Safety & Occupational Health Manager

Full Job Description

The Safety and Occupational Health Manager position will be responsible for development and management of comprehensive programs at the Jonathan M.

Wainwright Memorial VA Medical Center in Walla Walla, WA. To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement, 03/23/2026.

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 within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.

For a GS-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12. 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). To qualify for this position, applicants must meet the Individual Occupational Requirements.

An IOR is a basic requirement that must be met in order to qualify for the GS 0018 occupational series. Education must be accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S.

Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained.

To qualify for this occupational series, applicants must have one of the following listed below: 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.

(Transcripts 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.

In addition to meeting the Individual Occupational Requirement, applicants may qualify based on their experience as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade 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: knowledge of safety, fire protection, occupational and environmental health concepts, principles, practices and procedures, bodies of laws, and regulations; uses guidelines, including standard instructions, technical literature, department policies and regulations, manufacturers' catalogs, precedents and standard practices to manage a Safety and Occupational Health program.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Communications Compliance Inspection Leadership Problem Solving Public Safety and Security Technical Competence 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. 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 is mostly sedentary; however, walking, bending and climbing are required to inspect various activities, equipment, and structures.

Occasionally the work requires moderate physical exertion.

When the job requires inspection of structure or construction, climbing of ladders and scaffolding, crawling, stretching, agility and dexterity may be demanded.

Work Environment: The incumbent's work is generally in an office setting, but many duties require routine periodic visits to all areas of the medical center.

Inspections must be performed inside and outside, on roofs, and under buildings, in areas that are often hot, damp and unsanitary.

There is occasional exposure to high voltage, elevated level noise, high pressure steam and air, adverse weather, ultraviolet and x-ray radiation, and the possibility of broken bones, electrical shock, cuts and bruises.

Also, incumbent may have to enter areas where exposure to air contaminants, such as ETO, anti-neoplastic drugs, asbestos and PCB's is possible.

Protective equipment may be required, including hard hat, safety shoes, ear protections, safety glasses, gloves, and respirators.

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:

Major duties include, but are not limited to: You will manage and lead the workforce of Occupational Safety and Health to recognize compliance gaps, assess compliance strategies, resolve environmental deficiencies, minimize risks and utilize staff, equipment and monetary resources effectively.

You will provide direct supervision to employees performing a variety of duties within the scope of Occupational Safety and Health Programs.

You will initiate recruitment actions, interviews and select new employees.

You will monitor regulatory environment to anticipate changing priorities, program objectives, staffing and financial resources.

You will prepare executive briefings and summary reports for the committees, Performance Improvement Board, and Executive Council of the Governing Body.

You will identify agenda issues and ensure proceedings comply with VHA and TJC requirements, including performance improvement indicators and annual management plan reviews.

You will develop incident intervention strategies with the goal to reduce incident rates, reduce severity of injury, and prevent recurrences.

You will meet and work with state and local authorities to ensure Medical Center compliance with state and county hazardous materials ordinances and reporting requirements.

You will develop and maintain close working relationship with local community fire officials. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm. Telework: Ad-hoc. Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Safety & Occupational Health Manager/PD804320 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized. Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved.

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized.