Safety and Occupational Health Specialist
What you'd do
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.
Major duties
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
What you need to qualify
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 https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.
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