The Occupational Safety and Health Service Program Manager with oversight for the Occupational Safety and Industrial Hygiene and Construction Safety programs for the MTVAHCS. The incumbent has responsibility in all areas of the Health Care System (HCS) involving a wide variety of high-risk operations, facilities operations, and environmental conditions.

Duties

This position has the following Major Duties include but are not limited to: Provides guidance to customers concerning everyday safety issues. Responsible & accountable for directing /managing an integrated Occupational Safety and Health Program. Provides direct support to the Executive Leadership Team in planning, designing, integrating, implementing, modifying, and administering the Occupational Safety and Health Program. Collaborates with and provides guidance to the leadership team on safety and Health, Joint Commission (JC) Environment of Care, Fire/Life Safety, and Construction issues throughout the HCS. Formulates strategic planning goals for the OSH program and develops performance goals to measure activities on and annual basis, keeping the leadership team appraised of OSH priorities, performance measures and trends in the OSH program that Impact the safety of staff and quality of healthcare delivered to Veterans. Develops strategy to ensure compliance with all safety related performance measures/monitors identified in the Facility Director Performance Standards and tracks facility compliance. Provides expert interpretation of regulations, directives, and guidelines and assures that specific policies are consistent with federal, state, and local regulations that may affect VA related activities. Leads organizational effort to achieve compliance with the requirements and recommendations in OSH established by VACO,OSHA, TJC, NRC, CDC, EPA, NCPS, CARF, CAP and other regulatory and/or accrediting agencies. Prepares technical documents and guidance to support safety and occupational program implementation. Coordinates communication of information between the VISN, and the Facility on any potentially hazardous condition that may cause damage to property or cause injury to patients, visitors, or employees. Utilizes all VHA required reporting databases (i.e. Performance Logic, Facility safe, ECOMP etc.) Evaluates the industrial hygiene programs with the Facility to identify hazards associated with areas such as radiation, airborne chemical or biological contaminants, nose, temperature extremes, asbestos, laser, and other occupational health issues as deemed appropriate. Has substantial and continuous responsibility to initiate action when imminent danger situations arise posing an immediate risk of death or physical harm, by informing affected employees and management to ensure that work can be stopped until the hazard is corrected They identifies specific hazardous conditions that require in-depth analyses and subsequent implementation of measures to control or eliminate unhealthy conditions. Leads the Accident Review Board and is the designated facility ECOMP Coordinator. Works closely with the Workers' Compensation Coordinator to promote and improve data acquisition and flow at the facility level. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00 am - 4:30pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Safety & Occupational Health Manager/PD134580 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 all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 06/28/2024. 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-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. Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR): This occupational series has a minimum qualifications entry requirement. You may qualify with education and/or experience. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: 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, 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. 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. In addition to the IOR, you must also meet the minimum qualification requirement listed below. 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: Expert level knowledge of safety and occupational health concepts, principles, techniques, practices, laws, and regulations sufficient to enable the manager to plan, organize, administer, coordinate, and evaluate wide-ranging occupational health and occupational safety programs as a technical authority, for the area assigned that includes problems that are not readily addressed by accepted methods or involve far reaching decisions or recommendations: Expert level knowledge and skill in the use of innovative criteria, data, and techniques to identify and analyze safety and occupational health problems sufficient to recommend substantive program changes that solve highly technical/complex problems and challenges requiring new or modified concepts and theories: Demonstrates leadership and management skills which require the development of safety criteria to eliminate, mitigate and control serious hazards. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Administration and ManagementAnalytical ThinkingPlanning and EvaluatingPublic Safety and SecurityTechnical 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: Most work is performed in an office or workplace setting, and the work is sedentary in nature. There may be some walking, standing, bending, and carrying of light items, occasionally carrying moderate weight items, but no specific physical demands are required to perform the work. 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 this grade level.

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education to meet the IOR requirement.

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 Fort Harrison VA Medical Center 3687 Veterans Drive Fort Harrison, MT 59636 US
• Name: Kimba Brown
• Phone: 773-996-0671
• Email: [email protected]