Safety & Occupational Health Specialist

Full Job Description

Incumbent is the Safety and Occupational Health Specialist and acts under the authority of the Safety Manager on matters relating to occupational safety and health at the Lexington, Kentucky Veteran Affairs Health Care System.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/23/2026.

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 by the closing date of this announcement.

For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09. 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.

In addition to meeting the time-in-grade requirement, applicants must meet the IOR and Specialized Experience/Education as follows: The Occupational Series 0018 includes an Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR).

Candidates may not hold a position in this series without meeting one of the IOR requirements established by OPM.

INDIVIDUAL OCCUPATIONAL REQUIREMENTS: Must meet one of the following Education or Experience: 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.

OR Experience General Experience (for GS-5 positions): Experience in scientific or technical work that provided an understanding of the basic principles and concepts of the safety and occupational health field.

Creditable general experience must have demonstrated the achievement of knowledge equivalent to the education described above.

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.

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: responsible for the investigations of accidents, recording of injuries, occupational illnesses, property loses and fires; and, analyzing of lost time injuries and illnesses and reporting; Develops and updates policies to comply with specific laws, regulations and updated VA requirements, which often contain conflicting requirements, while minimizing adverse impact to patient care; administers and evaluates the medical center safety and occupational program, advises management, and applies a wide range of methods to inspect facilities for compliance.

perform complex administrative responsibilities that require planning, organizing, directing, operating, and evaluating a program; or comprehensive knowledge of regulations, standards, procedures, methods, and techniques applicable to a broad range of duties 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 or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related.

OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond graduate level.

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.

Basis for Selection: Selections for positions will be based on the objective evaluation of the candidates' total qualifications for the position.

"Qualifications" means the combination of experience, training, education, skills, knowledge, abilities, personal characteristics, and merit factors deemed to be pertinent to successful performance.

Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary, although some physical effort may be required, e.g., walking, standing, carrying light items such as manuals, or driving or traveling by motor vehicle.

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:

The Safety & Occupational Health Specialist independently plans and administers the safety and occupational health program, coordinating specific actions with installation managers and supervisors, resolving difficulties, and carrying out program requirements under the general supervision of the Supervisory Safety & Occupational Manager.

The Specialist and supervisor develops program activities and sets due dates.

The incumbent's duties will include, but are not limited to: Assess and apply regulations, standards and industry/community practices to evaluate, monitoring, and identify deficiencies and gaps in medical center activities to assure compliance with Federal laws, regulations, and guidance.

Analyzes mishap circumstances to eliminate similar occurrences. Evaluates compliance with construction safety, fire standards and environmental requirements to devise innovative hazard control.

Manages a facility wide comprehensive occupational safety, health, industrial hygiene and safe patient handling programs. Manages a facility wide comprehensive fire prevention/protection program.

Investigates mishaps involving personnel, damage to machinery, tools, materials or equipment and any type of environmental mishap.

Sets well-defined and realistic personal and team goals with a multi-disciplined team in projects with organization wide impact.

Provides a high level of initiative, effort, and commitment towards managing multi-campus, 1B medical center wide programs while demonstrating responsible behavior.

Makes well informed, effective and timely decisions based on mission and guidelines of organization and understands how these decisions impact the various reporting levels.

Evaluate the staff's proficiency in fire prevention and protection procedures, including fire drills. Communicates orally and in writing with many employees in the healthcare system.

Assures development and presentation of safety/environmental/fire protection and prevention/emergency preparedness.

Reviews all grant proposals for inclusion of safeguards for using chemicals, ensuring safety training has taken place and safe practices are in effect.

Performs workplace ergonomic surveys, recommending corrective measures and makes recommendations on purchase of ergonomic related equipment and furniture.

Reviews drawings and specifications for new construction and building alternations to determine the degree of compliance with standards and regulatory criteria Performs other duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday; 7:30am-4:00pm Telework: ADHOC. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process.

Position Description/PD#: Safety & Occupational Health Specialist/PD30402A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.