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Safety and Occupational Health Specialist

Open & closing dates
  •  05/13/2022 to 05/20/2022
Salary
  • $44,740 - $58,158 per year
Pay scale & grade
  • GS 7
Location
Telework eligible
  • No
Travel Required
  • 25% or less - Up to 25% Business Travel required.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
  • Yes—Payment of moving expenses is authorized subject to the provisions of the Joint Travel Regulations.
Appointment type
  • Permanent
Work schedule
  • Full-time
Service
  • Competitive
Promotion potential
  • 11

Duties

Inspect or survey workplaces, processes or products for compliance with established safety and occupational health policies or standards. Assist in the evaluation of work operations to quantify hazardous exposures using methods such as collecting noise data, air samples and ventilation measurements. Assist in the design or modification of workplaces, processes or products to control or eliminate hazards. Assist in the development of safety and occupational health standards to reduce the frequency, severity and cost of accidents and occupational illnesses. Assist in the training of workers, supervisors, managers, or other safety and occupational health personnel in safety or occupational health subjects.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

  • Must sign a mobility agreement if selected. Two year trial/probationary period may be required. Appointment may be subject to a suitability or fitness determination, as determined by a completed background investigation. A Personnel Security Investigation is required. Male applicants born after December 31, 1959, must complete a Pre-Employment Certification Statement for Selective Service Registration. Regular and recurring survey work exposes the employee to operating machines/equipment, hazardous materials, high noise levels, dust and fumes. Protective clothing and equipment may be necessary. The work requires regular and recurring physical exertion related to frequent inspections and surveys of work spaces and operations. Inspections require a significant amount of walking, standing, bending, crouching, climbing, stretching, or similar movements to inspect work spaces or construction projects. Employee may be required to lift moderately heavy objects.

Qualifications

Who May Apply: To be eligible for consideration you must meet the definition of recent graduates as defined below:

Recent Graduate: a person who was awarded a degree by an institution of higher education not more than two years before the date of the appointment of the applicant. Exception: For a person who has completed a period of obligated service in a uniformed service of more than four years, the degree may be awarded by an institution of higher education not more than four years before the date of the appointment of the applicant.

In order to qualify, you must meet the education and/or experience requirements described below. 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; religious; spiritual; community; student; social).

You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant education and experience.

Additional information about transcripts is in this document.

Basic Requirement for Safety and Occupational Health Specialist:

Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes assisting in managing safety or occupational health program elements; or, applying safety and occupational health standards, regulations, practices, and procedures to eliminate or control potential hazards; or, assisting in analyzing or evaluating new and existing jobs, processes, products, or other systems to determine the existence, severity, probability, and outcome of hazards; or, assisting in designing or modifying workplaces, processes, products, or other systems to control or eliminate hazards. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the second lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-05).

OR

Education: One full year of graduate level education with a major study in safety or occupational health fields (safety, occupational health, industrial hygiene).

OR

Superior Academic Achievement: Successful completion (or completion no later than June 2022) of all the requirements for a bachelor's degree with a 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 with Superior Academic Achievement. In order to be creditable under this provision, Superior Academic Achievement must have been gained in a curriculum that is qualifying for the position to be filled. Superior Academic Achievement is based on:
(1) Class Standing - Applicants must be in the upper third of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision, such as the College of Liberal Arts or the School of Business Administration, based on completed courses; OR
(2) Grade-Point Average (G.P.A.) - Applicants must have a grade-point average of either (a) 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) as recorded on your official transcript, or as computed based on 4 years of education, or as computed based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum; or (b) 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B+" or better) based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field or the required courses in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum.; OR
(3) Honor Society Membership - Applicants may be considered eligible based on membership in one of the approved national scholastic honor societies listed by the Association of College Honor Societies (https://www.achsnatl.org/).

NOTE: Grade point averages will be rounded to one decimal point. For example, 2.95 will round to 3.0, and 2.94 will round to 2.9.

NOTE: If more than 10 percent of your undergraduate course work (credit hours) was taken on a pass/fail or similar basis, your S.A.A. claim must be based on class standing or membership in an honor society and you must provide evidence of your class standing or honor society membership with your application.

OR

Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) by 18. Add the two percentages.

You will be evaluated on the basis of your level of competency in the following areas:
  • Educational Experience (ACWA)
  • Mathematical Skills (ACWA)
  • Rating (ACWA)
  • Social Organizations (ACWA)
  • Work Experience (ACWA)

