College Graduate appointments are permanent competitive service appointments. This position is located with the Department of Labor, Mine Safety and Health Administration, Enforcement Safety Division located in Arlington, VA. The incumbent applies engineering principles to design, develop, implement, and monitor highly technical programs in the mining industry that impact and interface with other safety and health programs. This position is inside the bargaining unit.

Duties

Major duties for this position include but are not limited to: Develops and holds seminars in assigned program area to promote applicable new technology to assist in developing new programs for improving techniques aimed toward eliminating accidents. Manages the development and implementation of training classes or seminars for field personnel and others. Approves, implements and monitors field evaluations of mining or safety systems at complex mining operations. Analyzes data and monitors state-of-the art mine technology which has significant implications on national safety programs. Recommends approval or disapproval of petitions for modification of standards filed under 101 (c) of the Act. Analyzes and disseminates complex technical, regulatory or safety related information. Promotes, plans, manages and evaluates one or more of the following programs: Roof Control, Ventilation, Electrical, Mine Emergencies, Impoundments and other miscellaneous safety areas in underground and surface mines. Including developing and conducting training or seminars keeping abreast of safety aspects appropriate to MSHA. Plans and carries out special studies and field audits through mine site inspections, review of inspection reports, mine records, and other source material. Coordinates studies and audits with MSHA's Enforcement Safety Division, mine inspectors, and others as necessary. Review reports of fatal accidents and other investigative reports, MSHA Escalation Report (MERs), and Hazardous Complaints, and other pertinent matters for Safety related matters, concerns, deficiencies and report deviations in enforcement activities or applications. Access MSHA folders/files in MSHA network drives. Acquire and manage pertinent information. Consults with and advises top-level officials of MSHA, Department of Labor, Federal, State, and local governments, labor unions, mining industry, academia, and the public on a wide variety of Mine Safety matters. Serves as technical expert regarding all aspects (e.g. standards case law, enforcement, control technology, safety effects, investigations in safety matters, program lead, interpretation) of safety in mining. Develops, analyzes, recommends, implements, interprets and coordinates safety standards, policies, procedures, guidelines, reports, litigation, research, and special studies to enhance, improve and carry out MSHA's Safety program. Serves as expert witness in civil and criminal litigation involving projects within assigned program areas. Knowledge of the concepts, principles, theories, and theories of engineering and their practical applications. Performs other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Must be a U.S. Citizen.
• Must be at least 16 years old.
• Requires a probationary period if the requirement has not been met.
• Candidate required to obtain the necessary security/investigation level.
• Requires a valid driver's license.
• Subject to drug testing.

Qualifications

To be eligible for appointment under the College Graduate authority, applicants must meet requirement A or B. A. Applicants who have completed a bachelor's or graduate degree from a qualifying educational institution within the previous two years or within 30 days of the vacancy closing date (07/01/2024). OR B. Veterans who have completed a bachelor's or graduate degree from a qualifying educational institution and have an intervening period of obligated service of at least four years in the uniformed services. The two-year eligibility period begins on the date of discharge or release from the uniformed service. In addition to meeting the eligibility listed above, you must also meet the education and/or experience requirements described below. Basic Requirement: A. Degree: Engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by ABET; or (2) include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics. OR B. Combination of education and experience -- college-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying engineering, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering. The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following: 1. Professional registration or licensure -- Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT), or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. Absent other means of qualifying under this standard, those applicants who achieved such registration by means other than written test (e.g., State grandfather or eminence provisions) are eligible only for positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of their registration. For example, an applicant who attains registration through a State Board's eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions. 2. Written Test -- Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination or any other written test required for professional registration by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. 3. Specified academic courses -- Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified in the basic requirements under paragraph A. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A. 4. Related curriculum -- Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a bachelor's degree in engineering, provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. Ordinarily there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience, e.g., in interdisciplinary positions. (The above examples of related curricula are not all-inclusive.) Note: An applicant who meets the basic requirements as specified in A or B above, except as noted under B.1., may qualify for positions in any branch of engineering unless selective factors indicate otherwise. Minimum Qualifications: Specialized Experience: Applicants must have 52 weeks of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level, GS-07 in the Federal Service. Specialized experience must include one (1) of the following: Conducted studies to identify, evaluate safety problems and administrative issues; Implemented and evaluated a safety program; Created written reports and detailed basic findings for use in final reports; Experience with drafting publications, journal articles, books, and all forms of manuscripts; or, Experience with reviewing inspection reports, mine records, and other source material; OR Education in lieu of specialized experience: Possess a master's or equivalent graduate degree that provided the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to do the work of this position; OR, Possess two (2) full years of progressively higher level graduate education that provided the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to do the work of this position; OR Combination of education and experience: Possess a combination of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 level in or related to the work of this position and graduate level education that provided the specific knowledge, skills and abilities to perform successfully the duties of this position. Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled.

Education

Any applicant falsely claiming an academic degree from an accredited school will be subject to actions ranging from disqualification from federal employment to removal from federal service.

If your education was completed at a foreign college or university, you must show comparability to education received in accredited educational institutions in the United States and comparability to applicable minimum coursework requirements for this position. Click Evaluation of Foreign Education for more information.

Contacts

• Address Mine Safety and Health Administration 200 Constitution Avenue NW Washington, DC 20210 US
• Name: Kizzie Stokes
• Phone: 972-850-4462
• Email: [email protected]