Lead Safety & Occupational Health Specialist

Full Job Description

This position is the Lead Safety Occupational Health Specialist located with-in the Safety, Health and Environmental Department at the Martinsburg VA Medical Center (MWV), Martinsburg, West Virginia.

This position is responsible for assisting the Safety Manager with planning, organizing, administering, and evaluating a comprehensive safety management program in a health care setting.

Martinsburg VA Medical Center is a level 1C facility with more than 2000 employees on-campus.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 04/08/2026.

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-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. 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 Requirements Safety and Occupational Health Management Series GS-0018: All applicants must meet one of the following Individual Occupational Requirements (IOR) by the closing date of this announcement.

Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study in 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 (for positions above GS-5): 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, Certificates: 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-5.

Applicants may also qualify for higher grade levels based on their education and/or experience.

Lead Safety and Occupational Health Specialist, GS-0018-12: you may qualify based on your experience as described below: This position requires one (1) year of specialized experience to at least the next lower grade level (GS-11): Examples of specialized experience include: The investigation, evaluation and analysis of safety and occupational health problems, conditions and administrative practices affecting work operations and environmental conditions; Knowledge and ability to conduct safety and health studies and investigations, analyze findings, make recommendations, prepare reports, and related skill in organizing and delivering briefings to pertinent parties to encourage an understanding and acceptance of findings and recommendations; Planning alternative courses of specialized action to resolve hazardous conditions and unsafe working practices; Assisting staff on procedures, policies, directives, etc.

and obtain needed information or decisions from supervisor on problems that come up.

Check on work in progress or spot check work not requiring review (e.g., filing or direct services) and review completed work to see that supervisor's instruction on work procedures, methods, and deadlines have been met; Sets objectives and targets for injury/illness program utilizing leading and lagging performance indicators to evaluate and improve overall safety program.

Assesses the effectiveness of the program and plans for alternative courses of action to resolve hazardous conditions and/or unsafe work practices.

Analyzes mishap statistics and investigative reports to compare incident rates among services/areas; evaluates economic loss due to damaged property, severity of injuries sustained and environmental conditions surrounding mishaps; isolates causal factors and devises measures to control hazards detected.

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.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Attention to Detail Customer Service Flexibility Influencing/Negotiating Integrity/Honesty Interpersonal Skills Learning Reading Comprehension Reasoning Self-Management Stress Tolerance Teamwork Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week.

Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities.

Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

Physical Requirements: The work requires regular and recurring physical exertion related to frequent inspections and surveys requiring considerable standing, walking, climbing, bending, crouching, stretching, reaching or similar movements.

Occasionally, there may be a need to lift and carry moderately heavy objects.

The work may require some degree of agility and dexterity when, for example, it involves inspecting maintenance/operations plants or construction sites.

Incumbent may be exposed to health hazards when performing inspections, tests, and monitoring. Visual acuity is required to conduct inspections and complete administrative work.

Employee may be required to wear a respirator a part of their duties.

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:

Duties may include but are not limited to; Instructs employees and supervisors of the medical center and CBOCs in the techniques of performing duties free of mishaps.

Appraises the degree of program compliance with applicable laws, rules, and regulations; assesses achievements and recommends new procedures.

Carries out the following: inspections of workplaces, community care, and construction sites; investigations of accidents, recording of injuries, occupational illnesses, property loses and fires; and, analyzing of lost time injuries and illnesses and reporting through committees, as required.

Represents the organization at various business meetings, committees, and task forces; promotes existing and new programs and/or policies.

Reviews applicable guidelines and regulations including VHA Directives, OSHA regulations, National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) Codes, Joint Commission Standards, and recognized industry standards to develop hospital policies and procedures ensuring ongoing compliance and adherence to safety and is responsible for the development and ongoing revision of medical center policies.

Keeps abreast of current industry best practices and uses professional judgement to reduce or eliminate safety risks and hazards within the organization.

Ensures reports are directed to appropriate parties to effect correction, and that problems of an urgent nature are immediately brought directly to the attention of responsible staff to ensure prompt resolution.

Acts as the primary medical center educator for issues related to life safety, fire prevention and hazard surveillance.

Develops training and education based on national guidance, regulations, standards and code. Evaluates safety management programs for compliance with federal, state and VHA requirements.

Integrates safety programs within the existing organizational structure, responsibilities, facility planning activities, work practices and processes, organizational goals, operations, and resource allocation.

Programs include, but may not be limited to: environmental of care, compressed gases, confined spaces (closely managed with Industrial Hygienist), fall protection, electrical safety, pedestrian safety, construction, and injury/illness prevention/management.

Develops procedural and systems design to prevent injury/illness or property damage and focuses on conducting risk assessment criteria to mitigate hazards.

Provides Safety Manager and facility leadership with recommendations based on a systems management approach to improve facility operations and the delivery of health care to the Veteran.

Project management and oversight of the facility construction safety program. Ensuring facility compliance with all federal regulations and VHA Directive through inspections, document reviews, etc.

Develops, implements and maintains of policies, objectives, short-and long-range planning; develops and implements projects and programs to assist in accomplishment of established goals.

Determines whether engineer and construction work performed on campus meet construction safety regulations; finds and implements ways to improve business practice; exercise significant responsibility when corresponding with officials from within the organization, agency, and other agencies; including regulatory.

Works closely with Facility Management Service (FMS) Safety Engineer as a check and balance of FMS's oversight of construction activities.

Responsible for assessing and correcting unsafe or healthy working conditions, and plans, develops, and implements an accident prevention program.

Receives and reviews accident, injury, and illness reports and ensures that reporting procedures are followed in accordance with federal requirements.

Performs or recommends corrective actions as appropriate. Communicates directly with service chiefs, supervisors and employees regarding injury/illness requirements and improvements.

Other tasks/duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Full time. Monday through Friday 7:30am to 4:00pm. Telework: This position may be authorized for (Ad-hoc) telework.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Lead Safety & Occupational Health Specialist/PD240020 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized.

Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized.