Safety and Occupational Health Specialist

Summary

This position, located at the Oklahoma City VA Health Care System, serves as a Safety and Occupational Health Specialist and acts under the authority of the Chief, Environment of Care, Directors Office, on matters relating to occupational safety and health at the VA Medical Center and outpatient care facilities.

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Duties

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Major duties of this position include but are not limited to...

• Independently administers safety and occupational health programs to assure compliance with applicable standards and requirements to include the Safety Management System (SMS)
• Advises senior-level management officials within the assigned area on the status of the safety and occupational health programs
• Schedules surveys of VA buildings and offices to identify and evaluate risks involving a wide variety of work environments
• Prepares written procedures for implementation of safety, fire protection, and occupational health policies
• Identifies key policy issues, designs, analyses, and evaluates alternatives and makes recommendations to management officials on safety program policy implementation; recommends modifications/revisions to large Medical Center policies/procedures and guidelines
• Conducts administrative inspections of patient care areas for hazards and Life Safety Code violations
• Plans, schedules, and conducts inspections in establishments and worksites where there is a strong probability of encountering hazardous work processes and materials, as well as unsafe environmental conditions involving employees, visitors, and contractors
• Investigates alleged adverse incidents involving regulated materials, machinery, or other items that have an impact on employee/patient safety or occupational health, including thorough reporting of findings, related data, illustrations, analysis, and recommendations
• Provides guidance to medical center on OSHA Safety and Health Standards for General Industry, National Fire Codes, EPA Guidelines, current industrial hygiene practices, and other governing agency requirements

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Safety and Occupational Health Specialist/ PD131210

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• Physical Requirements: Survey or inspection work requires regular and recurrent physical exertion, such as frequent standing, walking, climbing, crouching, and stretching in the performance of inspection and survey duties, and occasional lifting of moderately heavy objects. The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required.
• 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 ( 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, 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, 08/13/2026.

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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09 level. 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.

This position has the following Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR) :

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....

OR,

Specialized Experience : 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. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include:

• Managing safety or occupational health program elements.
• Developing and 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.

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-05. Applicants may also qualify for higher grade levels based on their education and/or experience.

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 of 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....a comprehensive knowledge of safety and occupational health principles, methods and standards, regulations, policies, and procedures applicable to a broad range of safety and occupational health duties in one or more specific areas of safety and occupational health; technical knowledge sufficient to analyze safety design features and specifications and to develop new methods and procedures to identify or control hazardous construction processes and equipment usage; knowledge of safety, occupational health, and industrial hygiene principles, practices, and procedures, and regulations applicable to the performance of the full range of complex safety and occupational health management responsibilities in the hospital environment; ability to organize material for making presentations and conducting training, including skill in written and oral communication; knowledge of VA safety, fire, and health policies is required to establish a workable program and to evaluate existing programs... OR,

Education: Applicants may also qualify for this position at the GS-11 level based on their education. Applicants must have successfully completed a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M. if related... OR,

Combination: Combinations of successfully completed post-high school education and experience may be used to meet total qualification for this position at the GS-11 level. Only graduate level education more than the amount required for the next lower grade level may be used to qualify applicants for this position.

Preferred Experience: Experience in observing environmental conditions and employee performance patterns to identify hazards, detect risks, and determine casual relationships; developing abatement recommendations for safety and occupational health hazards; searching for clues, studying variables, questioning witnesses, and retracing sequences to uncover the sources of reported injuries and illnesses; assuring the validity of data collected, accurate documentation of occurrences and data summaries, and maintenance of program information; examination of available data to identify possible sources of losses experienced, determining critical factors prior to occurrence, and recommendation of alternative adjustments to eliminate or minimize losses from injuries and illnesses; defining terminology, writing summaries, and preparing summary documentation related to safety and occupational health; knowledge in fire and life safety requirements and general safety and regulatory requirements regarding occupational health and safety

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at

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: 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:

Additional information

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments.

Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave : Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

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Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.