Health Physicist (Radiation Safety)

Full Job Description

The Health Physicist serves as the Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) for the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston, SC.

The position functions within the Director's Office, reporting directly to the medical center's Chief of Staff.

The RSO advises the Executive Leadership Team and ensures the safe, responsible use of radioactive materials and x-ray equipment, maintaining accountability for both.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 04/13/2026.

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-13 position, you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12 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.

Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR): Applicants who meet the IOR described below must also meet the specialized experience requirements.

To qualify, you must have: A) Degree: Natural science or engineering that included at least 30 semester hours in health physics, engineering, radiological science, chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics, and/or calculus (transcripts required).

OR, B) Combination of education and experience: Courses as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or other education; or certification as a health physicist by the American Board of Health Physics, plus appropriate experience and other education that provided an understanding of sciences applicable to health physics comparable to that described in paragraph A (transcripts required).

In addition to meeting the IOR above, you must meet the experience as described below: GS-13 Specialized Experience: One (1) year of specialized experience, equivalent the next lower grade level (GS-12), in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: applying radiation safety and health physics knowledge for a limited scope license that consists of radiology, research, nuclear medicine, brachytherapy, and lab services; detecting and measuring the types of ionizing radiations used by a medical center, such as wide energy range of X rays, gamma rays, and beta particles; and managing a facility-wide radiation safety program, ensuring full compliance with VHA directives, NRC license/permit conditions, OSHA requirements, and all applicable federal, state, and local regulations by maintaining current policies, procedures, and training that reflect the latest regulatory and accrediting agency expectations.

Preferred Experience: Experience working with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Previous experience serving as a Radiation Safety Officer (RSO).

Certified Medical RSO credentials - You may include a copy of your license issued by NRC or an agreement state.

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/.

Major Duties:

This position has the primary responsibility for implementing and managing the medical center's Radiation Safety Program.

Sets up all work and trains in all areas of radiation safety, including, but not limited to, machine-produced radiation and radioactive materials.

Develops long-range program priorities and schedules work efforts. Implements and evaluates tests, procedures, and reporting mechanisms to ensure proper radiation safety measures within the facility.

Consults with facility medical staff and scientists, equipment vendors, and operations personnel to resolve very complex and unprecedented issues arising from clinical uses of radioactivity and radiation-producing equipment, research protocols, new X-ray equipment capabilities, applications, or environments.

Plans and implements a radiation safety program for a clinically complex institution and its satellite clinics, which typically include clinical consultation and/or research functions.

Oversees development of control criteria for new, improved, or experimental equipment and environments.

Represents the organization in agency and peer group committees, as well as the affiliated university, to develop new policies and procedures.

Develops and recommends evaluation criteria and guidelines for assessing radiation safety programs.

Communicates extensively with all regulatory agencies (i.e., the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), National Health Physics Program (NHPP), State Radiation Control Program, Joint Commission, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Serves as a contractor officer representative.

Advises medical center administration on all aspects of health physics, including disaster planning for accidents involving radiation exposure or radioactive contamination.

Oversees the use of all radioactive materials and radiation-producing machines within the research and clinical domains, responsible for ensuring the required audits, surveys, and QA evaluations of all radiation-producing equipment utilized across the Medical Center.

Ensures that all users of radioactive material and/or radiation-producing equipment, including but not limited to fluoroscopy, radiography, and computed tomography, are in compliance.

Designs, implements, and evaluates strategies to improve radiation program assurance and quality management.

Instructs personnel in the use of monitoring equipment, safe laboratory practices, decontamination methods, and related procedures.

Provides initial education and training to new employees on safety procedures for all personnel using radioactive materials and/or radiation-producing equipment, and continuous training to existing employees, including physicians, nurses, biomedical engineers, technologists, etc.

Evaluates all areas of ionizing radiation use for proper security, shielding integrity, usage, and ventilation in appropriate areas.

Develops, implements, and maintains written policies and procedures appropriate for the monitoring, use, and control of radioactive materials and radiation machines.

Monitor/control the storage, ordering, receipt, handling, and disposal of radioactive materials.

The employee independently provides expert, comprehensive quality assurance oversight for imaging to a segment of a large, complex biomedical research facility.

Serve as a radiation safety liaison and technical expert to unique specialty groups within the organization. Work Schedule: Full-time, Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Work schedule is subject to change based on the needs of the facility.

Position Description/PD#: Health Physicist (Radiation Safety)/PD074830 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized