Supervisory Safety & Occupational Health Specialist

Full Job Description

The Supervisory Safety & Occupational Health Specialist is located in Engineering Service at the Cincinnati, OH VA Medical Center.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/11/2026.

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.

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Basic Requirements: You must meet the Individual Occupational Requirement, the General Experience Requirement, or the Certification Requirement listed below in addition to the grade specific requirements for this position.

Education: I have a 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 Requirement: I have 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.

OR, Certificate Requirement: I have a 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.

In addition to meeting the above Individual Occupational Requirements, applicants must also meet the following grade specific specialized experience as described below: An IOR for Supervisor Safety & Occupational Health Specialist, Series (0018) is a basic requirement that must be met in order to qualify for entry into this job series, and cannot be waived.

Education must be accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained.

Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: 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 You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: 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.

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 construction sites.

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.

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 Cincinnati VA Medical Center (CVAMC) is a two-division campus located in Cincinnati, OH and Fort Thomas, KY serving 15 counties in Southwest OH, Northern Kentucky, and Southeast Indiana with 6 Community Based Outpatient Clinics located in Bellevue, KY; Florence, KY; Lawrenceburg, IN; Hamilton, OH; Clermont County, OH, and Georgetown, OH.

The CVAMC also supports two off main campus locations in the Cincinnati area via an Eye Center and Mental Health Outreach Community Division.

Major Duties: Oversees, monitors, and evaluates safety activities, manages the overall facility safety program to provide the patients, visitors, and staff of CVAMC with the highest attainable level of safety possible and identify opportunities for improvement through an ongoing effort of problem identification, evaluation, resolution, monitoring, and evaluation.

The incumbent is responsible for the supervision, planning, and direction of work operations, and for directing daily operational activities including direct supervision interventions and has full responsibility for assuring efficient and economical work operations including planning the accomplishment of major and complex work operations on a long-range basis and participating in establishing long-range goals and facility planning.

Assesses the effectiveness of specific programs, projects, and functions; plans alternative courses of actions to resolve hazardous conditions and unsafe work practices.

Responsible for defining safety issues, collecting reports, investigating accidents and incidents, leading the activities of the Safety, Environment of Care (EOC) Committee and assisting in defining solutions that can be implemented by supervisory line officials at all management levels.

Responsible for planning, development, implementation, and for oversight of CVAMC OSH Service.

These programs are developed individually at each hospital & clinic with special regard to the needs and requirements of the level, scope, and nature of the medical activities within CVAMC.

Determines origination, priority, emphasis, and deletion of overall program content regarding the available resources and requirements.

Ensures all personnel, including professional and administrative staff, are trained to recognize, avoid, and report all potential fire, safety, and industrial hygiene and construction hazards.

Oversees the planning, organization, direction, and presentation of education and training courses related to OSH Program matters and provides instructions to staff physicians, hospital administrators, research investigators, nurses, technicians, and other hospital personnel.

Oversees the development of an industrial hygiene program to identify hazards associated with areas such as asbestos, lead, radiation, airborne chemical contaminants, noise, temperature extremes, fumes, mold, illumination, ergonomics, and other occupational health and safety areas.

Adjusts service manpower as necessary to ensure crucial industrial hygiene activities are met.

Makes recommendations to management regarding correction to control of often-complex environmental situations that could have adverse health effects.

Reviews all plans and specification for new construction, minor improvements, and non-recurring maintenance to assure incorporation of adequate asbestos, lead & mold abatement issues.

Leads all Environment of Care (EOC) efforts at the CVAMC, including the coordination and execution of all weekly site inspections and leading the monthly EOC meetings.

The incumbent also serves as the Occupational Safety and Health expert on various committees and review boards.

Examples include - but are not limited to - patient safety, research and accident review boards Oversees a subordinate staff to monitor and evaluate safety activities and manage the overall facility safety program to provide the patients, visitors, and staff of CVAMC the highest attainable level of safety possible.

Responsible for the supervision of and planning and direction of work operations and for directing daily operational activities including direct supervision interventions and has full responsibility for assuring efficient and economical work operations including planning the accomplishment of major and complex work operations on a long-range basis and participating in establishing long-range goals and facility planning.

Reviews decisions concerning serious disciplinary actions involving employees. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:30am - 4:00pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Supervisory Safety & Occupational Health Specialist/PD929260 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized