To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.
Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR): An IOR is a basic requirement that must be met in order to qualify for the 0690 occupational series. All applicants, regardless of grade level must meet minimum education requirements. For this occupation, the education must be accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained.
Applicants must meet one of the following requirements:
- A bachelors or graduate/higher level degree in industrial hygiene, occupational health sciences, occupational and environmental health, toxicology, safety sciences, or related science. OR,
- A bachelors 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,
- A Certification from the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH).
NOTE: 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 basic entry qualification requirements, applicants must have specialized experience and/or directly related education. You may qualify based on education and/or experience as described below:
GS-7 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-05 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience would typically include applying basic research techniques to identify and analyze health hazards to recommend corrective or preventative measures for the health and well-being of employees, coordinates the work with others such as the occupational health clinic, physician, and employee's work schedules.
OR,
Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. Please see Education section for requirements;
OR,
Applicants may qualify based on superior academic achievement: Applicants must be in the upper third of their graduating class; OR have a GPA of 3.0 or higher; OR be a member of an Association of College Honor Societies. Please see Education section for requirements;
OR,
GS-9 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience would typically include: conducting surveys and investigations to identify and evaluate conditions that are hazardous to the health of employees to assist in developing and recommending corrective measures, performing analysis using standard methods to determine nature of degree of toxic material present in a variety of materials, such environmental samples, calibrates and adapts various kinds of equipment, such as standard spectrophotometers, pH meters, and gas chromatographic apparatus, consults with and advises occupational health personnel on matters of epidemiology relative to health hazards in the work area.
OR,
Education (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED): Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. Please see Education section for requirements.
OR,
Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. Please see Education section for requirements.
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.