Safety & Occupational Health Specialist

Full Job Description

The Safety and Occupational Health Specialist position is located within the Safety and Emergency Management Program Service at the James Mountain Inhofe VA Medical Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and will perform nonsupervisory work in inspecting environmental conditions and employee performance patterns to identify safety hazards, detect risks, and determine causal relationships; develop abatement recommendations for all safety and occupational health hazards.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/18/2026.

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-9 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7. For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-9.

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): The Safety and Occupational Health Management Series 0018 has a minimum qualification entry requirement.

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, 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.

AND, You may qualify based on your experience and/or education for the GS-9 grade level as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-7 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Prepares formal training materials and presents instruction on standard safety and occupational health techniques and steps regarding fire prevention, accident prevention, and other occupational safety issues to supervisors and employees during staff meetings, new employee orientation, etc.

independently applies knowledge of safety and occupational health principles, methods, and techniques on recurring assignments to control or eliminate unsafe physical conditions and hazards which may injure persons or damage property; applies a practical knowledge of safety and occupational health laws and regulations to normal safety risks which are covered by standard criteria and conventional control measures and ensures inspections and surveys are fully documented in reports to management staff, explaining findings and the reasons and purposes for applying standard safety measures and contain recommendations and corrective actions as appropriate to minimize or abate encountered hazards.

OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience.

To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B.

or J.D., if related. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level.

You must have an equivalent combination of specialized experience and education as stated above to meet total experience requirements.

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education for the GS-11 grade level as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-9 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Comprehensive knowledge of safety and occupational health principles, methods and standards, regulations, policies, and procedures applicable to a broad range of safety and occupational health duties in one or more specific areas of safety and occupational health; must possess technical knowledge sufficient to analyze safety design features and specifications and to develop new methods and procedures to identify or control hazardous construction processes and equipment usage; understanding of psychological and physiological factors sufficient to evaluate the relationship of an individual to the working environment and to motivate individuals to perform in a safe manner; knowledge and skills must be sufficient to manage a safety and occupational health program with diverse hazards, achieving compliance with regulatory provisions and effectively communicating multiple safety and occupational health practices and procedures to staff personnel; skills to modify or revise standard techniques in devising specialized operating practices concerned with accomplishing project safety and occupational health objectives.

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 equivalent combination of specialized experience and education as stated above to meet total experience requirements.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Health Risk Analysis Oral Communication Planning and Evaluating Safety Engineering Major Duties:

Duties include, but are not limited to: Assumes a lead role in the development of safety goals, policy, and procedural documentation for the facilities.

Develops goals and objectives, prepares and updates safety policies, procedures and guidelines, develops safety training curriculum and reviews proposed equipment procurement requests to insure the inclusion of necessary safety features.

Advises senior level management officials within the assigned area on the status of the safety and occupational health programs and recommends changes in the design of work programs to meet new safety and occupational health standards.

Trains other employees and lower grade occupational safety and industrial hygiene staff, providing instruction on a variety of subjects, including chemical, biological, or physical safety topics.

Conducts Hazard Vulnerability Analyses (HVA) to identify potential fire prevention issues that could affect the need for the organization's services or its ability to provide those services.

Develops, conducts, and evaluates the effectiveness of employee education programs for these programs by interpreting applicable regulations, while ensuring conflicting requirements are properly resolved.

Conducts area specific rounds and provides in-services to staff where significant deficiencies are noted.

Incumbent performs ongoing monitoring of performance regarding actual or potential fire risks related to staff knowledge and skills; level of staff participation, monitoring and inspection activities; emergency and incident reporting; and inspection, preventive maintenance, and testing of equipment.

Performs regular hazard surveillance of construction worksites on VA premises, and works with Facility Projects, Contracting Officers, and other responsible VA representatives to ensure that contractors conduct their operations in compliance with safety regulations.

Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met.

Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm Telework: This position may be authorized for ad hoc telework.

Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Safety & Occupational Health Specialist/PD12126A and PD12127A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized