Safety & Occupational Health Specialist

Summary

This position is located at the Northern Arizona VA Healthcare System (NAVAHCS), Facilities Management Service, Prescott, AZ. The primary purpose of the Safety and Occupational Health Specialist is to perform the tasks to create a safe environment for our employees to work in. This position ensure employees are working in a safe workplace that meets all regulatory guidelines.

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Duties

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Major duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Schedules, conducts, and performs difficult inspections to evaluate potential hazards, risks and unsafe environmental conditions associated with a wide variety of work environments and occupations (clinician, lab personnel, and engineers) that handle high level contaminants, toxins, ionizing and non- ionizing radiation, and infectious diseases at the Medical Center.
• Conducts audits, evaluations, and inspections of Medical Center areas to locate potential or existing hazards or violations of safety code and policy as per Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) standards, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) standards, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, American Congress of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA,) The Joint Commission, and various state and county regulations. The incumbent generates all necessary documents to show thorough evaluation and recommends changes to alleviate a hazard or potential hazard to the using Service Supervisor.
• Schedules and performs required fire alarm tests and drills on all shifts, and follows up the tests and drills with necessary reports. The incumbent independently critiques and makes suggestions to supervisors or management and conducts thorough participant debriefing and question and answer sessions.
• using established techniques, investigates accidents, mishaps, or other occurrences, obtains statements from witnesses, and photographs the scenes where the accident occurred; records circumstances of accidents and the extent of injury, conducts accident trends and analysis, estimates costs of property damage and prepares reports of findings with recommendations to correct unsafe acts or conditions that caused personnel injury or property damage that fall within the jurisdiction of the Safety Service.
• reates safety plans and prepare supplements, guidelines, and written procedures to implement technical safety standards, codes and safety requirements for a variety of operations and activities for the different departments in the medical center, clinics, veteran's homes, CBOCs, and community nursing homes.
• Statistically analyzes and complies data obtained from investigations and studies and develops data tables and graphs to identify hazards, problems or potent threats to the safety of healthcare operations.
• Inspects construction projects to determine compliance with occupational standards; and is responsible for design review for new areas that are being built or renovated. inspects construction projects to determine compliance with occupational standards; and is responsible for design review for new areas that are being built or renovated.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 08:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Safety & Occupational Health Specialist/ PD11548A

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: 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, 08/24/2026.

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-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09. 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.

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 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 broad knowledge of safety and occupational health concepts, principles, techniques, practices, laws, and regulations sufficient to plan, organize, administer, coordinate, and evaluate occupational safety and health programs. Knowledge to provide technical advice and guidance to the Health Care Center organizations and managers concerning difficult or unusual safety and occupational health issues. Investigating and analyzing a wide variety of problems and making recommendations. Planning, developing, and executing a variety of new safety projects and assessing their effectiveness. Interpreting regulations or policy and properly implementing their provisions. Experienced managerial skills in order to inspect, coordinate, and oversee the work of subordinates; and provide training, advice, and guidance. Ability to communicate both orally and in writing. OR,
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related. OR,
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education.

This position has an INDIVIDUAL OCCUPATIONAL REQUIREMENT which is a basic requirement that must be met to qualify for entry into this job series, and it is something that cannot be waived. To meet the basic requirement for the Safety and Occupational Health Specialist Occupational series, applicants must demonstrate one of the following:

• Undergraduate and/or Graduate Education with Major study as follows 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,

• 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.

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.