Safety and Occupational Health Specialist

Summary

Serves as the Safety and Occupational Health Specialist for the Southern Arizona Veterans Affairs Health Care System,

Major duties include:

• Manages in-house and contracted out construction project safety program.
• Plans and schedules periodic and unannounced inspections of all construction/renovation projects.
• Monitors the activities of private contractors to ensure compliance with applicable federal laws.
• Investigates and analyzes construction related mishaps and hazardous conditions to determine origin, cause, and contributing elements and prepares written evaluation reports concerning findings.
• Performs projects and studies to provide methods and techniques for identifying ana analyzing hazards.
• Originates, plans, organizes and directs activities involving occupational safety, health and fire protection necessary to ensure essential safety of patients, employees, facilities and equipment.
• Devises methods to eliminate and minimize hazards to personnel, equipment and facilities.
• Manages safety activities that require study of hazards and the development of methods or measures to correct, eliminate or establish control of the hazards.
• Manages contracted work for all fire suppression systems.
• Conducts fire and safety conferences and training sessions with operating supervisors and employees, advising them of building safety features, unsafe conditions and work practices and recommends corrective action to eliminate unsafe conditions and practices and to stimulate interest of management and employees in accident prevention,.
• Initiates and carries out safety education activities, promoting safety awareness through safety councils, providing training courses such as traffic safety to employees, preparing brochures and newsletters explaining job safety procedures, and meeting with specialized equipment operators (e.g., forklift operators) to discuss safe and unsafe work practices.
• Participates in the preparation of required reports for U.S. Department of Labor (OSHA), VA Chief Counsel when required by circumstances, and Central Office if they pertain to safety and fire protection.
• Represents the medical center at meetings of the field Federal Safety and Health Council, symposiums, seminars and conferences on safety, fire protection and disaster control.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Safety and Occupational Health Specialist/PD042920
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

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 (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification 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, 04/29/2026.

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.

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

• Basic Requirements:
  • 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. (Transcript Required) 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.
• GS-11 Grade Level Requirements
  • Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade, GS-9, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. To be creditable, experience must have been equivalent to the GS-9 level in the Federal service. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Managing construction project safety program, conducting inspections of construction/renovation projects, performing studies to provide methods and techniques for identifying and analyzing hazards, and conducting safety conferences and training sessions with operating supervisors and employees. OR
  • Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position, 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree, or related LL.M. (Transcript Required). OR,
  • Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and education beyond master's or equivalent graduate degree, beyond 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education, or beyond LL.B or J.D., if related (Transcript Required).

or 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/.

How You Will Be Evaluated

Required Documents

How to Apply