Clarification from the agency

ALL US CITIZENS DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY: This position is being filled using Direct-Hire Authority (5 CFR 337.201) for this occupation.

Major Duties may include but not limited to:

• Provide technical advice to VA personnel on Occupational Health issues at the Bay Pines VAMC and Community Based-Outpatient Clinics.
• Developing a comprehensive industrial hygiene program consisting of environmental monitoring, recordkeeping, medical surveillance, personal protection equipment, hazardous materials management, asbestos control and education and training.
• Conduct industrial hygiene inspections on worksites to determine compliance with Occupational Health and Safety Standards.
• Conduct background reviews of service operations and the characteristics of the work process.
• Review applicate standards and requirements contained in VA circulars and applicable federal, state, and local requirements.
• Accompany OSHA, EPC or other Occupational Health and Safety inspectors on inspections of the Medical Center.
• Use a variety of sampling instrumentation, use of sampling strategies, and the types and limitations of analytical methods. Use of methods of control for a wide variety of health hazards, including toxic chemicals and noise.
• Analyze the factors that could contribute to accidents or hazardous conditions.
• Acts as the Respiratory Program Administrator.
• Other duties as assigned

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM- 4:30 PM
Position Description Title/PD#: Industrial Hygienist/PD10770A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: May be authorized for highly qualified applicant
Physical Requirements: Office as well as field work required. Field inspections require moderate physical exertion in carrying equipment, as well as extended periods of walking, standing, bending, and climbing.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this job
• Subject to a background/suitability investigation
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• A complete application package; Resume, Transcripts, etc. is required
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents).
• Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.

Upon completion of your probationary period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Industrial Hygiene Series 0690; Individual Occupational Requirement

• Basic Requirements:

The education must be accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education(external link) at the time the degree was obtained. Applicants must meet one of the following requirements:

• A bachelor's or graduate/higher level degree in industrial hygiene, occupational health sciences, occupational and environmental health, toxicology, safety sciences, or related science; or
• A bachelor's degree in a branch of engineering, physical science, or life science that included 12 semester hours in chemistry, including organic chemistry, and 18 additional semester hours of courses in any combination of chemistry, physics, engineering, health physics, environmental health, biostatistics, biology, physiology, toxicology, epidemiology, or industrial hygiene; or
• Certification from the American Board of Industrial Hygiene(external link) (ABIH).

Courses in the history or teaching of chemistry are not acceptable.

• Evaluation of Education: All science or engineering courses offered in fulfillment of the above requirements must be acceptable for credit toward the completion of a standard 4-year professional curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in science or engineering at an accredited college or university. For engineering degrees to be acceptable, the curriculum must be in a school of engineering with at least one curriculum accredited by the ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) as a professional engineering curriculum.
• Evaluation of Experience: Qualifying experience involves the recognition, evaluation, corrective actions, and elimination of environmental conditions in the workplace that causes sickness, impaired health, or illness. This experience must demonstrate a professional knowledge of the theory and application of the principles of industrial hygiene and closely related sciences such as physics and engineering controls.
• Such work must have involved experience in all of the following areas: The acquisition of quantitative and qualitative data, and the measurement of exposures for a variety of chemical, physical, and biological stresses; the analysis of the data acquired and the prediction of probable effects of exposures on the health and well-being of workers; and the selection and recommendation of appropriate controls, including management, medical, engineering, education or training, and personal protective equipment.

In addition to meeting the above IOR requirement, applicant must also meet the following grade requirement:

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-9. 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:
GS-11 Specialized Experience One year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-09 grade level in the federal service); experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA's) and other characteristics to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes:

• Review, interpret & apply Industrial Hygiene & Occupational Health Standards from VA, OSHA, TJC, EPA, Florida DEP, and other regulatory agencies.
• Plans, implements & evaluates the Industrial Hygiene Program at the healthcare system.
• Prepares reports, understands and interprets written material, including technical material, rules, regulations, instructions, reports, charts, graphs or tables; applies these to specific situations.
• Conduct industrial hygiene inspections of all work areas to determine compliance with standards set by OSHA, VA and other regulatory agencies.
• Develops standard operating procedures to reduce or eliminate occupational health hazards, meeting national & regional policies, meeting applicable federal, state & local regulations, and providing instructions, training & advice to employees and the safety team.

OR

Education: Applicants may substitute education for the experience required for the GS-11 level. To substitute education you must have three years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. or possess a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree.

OR

Combination of Experience & Education: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an appropriate combination of specialized experience and education. To calculate, first identify the percentage of required education you have earned (when substituting, you cannot use the first 60 semester hours that you earned). Then identify the percentage of required experience you possess. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify at the GS-XX. For example, an applicant who has 9 semester hours of graduate level education (i.e. 50% of graduate education required) and 6 months of creditable specialized experience (i.e. 50% of the required experience) would equal 100% of the required experience for the position A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

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: IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Verbiage displayed on your resume or application must contain your own words. You may refer to the specialized experience located within the vacancy announcement, to assist with describing work experiences; however, resumes or applications received that copied verbatim from the announcement will be evaluated and may be reviewed as falsifying your experience or application.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Applicants will be referred in the order in which they were received.

Documents Accepted:

• Cover Letter
• DD-214/ Statement of Service
• Disability Letter (VA)
• Proof of Marriage Status
• Resume
• Separation Notice (RIF)
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

Documents Required:

• Resume

Please review the above list(s) to ensure you have included all necessary documents required for your application.Not every applicant will require the same documents, therefore it is the applicants responsibility to ensure that their application package includes all necessary documents to determine qualifications and eligibility for appointment, such as a copy of your SF-50, transcript, ICTAP/CTAP documentation (for displaced Federal employees).You will not be contacted for additional information. Applicants will be deemed ineligible if supporting documentation is not submitted.

Veterans' Preference: Since the Direct-Hire Recruitment Authority is being used, traditional Veterans' Preference rules do not apply. Qualified veterans will, however, be given full consideration for this position.

Applications are accepted online. Applying online will allow you to review and track the status of your application.

Next steps