As a Safety and Occupational Health Specialist within the Geology, Geophysics, & Geochemistry Science Center some of your specific duties will include:

• Provides and coordinates training.
• Maintains applicable standards and regulations including hazardous waste storage and disposal policies.
• Responsible for scheduling or conducting safety inspections.
• Reviews job hazard analysis and field safety/communication plans.
• Identifies hazards and ensures abatement of hazards has been performed.
• Evaluation of accidents, investigations, and reporting.
• Serves as the centers primary contact for establishing required safety training and receives, distributes, and maintains safety information material.
• Organizes Center safety committee and trains the Center collateral duty safety program coordinators.
• Operates a government owned or leased vehicle as an incidental driver.

Conditions of employment

Key Requirements:

1. Applicants must be U.S. Citizens.
2. Suitable for Federal employment, as determined by background investigation.
3. Selectee may be subject to serving a one-year probationary period.
4. More requirements are listed under Qualifications and Other Information.
5. Selectee must provide a valid state driver's license & safe driving record.

Are There Any Special Requirements For This Position?

• You will be required to operate a government-owned or leased vehicle in the performance of your official duties. Applicants for this position must meet the following requirements:(1) possess a valid State license, and (2) possess a safe driving record. If selected, you will be required to provide proof of a valid State license & a copy of your driving record.
• Because this position requires travel for official business, the selectee will be required to apply for a charge card within 30 calendar days of appointment. Individuals who have delinquent account balances from a previous Government charge card will be required to satisfy their existing obligation before a new card can be issued.
• A background investigation will be required for this position. Continued employment will be subject to the applicant's successful completion of a background security investigation and favorable adjudication. Failure to successfully meet these requirements will be grounds for termination.
• Throughout the recruitment and hiring process we will be communicating with you via email; therefore, it is imperative that the email address you provide when applying for this vacancy remains active. Should your email address change, please notify the point of contact identified in the vacancy announcement as soon as possible so that we can update our system.

CONTINUED IN QUALIFICATIONS SECTION

Qualifications

CONTINUED FROM REQUIREMENTS SECTION

Conditions of Employment for this Position:

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1- year probationary period during which your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest will be evaluated.

This probationary period is an extension of the appointment process and therefore requires the agency to determine if continued employment would advance the public interest, meet the organization goals and mission of the agency, and/or otherwise promote the efficiency of the service. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, the agency will 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.

Under applicable law, the employment of an individual serving a probationary or trial period automatically terminates when that period ends unless the agency affirmatively certifies, in writing, that the individual's employment should continue and that their appointment should be finalized. In the absence of agency action to affirmatively certify continued employment beyond the probationary or trial period, such appointments are terminated.

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.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Definitions:

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Specialized experience is 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 to be filled. Examples of qualifying specialized experience may include:

• Managing safety or occupational health program elements.
• Developing or 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.
• 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 and occupational health policies or standards and to identify potential new hazards.
• Training of workers, supervisors, managers, or other safety and 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.

UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION: A year of undergraduate education is 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours or the equivalent of college study. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university for which high school graduation or the equivalent was a prerequisite.

GRADUATE EDUCATION: In the absence of specific graduate program information, a year of graduate education is 18 semester hours or 27 quarter hours of graduate level college course work, or the number of credit hours the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university.

FOR GS-11:

At least one year of appropriate professional experience in safety and occupational health that is directly related to the duties of the position to be filled is qualifying if it is equivalent to at least the GS-09 level in the Federal service and if it equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the duties of the position.

Examples of experience includes providing safety and occupational health services, such as, but not limited to, administering previously developed health and occupational safety programs for individual laboratories, reviewing laboratory safety procedures and guidelines, researching personal protective equipment (PPE), learning from team members on how to make technical recommendations regarding unsafe practices, work environments, or procedures, providing hazard recognition training, arranging for safety training for field operations, tracking and recording the completion of require safety training courses, tracking the purchase, storage, usage, and disposal of hazardous or volatile chemicals and materials, and overseeing compliance for safety procedures for both manned and unmanned aerial vehicles.

The complexity of this work may require modification and adaptation of standard procedures, methods, and techniques, and the development or adaptation of new methods and techniques to address novel or obscure problems for which guidelines or precedents are not substantially applicable.

FOR GS-12:

At least one year of appropriate professional experience in safety and occupational health that is directly related to the duties of the position to be filled is qualifying if it is equivalent to at least the GS-11 level in the Federal service and if it equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the duties of the position.

Examples of experience includes providing safety and occupational health services, such as but not limited to, developing and administering health and occupational safety programs for different science centers and individual laboratories, recommending and reviewing laboratory safety procedures and guidelines, researching and making recommendations on personal protective equipment (PPE), conducting job hazard analyses (JHAs), developing and providing hazard recognition training, conducting, identifying and arranging safety training for field operations, tracking and recording the completion of required safety training courses, tracking the purchase, storage, usage, and procuring the disposal of hazardous or volatile chemicals and materials, and overseeing compliance for safety procedures for both manned and unmanned aerial vehicles.

The complexity of this work may require modification and adaptation of standard procedures, methods, and techniques, and the development or adaptation of new methods and techniques to address novel or obscure problems for which guidelines or precedents are not substantially applicable.

You must meet all qualification and eligibility requirements for the position by the closing date of the announcement.

