Safety and Occupational Health Specialist

Summary

This position is part of the WAPA-SNR-Sierra Nevada Region. As a Safety and Occupational Health Specialist, you will be planning, developing, and directing activities of the Region's Safety and Occupational Health programs and providing guidance to managers, supervisors, and employees in accomplishing objectives of the Safety program.

Duties

• As a Safety and Occupational Health Specialist, you will: Plans, manages, and administers an inspection and evaluation program for assigned project, program, area, activity, or site. Performs occupational safety inspections and surveys. Identifies hazards and undesirable operational conditions. Prepares formal written reports of findings and recommendations to management and operating officials documenting hazards identified and violations cited, and methods of control or elimination of hazardous processes/conditions. Serves as a technical resource on SOH matters, providing advice to management, staffs, operating officials, and supervisors on principles and techniques of occupational safety management in the prevention and control of accidents in such areas as work methods, protection devices and motivational techniques. Assists in conducting comprehensive investigations in cases of fatal or multiple injury accidents to determine causes and procedures for eliminating a recurrence. Collects, reviews and ensures timely submission of accident reports to appropriate or responsible office or facility. Develops and conducts occupational safety awareness and educational programs with emphasis on new or modified work procedures and techniques due to the unique conditions and practices of a variety of activities. Provides technical safety training and instruction on specific safety procedures to supervisors, employees, and/or unit safety representatives on such areas as traffic safety techniques, proper storage of hazardous materials, common laboratory hazards, and building evacuation procedures.

Qualifications

Qualification requirements in the vacancy announcements are based on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards Handbook, which contains federal qualification standards. This handbook is available on the Office of Personnel Management's website located at: https://www.opm.gov/policy. This position has Individual Occupational Requirements for the 0018 Series that must be met: EDUCATION: 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 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. SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS: Applicants must possess one year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the next lower grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. The experience need not have been in the federal government. To qualify for the GS-11: Applicants must have one year (52 weeks) of specialized experience at the GS-09 grade level or equivalent pay band. This experience includes all the following: Assisting in the management of safety program and applying knowledge of safety and health standards, laws, codes, policies for employees engaged in a broad range of high hazard functions directly related to the construction, operation and maintenance of facilities. Assisting in workplace safety training and/or hazard prevention education. Collecting and/or analyzing safety data for conformance to OSHA standards and other applicable policy or regulations. OR SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION: A Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree; or 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree; or a LL.M., if related. OR COMBINATION OF EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE: Combination of education and experience to successfully perform the duties of the position. To qualify for the GS-12: Applicants must have one year (52 weeks) of specialized experience at the GS-11 grade level or equivalent pay band. This experience includes all the following: The ability to manage key elements of a safety program with minimal guidance from the Safety Manager. Serves as a technical expert for safety and health standards, laws, codes, policies for employees engaged in a broad range of high hazard functions directly related to the construction, operation and maintenance of facilities. Developing workplace safety and occupational health standards, regulations, practices, and procedures to eliminate or control potential hazards and to reduce the frequency, severity, and cost of accidents and occupational illnesses. "Experience" refers to paid and unpaid experience. Examples of qualifying unpaid experience may include: volunteer work done through National Service programs (such as Peace Corps and AmeriCorps); as well as work for other community-based philanthropic and social organizations. 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. Limit your resume to no more than two (2) pages. If more than two pages are submitted, only the first two pages will be reviewed to determine your eligibility and qualifications.

Requirements

Must be a U.S. Citizen or National. This employer participates in the e-Verify program. Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for Selective Service. Suitable for Federal employment, as determined by a background investigation. May be required to successfully complete a probationary/trial period. Employees serving on a probationary or trial period may be terminated at any time during the probationary or trial period for performance, conduct, or business-related reasons in the interest of Federal service. In accordance with Executive Order 14170, applicants are encouraged to respond to the four short, free-response, essay questions in the questionnaire. Answers to these questions are not scored or rated. Your answers will be reviewed by the hiring manager and agency leadership if you are referred for selection consideration. Limit your resume to no more than two (2) pages. If more than two pages are submitted, only the first two pages will be reviewed to determine your eligibility and qualifications. You must pass pre-employment medical examination. Security clearance and associated requirements- Moderate Risk. Shift work and emergency overtime may be required. Employee may be required to work other than normal duty hours, to include evenings, weekends and/or holidays. Total salary varies depending on location of position.

Education

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements: Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Foreign education must be reviewed by an organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For special instructions pertaining to foreign education and a list of organizations that can evaluate foreign education, see the Department of Education website. DO NOT email or mail in any of your application documents. Documents will not be accepted outside of the online application system. Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

How to apply

Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply for this position, you must complete the initial online application, to include submission of the required documentation specified in the Required Documents section. A complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on the announcement closing date to receive consideration. The application process is as follows: You must have a login.gov account to sign into USAJOBS: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/account/. To begin the application process in USAJOBS, click the Apply Online button. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all required and supporting documentation. You must click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 pm (ET) on the announcement closing date. You may update your application, including supporting documentation, at any time during the announcement open period by returning to your USAJOBS account, select Update Application: https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To verify the status of your application, during and after the announcement open period, log into your USAJOBS account; applications will appear on the Welcome screen. The Application Status will appear along with the date your application was last updated. For information on what each application status means, visit: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/application/status/. If you need help with login.gov or USAJOBS (e.g., account access, Resume Builder) visit the USAJOBS Help Center: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/ If you experience difficulty applying on USAJOBS, after clicking the Apply Online button, or you are experiencing a significant hardship hindering your ability to apply online, the Agency Contact listed in the announcement can assist you during normal business hours. If you receive any system error messages, take screenshots if possible, to aid technical support.