Health Physicist - Radiation Safety Officer

Full Job Description

The Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) for Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System reports directly to the Deputy Chief of Staff.

The RSO serves as the manager of the Comprehensive Radiation Safety Program, oversees the use of all radioactive materials within the research and clinical domains while monitoring the safety of patients and employees exposed to radioactive material.

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

Individual Occupational Requirement: Applicants who meet the Individual Occupational Requirements described below are fully qualified for the specified entry grade and must also meet the specialized experience and/or education 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 above Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR), applicants must also meet the experience and/or directly related education relevant to this position.

GS-13 grade level: One year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-12 grade level in the federal service); experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA's) and other characteristics to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

Specialized experience includes: Performs complex dosimetry evaluations for internal exposure, external exposure and skin contamination events and ensure proper documentation of evaluations and dose assignments.

Analyzing situations or data requiring an in-depth knowledge of regulations, directives, and organizational operations and objectives.

Established as a subject matter expert by internal and external RP/EHS professionals and internal business colleagues.

Assess and operate in hazardous, controlled environments including radiological fields and confined areas.

Manages the facility-wide Radiation Safety Program for a complex medical center, ensuring full compliance with VHA Directives (e.g., 1105, 1105.02, 1129), NRC license/permit conditions, Joint Commission standards, 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: Must be able to satisfy the training and experience requirements as described in 10 CFR Part 35 (.50 and .57) and 10 CFR Part 33 for a Type A Broad Scope license, in conjunction with the education pathway selected in 35.50.

Experience to oversee activity under 10 CFR 35.100, 200, 300, 400, and 600. Submission of the completed NRC Form 313A with preceptor signature authorization is preferred.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary 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.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social).

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. Major Duties:

Plans, directs leads, and executes the radiation safety and medical health physics programs of SLVHCS in a technical, scientific, and administrative scope of function with responsibility for all diagnostic, therapeutic and research modalities that require the use of ionizing radiation.

Review of experimental procedures including dose specific calculations and development of risk wording, occupational dosimetry determinations for employees, and evaluation of data regarding patient absorbed radiation dose.

Plays the lead role in policy development for the organization's multicenter radiation safety program with technical/expert assistance/support to other groups outside the organization.

Evaluates shielding requirements for radiographic devices, linear accelerators, and radioactive materials and sets a monitoring program to determine resulting exposure levels.

Evaluates the training and experience of the medical staff and other professional personnel relative to regulatory compliance requirements for the use of radioactive materials and machine-produced ionizing radiation in clinical and research settings.

Provides clinical support to Radiology, Nuclear Medicine/PET, Cardiology, Dental, Interventional Radiology, Surgery, Pain Management, Research, Pulmonary, Speech Pathology, Spinal Cord Injury, Anesthesia, Urology, Gastroenterology, and Radiation Oncology, for the application of radiation sources for the diagnosis and treatment of disease Reports patient radiation injuries to the appropriate agency including; National Health Physics Program (NHPP), JC, & FDA.

Performs or oversees decontamination of staff and patients as required; Performs or oversees decontamination and release of facilities/physical locations for general use.

Ensure the safe use of radioactive materials and ionizing machine-produced radiation by performing physical inspections and creating annual training in accordance with NRC regulation; Provide oversight of the safe storage of radioactive materials; Maintain inventory records of all radioactive materials.

Develop and implement a program to train all personnel who work with or in areas that use radioactive materials and/or work with or in areas with ionizing radiation-producing machines as required by regulation and VHA directive and encourage facility education efforts.

Report quarterly to the RRSC and as necessary to the MPRSC on the status of the radiation safety programs, ALARA exceptions and actions taken, and other pertinent radiation safety information.

Provide assistance to the Medical Imagining Quality Control Program by ensuring that all imaging equipment is tested as required by regulatory and oversight agencies, incorporate full participation of the Radiology Quality Management Technologist, Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) Service, and all involved technologist(s) and professional staff (providers and nurses); Oversee and investigate, as needed, patient radiation doses.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 7:30am-4:00pm. subject to change based on the needs of the facility.

Position Description Title/PD#: Health Physicist - Radiation Safety Officer Physical Requirements: The performance of inspections requires recurrent long periods of standing, walking, climbing, crouching, and lifting and occasional carrying of moderate to heavy items.