Industrial Hygienist

Summary

The incumbent serves as an Industrial Hygienist in the Industrial Hygiene & Safety (IH&S) Section of Engineering Service. The incumbent shall serve as a backup to the Safety and Occupational Health Manager at the Cincinnati VA Medical Center.

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Duties

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The Cincinnati VA Medical Center (CVAMC) is a two-division campus located in Cincinnati, OH and Fort Thomas, KY serving 15 counties in Southwest OH, Northern Kentucky, and Southeast Indiana with 6 Community Based Outpatient Clinics located in Bellevue, KY; Florence, KY; Lawrenceburg, IN; Hamilton, OH; Clermont County, OH, and Georgetown, OH. The CVAMC also supports two off main campus locations in the Cincinnati area via an Eye Center and Mental Health Outreach Community Division.

DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY: This position is being filled using Direct-Hire Authority (5 CFR 337.205) for this occupation.

Major Duties:

• Incumbent independently schedules and performs surveys of patient care and nonpatient care activities, equipment used in monitoring of airflow apparatus fixtures, for the medical center. Under the direct supervision of the Safety and Occupational Health Manager, the incumbent manages the Industrial Hygiene Management System, Confined Space Program, Asbestos Program, Hearing Conservation, Heat/Cold stress, Ergonomic Program, Eyewash/Emergency Shower Equipment Program, Hazardous Material and Spills, Personal Protective Equipment Program, Hazard Communication Program, and Respiratory Protection Programs for the medical center. The incumbent is responsible for written policy and review for these programs. The incumbent will produce and maintain records of all tests and inspections. Incumbent investigates or assist in accident investigations involving employees and safety complaints and takes action to resolve noted problems.
• Advises Safety and Occupational Health Manager, senior level management officials on the status of Industrial Hygiene programs and recommends changes in the design of work programs to meet new and existing industrial hygiene standards. Reviews Occupational Health, Industrial Hygiene and Occupational Safety Standards as received form VA, OSHA, TJC and other regulatory agencies, and advises the VA Medical Center management of methods to comply with the standards.
• Conducts industrial hygiene inspections of all work areas to determine compliance with standards set by OSHA, VA and other regulatory agencies.
• Updates and advises Employee Health as to medical surveillance requirements for employees working with hazardous materials as determined by OSHA. Manages the medical center's Hazard Communication Program - Maintains the Centralized Material Safety Data and Hazard Communication Library for the Medical Center.
• Incumbent will assist with Environment of Care duties as assigned by the IH&S supervisor. These duties will be related to the Environment of Care Committee, Environment of Care rounding, and the correction of deficiencies noted during Environment of Care rounds.
• The incumbent will serve as the On-Scene Hazardous Materials Specialist during HAZMAT incidents and exercises. Duties include providing on scene reports the Emergency Management Coordinator in the Emergency Operations Center and coordinating with the Emergency Management Coordinator on Decontamination Team deployment. Incumbent participates in training sessions for VAMC personnel.
• Instruct employees on a variety of industrial hygiene subjects including chemical and biological, safe storage practice requirements. Adapts various available media to fit special and unique training requirements and participates in the development safety and health training activities. Incumbent will conduct industrial hygiene and safety training, consult with Emergency Manager to establish and manage effective and capable decontamination team Incumbent will coordinate with other IH&S staff and medical center supervisors to develop adequate format for training programs so that all objectives are met.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:00am - 3:30pm

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Industrial Hygienist/ PD92744A

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: 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)
• Drivers License Requirement

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.

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, 07/16/2026.

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-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. 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.

All Applicants must meet the Education Requirement: 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 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).
• Preferred Certification: Certified Industrial Hygienist.

In addition to meeting the Individual Occupational Requirements (IOR), ALL applicants must meet one of the following:

• 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: Ability to perform job hazard analysis and other analytical techniques sufficient to perform accident investigation, determine causal factors, recommend procedures for elimination or confinement of the hazard. Knowledge of Industrial Hygiene sampling equipment and methods of obtaining required analysis. Ability to investigate occupational health problems which arise to determine probable cause and recommend measures to protect employees from a reoccurrence. Knowledge of healthcare work processes, procedures, equipment, facilities, materials, and activities sufficient to anticipate and control hazards, to evaluate and determine causal factors contributing to accidents and resulting hazardous working conditions. 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.

OR ,

• Graduate Education: Completion of 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree;

OR,

• Combination of Education and Experience: When combining education with experience, the applicant's total qualifying education will be determined as a percent of the education required for the grade level. The applicant's experience will be determined as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level. The total of the two percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify an applicant for the grade level.

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: Inspection work requires frequent visitations to areas that are cramped, noisy, or where temperature extremes or inclement weather conditions exist. Such inspection work may require considerable long periods of standing, climbing, crouching, stretching, reaching, lifting, and other physical movement while carrying sampling equipment and measuring devices. Incumbent will occasionally be required to lift and move heavy or awkward objects, usually not exceeding 50Ibs. Personal protective equipment must often times be worn. The incumbent is required to drive motor vehicles. Occasional travel is required.

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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