The Safety and Occupational Health Specialist serves as the expert in life safety, construction safety, and fire protection in the STVHCS. The incumbent is the Program Manager for the Life Safety Program and is responsible for developing policies, goals, and plans for execution of activities; evaluating programs, and providing advice to field activities, private contracting companies, and other Agencies which have participating or related programs.

Duties

Duties include: Independently performs inspections/evaluations. Studies the results of inspections, determines compliance/need for correction, develops corrective plans of action. Provides technical advice to employees. Develops and conducts life safety and work-site-specific training. Schedules, performs and documents monthly fire extinguisher checks, suppression system and extinguisher inspections, alarm tests and drills. Utilizes a number of measurement techniques and instruments to assess environmental exposures. Performs air quality and safety assessments. Investigates accidents, incidents, and potential hazards that fall within the scope of safety and occupational health. Maintains accident prevention program and OSHA ECOMP database. Gives guidance to management users of ECOMP. Manages and reports data from ECOMP database. Works with OWCP and Infection Control on comprehensive workplace safety program. Shares data and cooperatively develops solutions. Chairs monthly Construction Safety Committee, managing all documents and follow up, and prepares reports to brief higher level Safety& Health Leadership Committee. Represents Safety Service in external committees (such as Internal Readiness), for life safety issues, including reporting. Applies accident investigation and root cause analysis to track and identify trends. Completes work using VistA/DHCP, Microsoft Office products, and other data/information retrieval systems. Organizes/directs weekly Environment of Care Rounds through entire campus; maintains rounds equipment; reports findings, compliance and remediation. Develops and administers the facility's Lock Out/Tag Out program, Confined Space program, and Ergonomics program. Tracks ergonomic requests, performs evaluations, maintains equipment, advises customers of scope and limitations of ergonomics program. Performs back-up support to other specialists (fire safety, general safety, industrial hygiene). Records and monitors expenditures in time, equipment, resources to project needs and budget for each fiscal year. Develops and organizes events and educational activities, such as Safety Month fairs, seasonal safety posters, ergonomic safety training, etc. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday; 8:00 am - 4:30 pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Travel: May require minimal travel to off-site facilities; may require travel to approved training locations. Position Description/PD#: Safety & Occupational Health Specialist/PD671-2337-O Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required Physical Requirements: Moderate lifting (15-44 pounds); Moderate carrying (15-44 pounds); Straight pulling (1 hour); Pulling hand over hand (1 hour); Pushing (1 hour); Reaching above shoulders; Use of fingers; both hands required; Walking (8 hours); Standing (8 hours); Crawling (1 hour); Repeated bending (1 hour); Climbing, use of legs and arms; Both legs required; Operation of crane, truck, tractor, or motor vehicle; Ability for rapid mental and muscular coordination simultaneously; Near vision correctable at 13" to 16" to Jaeger 1 to 4; Far vision correctable in one eye to 20/20 and to 20/40 in the other; Depth perception; Ability to distinguish basic colors; Ability to distinguish shades of colors; Hearing (aid may be permitted); Emotional & mental stability; Prosthetic limbs permitted.

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/01/2024. 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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09. 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 REQUIREMENTS (IOR): 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. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED) OR, Experience. Specialized experience: Experience in or related to safety & 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 & occupational health policy to higher levels of management; Applying safety & occupational health laws, regulations, principles, theories, practices, and procedures to advise on or resolve technical matters dealing with occupational safety & health requirements; Developing safety & 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 & occupational health policies or standards and to identify potential new hazards; Training of workers, supervisors, managers, or other safety & 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. OR, Certification as a Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH), or Certified Health Physicist (CHP), or similar certification that included successful completion of a written examination meets the requirements for GS-5. Applicants may also qualify for higher grade levels based on their education and/or experience. In addition to meeting the Individual Occupational Requirements (IOR) above, 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-09 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Develop, implement, and manage safety & occupational health programs in a health care setting; Provide statistical analysis of data, and graphical presentation of information using technology; Experience using ECOMP; Evaluate, apply methods and equipment to, and make decisions regarding safety practice; Draw conclusions from fact and principle analysis; Independently formulate corrective or abatement procedures; Identify, evaluate, and determine causal factors, deficiencies, and hazards or instances of noncompliance; Determine and initiate corrective actions based on standards; Write policies; Apply standards based on NFPA, OSHA, VA, The Joint Commission (TJC), and EPA regulatory codes; Confirm safety compliance or identify concerns in engineering plans; Analyze work processes to ensure safe work standards are met, PPE requirements are maintained, and hazard precautions are employed; Budgeting and accounting; Develop sound transportation safety policies; Assess the relationship and impact of the working environment upon individuals and motivate workers to perform safely; Develop and conduct safety and occupational health training. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M. if related. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED). OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and education beyond a master's or equivalent graduate degree. Note: Only post-graduate level education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level (beyond 2 full years - 36 hours - of progressively higher level graduate education) may be combined with experience. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED). You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: CommunicationsComplianceCompliance InspectionProblem SolvingRisk ManagementTechnology Application 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. 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/.

NOTE: If your school has changed names, or is no longer in existence, you must provide this information in your application.

Contacts

• Address Audie L Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital 7400 Merton Minter Boulevard San Antonio, TX 78229 US
• Name: VISN 17 SSU USAS Group
• Email: [email protected]