above GS-5): Specialized 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. In addition to meeting the Individual Occupational Requirements above, to qualify for this position at the GS-09 level, you must meet one of the following; Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Must have knowledge of Federal Occupational Safety and Health Regulations (OSHA), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) codes, Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals Organization (JCAHO) standards and basic safety and industrial hygiene principles; Implements the routine scheduled preventive maintenance and inspection program on building fire service equipment; Conduct NFPA required fire drills; Ensures that fire response by staff is adequate in all departments of the Medical Center Complex. Take actions to correct deficient areas; Maintains organized records and reports, and takes appropriate action when necessary; Must have training techniques to train adult learners to provide required safety and health education in a wide variety of industrial applications as they apply to federal OSHA regulations. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., with a degree in 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. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED). OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and graduate level education beyond the second year (18 semester hours) with a degree in 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. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Compliance InspectionComputer SkillsHazardous Materials 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: Works in tiring positions such as prolonged walking, standing, stooping and kneeling. Work is also accomplished from hard to get at locations and ladders and requires working in attic spaces and under buildings in confined spaces. Walks throughout the Medical Center including research laboratories and occasionally lifts heavy containers of hazardous waste that is collected for disposal. The work requires walking, bending, standing, lifting. Considerable walking is often necessary, such as in performing routine surveys, or when activities of the Safety Office must be coordinated with other organizations within the Medical Center. 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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Contacts

• Address VA Portland Health Care System 3710 Southwest US Veterans Hospital Road Portland, OR 97239 US
• Name: Simone Ball
• Phone: 541-440-1000 X44275
• Email: [email protected]