Education

FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html

Additional information

  • You will be required to provide proof of U.S. Citizenship.
  • Direct deposit of pay is required.
  • This is a Career Program (CP) 12 - Safety and Occupational Health position.
  • Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.
  • Salary includes applicable locality pay or Local Market Supplement.
  • When you perform a Civilian Permanent Change of Station (PCS) with the government, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) considers the majority of your entitlements to be taxable. Visit https://www.dfas.mil/civilianemployees/civrelo/Civilian-Moving-Expenses-Tax-Deduction/ for more information.
  • If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application.
  • Payment of Permanent Change of Station (PCS) costs is authorized, subject to the provisions of the Joint Travel Regulations.
  • Recent Graduates will be appointed to a permanent, career or career-conditional appointment in the competitive service.
  • Information may be requested regarding the vaccination status of selectees for the purposes of implementing workplace safety protocols. For more information, visit https://www.saferfederalworkforce.gov/faq/vaccinations/.
  • Additional financial incentives, such as recruitment or relocation incentives, may be offered for difficult to fill positions.
  • If selected, official college or university transcripts must be submitted. However, if applying based on education, unofficial transcripts must be submitted at the time of application.
  • This recruitment provides promotion opportunity to the target grade of the position without further competition when selectee is eligible and recommended by management.
  • Incumbent works under closer supervision and works in a developmental capacity performing assignments and completing training, both of which are aimed in preparing the incumbent to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to perform the duties outlined in the aforementioned job description. The incumbent receives progressively more responsible assignments as experience and training are received to the next higher level position.
  • If you have retired from federal service and you are interested in employment as a reemployed annuitant, see the information in the Reemployed Annuitant information sheet.
  • Selectee must attend up to 14 weeks of formal training throughout the 2 year training program. Approximately 4 weeks of this training will be located at Fort Rucker, AL. The other 10 weeks will be at other locations, for periods ranging from 2-6 weeks in length. The training will be scheduled after entry on duty. Business travel expenses will be provided to attend the training.
  • Selectee must attend up to 40 weeks of professional development assignments throughout the 2 year training program at locations other than duty station, for periods ranging from less than 1 week to up to 16 weeks in length. The training will be scheduled after entry on duty. Business travel expenses will be provided to attend the training.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
This position is covered under the Administrative Careers With America (ACWA) examining program. You must take and pass the ACWA assessment. Once the announcement has closed, a review of your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the ACWA assessment) will be used to determine whether you meet the qualification requirements listed on this announcement. If, after reviewing your résumé and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and/or experience, you may lose consideration for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully when applying, errors or omissions may affect your eligibility.

You should list any relevant performance appraisals and incentive awards in your resume as that information may be taken into consideration during the selection process. If selected, you may be required to provide supporting documentation.

Veterans and Military Spouses will be considered along with all other candidates.

Required Documents

The documents you are required to submit vary based on whether or not you are eligible for preference in federal employment. A complete description of preference categories and the associated required documents is in the Applicant Checklist (External)

As described above, your complete application includes your resume, your responses to the online questionnaire, and documents which prove your eligibility to apply. If you fail to provide these documents, you will be marked as having an incomplete application package and you will not be considered any further.

1. Your resume:
  • Your resume may be submitted in any format and must support the specialized experience described in this announcement.
  • If your resume includes a photograph or other inappropriate material or content, it will not be used to make eligibility and qualification determinations and you may not be considered for this vacancy.
  • For qualifications determinations your resume must contain hours worked per week and the dates of employment (i.e., HRS per week and month/year to month/year or month/year to present). If your resume does not contain this information, your application will be marked as incomplete and you will not receive consideration for this position.
  • For additional information see: What to include in your resume.

2. Other supporting documents:
  • Cover Letter, optional
  • Most recent Performance Appraisal, if applicable
  • You must submit a copy of your transcript to determine eligibility under this hiring authority. Further, if you claim qualifications based on education and do not submit a supporting transcript, your education will not be used in making a qualification determination and you may be found not qualified. Unofficial copies are acceptable; however, if selected, official transcripts are required. You MUST submit your unofficial college transcripts with your application to include transfer courses, credit hours and grades to calculate GPA, along with your graduation date. If you have graduated within the past 30 days and your transcripts have not yet been updated to include your graduation date, or you are graduating by June 2022, you must also include your graduation date, to include both month and year, on your resume, or provide a letter from your college or university with your graduation date. Applicants who fail to provide transcripts AND degree completion information (if degree date is not shown on the transcripts) will be marked as insufficient and will not receive consideration for this position. See: Transcripts and Licenses

NOTE: Documents submitted as part of the application package, to include supplemental documents, may be shared beyond the Human Resources Office. Some supplemental documents such as military orders and marriage certificates may contain personal information for someone other than you. You may sanitize these documents to remove another person's personal information before you submit your application. You may be asked to provide an un-sanitized version of the documents if you are selected to confirm your eligibility. If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

How to Apply

To apply for this position, you must complete the online questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below.

The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 05/20/2022 to receive consideration.
  • To begin, click Apply to access the online application. You will need to be logged into your USAJOBS account to apply. If you do not have a USAJOBS account, you will need to create one before beginning the application (https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11498378).
  • Follow the prompts to select your résumé and/or other supporting documents to be included with your application package. You will have the opportunity to upload additional documents to include in your application before it is submitted. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.
  • After acknowledging you have reviewed your application package, complete the Include Personal Information section as you deem appropriate and click to continue with the application process.
  • You will be taken to the online application which you must complete in order to apply for the position. Complete the online application, verify the required documentation is included with your application package, and submit the application. You must re-select your resume and/or other documents from your USAJOBS account or your application will be incomplete.
  • It is your responsibility to verify that your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) is complete, accurate, and submitted by the closing date. Uploaded documents may take up to one hour to clear the virus scan.
  • Additional information on how to complete the online application process and submit your online application may be found on the USA Staffing Applicant Resource Center.

To verify the status of your application, log into your USAJOBS account (https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login), all of your applications will appear on the Welcome screen. The Application Status will appear along with the date your application was last updated. For information on what each Application Status means, visit: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/application/status/.

If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application.