Supervisory Industrial Hygienist

Clarification from the agency

This announcement is open to current, Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center employees only.

The incumbent will serve as the facility program manager for the following Industrial Hygiene: Occupational Health Programs: Electrical Safety Program, Lockout / Tag-out Program, Machine Guarding Program, Safe Walking / Working Surfaces Program, and the Compressed Gas Storage Program. Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Responsible for managing and maintaining policies in accordance with laws, regulations, and best practices
• Conduct compliance inspections, develop and implement facility service level training, control program documentation and provide consultative assistance to facility Service Chiefs, Supervisors, Unit Managers, etc. for the overall goal of continual program improvement.
• Plan and implement comprehensive industrial hygiene programs.
• Develop industrial hygiene goals, policy, and procedural documentation.
• Review how industrial hygiene considerations are integrated into the planning and operational activities of the facility.
• Maintain level II Contracting Officer Representative (COR) certification. This includes program management of safety service contracts, development of statement of work (SOW) documents for System and Safety Service specific projects, certifying invoices, verifying contractor work meets requirements outlined in statement of work, and controlling contractual documents.
• Responsible for providing leadership and technical expertise for the facility Occupational Health, Safety, Fire Protection, and Environmental programs.
• Serves as an expert on issues related to Environmental Statutes and Occupational Safety and Health requirements, as well as for new or enhanced information system software related to Occupational Safety and Health and Environmental programs.
• Conduct proactive risk assessments that evaluate the potential adverse impact of buildings, grounds, equipment, occupants, and internal physical systems of the safety and health of patients, staff, and other people coming to the hospital's facilities.
• Conduct periodic environmental tours to identify environmental deficiencies, hazards, and unsafe practices.
• Develops and conducts a comprehensive safety education program through formal training sessions with Environment of Care coordinators and supervisors, computer-based modules, and specialized topic training as needed.
• Conduct accident investigations including fire situation investigations to determine causes document severity of personal injury and/or property damage and initiate corrective actions.
• Provide technical expertise for the design, modification, construction, operation, and maintenance of facilities to comply with safety requirements. Incumbent is involved with determining any potential impact of construction on infection control within patient care areas.
• Serve as the primary liaison for the Annual Workplace Evaluations (AWE) OSHA program evaluation and facility inspection.
• Approves preventive and corrective action. Cooperatively works with federal, state, and local environmental and occupational safety and health organizations in areas of mutual interest.
• Prioritize, assign, and evaluate all administrative work within Industrial Hygiene area within the Safety Service.
• Serve as a member of the facility multi-disciplinary teams and committees.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: 7:30am-4:00pm, Monday-Friday
Compressed/Flexible: Not Available.
Telework: This position is not authorized for telework.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Supervisory Industrial Hygienist/PD93434-0
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized.
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Authorized.
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.
PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• Subject to background/security investigation
• 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.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial 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.

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

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 06/29/2026.

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 Requirements
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 Board for Global EHS Credentialing (formerly American Board of Industrial Hygiene(external link) (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.

You must also qualify based on your experience as described 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: experience as a Industrial Hygienist with knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position by training, leading, coordinating or supervising others in related duties such as: experience with Occupational Health Programs such as Electrical Safety, Lockout/Tag-out, Machine Guarding, Safe Walking/Working Surfaces and Compressed Gas Storage; conduct proactive risk assessments that evaluate the potential adverse impact of buildings, grounds, equipment occupants, and internal physical systems to safety and health of patients, staff, and other people on site at the facility..

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Accident Investigation
• Accountability
• Public Safety and Security

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: The work includes frequent inspections or surveys of industrial workplaces, requiring the employee to carry a considerable amount of equipment, and involve a good deal of walking, standing, bending, and climbing.

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/.

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.

Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or contact for an interview. Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.

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

• Resume
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action

The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position. Please make sure you have included other documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), SF-50's (current/former Federal employees), documentation to support Veterans Preference claims, or ICTAP/CTAP documentation (for displaced Federal employees). You will not be contacted for additional information.

• Cover Letter
• DD-214/ Statement of Service
• Disability Letter (Schedule A)
• Disability Letter (VA)
• License
• Other (1)
• Other (2)
• Other (3)
• Performance Appraisal
• Professional Certification
• Resume
• Separation Notice (RIF)
• SF-15
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action (if applicable for Time in Grade and/or Eligibility):

• Most recent SF-50 if you are a current or former Federal employee
• An SF-50 showing 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
• Award 50's do not provide sufficient information and will not be accepted for the purpose of verifying time-in-grade.
• Examples of appropriate SF-50's include:
  • Within grade increases at the highest grade held; or
  • Promotions with an effective date more than one year old; or
  • SF-50's at the highest grade held with an effective date more than one year old.

Veterans' Preference: When applying for Federal Jobs, eligible Veterans should claim preference for 5pt (TP), 10pt (CP/CPS/XP), or for Sole Survivor Preference (SSP) in the questionnaire. You must provide a legible copy of your DD214(s) which shows dates and character of service (honorable, general, etc.). If you are currently serving on active duty and expect to be released or discharged within 120 days you must submit documentation related to your active duty service which reflects the dates of service, character of service (honorable, general, etc.), and dates of impending separation. Additionally, disabled veterans and others eligible for 10-point preference (such as widows or mothers of eligible Veterans) must also submit an SF-15 "Application for 10 Point Veteran Preference" with required proof as stated on the form. Documentation is required to award preference. For more information on Veterans' Preference, please visit Feds Hire Vets - Veterans - Job Seekers - Veterans' Preference.

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