How you will be evaluated

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

Basis of Rating: Category rating will be used in the ranking and selection process for this position. The quality categories are (Best Qualified, Well Qualified, and Qualified). Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents) and the result of the assessment(s) required for this position. Veterans' preference rules for category rating will be applied.

Narrative Responses Assessment Required: If you meet the eligibility and basic qualification requirements for this position, you will be contacted via email and asked to provide narrative responses to questions that are specific to this job. The email will include the instructions and deadline in which the responses must be submitted. Subject-matter-experts will use these narrative responses to further evaluate your knowledge, skills, abilities, and competences as they directly relate to the duties of this position. Failure to submit this information upon request will result in your disqualification from further consideration.

The assessments will evaluate you on the following general/technical competencies required to perform the job; please do not provide a separate written response:

• Technical Competence
• Hazardous Materials
• Safety Engineering
• Accident Investigation
• Oral Communication
• Safety Training Compliance

The Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities required for this position are as follows:

1. What experience do you have in ensuring compliance with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) health and safety regulations for research facilities?

2. What experience do you have in ensuring the safe handling, storage, reporting, permitting, and disposal of chemicals and hazardous materials and compliance with Federal, State, and local regulations?

3. Describe your experience with industrial hygiene standards and testing, occupational hazard analysis, and identification and abatement of occupational hazards. Examples may include completing safety data calls, environmental compliance, and safety inspections.

4. Describe an example of when you identified a safety situation where an accident may occur or did occur. Include a description of the situation, what you did, and what was the outcome.

5. Describe your experience providing safety training especially training with a focus on field or laboratory training, chemical safety, wilderness first aid, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), Automated External Defibrillator (AED), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), etc.

6. What experience do you have in reviewing and providing input communication and safety plans for a variety of field operations such as geological reconnaissance mapping, core or other drilling operations, geological or geochemical sampling, personnel engaged in operations to conduct fieldwork or access field areas, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) reconnaissance or mapping operations to ensure that proper safety procedures are being followed?

NOTE: If it is determined that you have rated yourself higher than is supported in your description of experience and/or education as described in your resume/application, or that your resume or application is incomplete, you may be rated ineligible, not qualified, or your score may be lowered.

To preview the announcement questionnaire, click here: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12898898

CONTINUED IN REQUIRED DOCUMENTS SECTION

HOW YOU WILL BE EVALUATED CONTINUED

Required documents may be: (1) uploaded directly from your desktop; or (2) uploaded directly from your USAJOBS stored attachments.

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS:

To apply for this position, you must submit a complete Application Package which includes:

1. Your resume showing work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment and duties performed.
2. Other supporting documents:

Resume

--Resumes are required and will be limited to no more than 2 pages. If more than 2 pages are submitted, only the first 2 pages will be reviewed to determine your eligibility/qualifications. You are highly encouraged to use USAJOBS Resume Builder to ensure all required information is included in your Resume. If you use your own resume, curriculum vitae, or other written form, then you must describe your job-related qualifications, including: beginning and ending dates for paid and non-paid work experience; hours worked per week; month and year of employment for each job title listed; annual salary; and description of job duties. Include name and address of employer; supervisor name; and telephone number. Additional information on what to include can be found here.

Supporting documents

--Upload any supporting documents identified in the Key Requirements section or included below as it applies to your eligibility. Supporting documents may be: (1) uploaded directly from your desktop; or (2) uploaded directly from your USAJOBS stored attachments

Transcripts

--If this position requires specific educational course work to qualify, or you are qualifying based in whole or part on education, you are required to provide all unofficial transcripts (undergraduate, graduate, etc.), which includes semester hours earned and grade received, by the closing date of this announcement or you will be disqualified from further consideration. Please ensure that all documentation is legible.

Veterans' Preference Eligibles

--If you are claiming veterans' preference you must provide a legible copy of your DD-214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, member 4 copy or any official documentation or statement from the Armed Forces that confirms your dates of service and that your separation, discharge, or release from active duty was under honorable conditions (i.e., Honorable or General Discharge). Note: If you have more than one DD-214 for multiple periods of active duty, submit a copy for each period of service.

--If you are currently on active military duty, you must provide documentation (e.g., campaign document, award citation, etc.), that verifies entitlement to veterans' preference and that your character of military service is honorable.

--If you are claiming 10-point veterans' preference, in addition to the documents specified above, you must also submit documentation that supports your claim, e.g., an official statement from the Department of Veterans Affairs (dated 1991 or later) or from a branch of the Armed Forces certifying the existence of a service-connected disability, or the award of the Purple Heart, etc. The overall rating must be identified on your certification letter or separation orders. Documentation must be received by the closing date shown in this vacancy announcement. If you fail to submit any of the required documentation, you will not be granted veterans' preference.

Additional information on veterans' preference can be found in the VetGuide.

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) & Inter-agency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) Eligibles

--If you are claiming CTAP/ICTAP eligibility, the Servicing Human Resources Office must receive proof by the closing date of this announcement that you meet the requirements of 5 CFR 330 Subpart F for CTAP and 5 CFR 330 Subpart G for ICTAP or you will not receive priority consideration. This includes:

• copy of the agency notice;
• your most recent Performance Rating; and
• your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location.

If you are a CTAP or ICTAP eligible, you will be considered well qualified if you earn a minimum score of 85 (prior to the assignment of veteran's preference points). For more information on CTAP/ICTAP please click here.

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