Summary The incumbent serves as the facility industrial hygienist assigned to the Occupational Safety and health section, at the Lexington VAMC. This is a level 1B, two division medical center based in Lexington, Kentucky, providing a wide array of acute inpatient care, outpatient services, and long-term care. In addition, there are four VA clinics supporting this market, located in Berea, Somerset, Morehead and Hazard, Kentucky and one mental health clinic in Corbin, Kentucky. Responsibilities Industrial hygiene is concerned with the recognition, evaluation, and control of those environmental conditions or stresses arising in or from the workplace, which may cause sickness, impaired health, significant discomfort or inefficiency. Industrial hygienists in the VA perform a variety of functions related to the identification, evaluation, and control of occupational health hazards and to the promotion of healthful and safe working conditions. Their work includes surveys, coordination with other health and safety specialists, administration and oversight of industrial hygiene programs, review of design plans for hazard control, investigation of causative agents for occupational illness and the provision of education and training programs. Major Duties include, but 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 to include OSHA, EPA, CDC, TJC, NFPA, NIOSH, and FEMA in a comprehensive program. Evaluates adequacy of controls for health hazards in initial and final plans and specifications for facility construction and repair. Maintains a roster of employees assigned respirators, monitor training and fit testing as required. Reviews Occupational Health, Industrial Hygiene and Occupational Safety Standards as received from VA, OSHA, T JC and other regulatory agencies, and advise the medical center management of methods to comply with the standards. Conducts annual audits and provided appropriate surveillance of work area conditions and the degree of employee exposure to ensure that the proper respiratory protection is provided. Evaluates new products determining health hazard of items proposed for procurement including those which contain prohibited or highly toxic materials posing severe health hazards. Manage and provide technical advice regarding response to environmental emergencies including releases of hazardous material. Evaluate, modify and implement pollution prevention alternatives to reduce generation of waste. Maintains the Centralized Safety Data and Hazard Communication Library for the Medical Center to include the medical center's update/uploads to the electronic database. Writes preliminary and final reports which include findings, evaluations, and specific recommendations for control of hazardous conditions. Develops and presents budgetary information related to environmental programs to medical center upper management. Updates existing policies, programs and procedures documents under incumbent purview to be disseminate facility wide. Employs a wide variety of sampling instrumentation and techniques, and interpret sample results to determine the degree of hazard to which workers are exposed after ascertaining the intensity and duration of exposure. Investigates environmental issues and incidents and recommends steps to reduce the frequency of events. Evaluate of occupational health hazards to assess the magnitude of environmental stresses in relation to their potential to impair workers health and well-being. Plans, develops, implements, and evaluates the Occupational Health Program at this facility following elements of identification, control and elimination of industrial and occupational health hazards. Other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday; 7:30AM-4:00PM Telework: VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Industrial Hygienist/PD302540 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 You may be required to serve a probationary period Subject to background/security investigation Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details. Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/26/2025. Permanent Employee Status: If you are unsure if you have permanent employee status to be considered for this position, you can verify your status by referring to Box 24 on your most recent SF-50. The box must have a 1 or 2 in order to be considered for this position. 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-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?. In addition to the Time-in-Grade Requirements, you must also meet the Individual Occupational Requirement below: Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR): You must meet one of the following basic requirements below to be eligible for the GS-0690, Industrial Hygiene job series. The education must be accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained. NOTE: Transcripts (unofficial or official) must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation. Applicants must meet one of the following Basic Requirements: A bachelor's or graduate/higher level degree in industrial hygiene, occupational health sciences, occupational and environmental health, toxicology, safety sciences, or related science; ~OR~ A bachelor's degree in a branch of engineering, physical science, or life science that included 12 semester hours in chemistry, including organic chemistry, and 18 additional semester hours of courses in any combination of chemistry, physics, engineering, health physics, environmental health, biostatistics, biology, physiology, toxicology, epidemiology, or industrial hygiene; ~OR~ Certification from the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH). Note: You must submit a copy of your certification with your application. Certification cannot be credited without documentation. Please note: Courses in the history or teaching of chemistry are not acceptable. For engineering degrees to be acceptable, the curriculum must be in a school of engineering with at least one curriculum accredited by the ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) as a professional engineering curriculum. In addition to meeting one of the Basic Requirements above, applicants must also meet one of the grade specific requirements listed below: 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 GS-09 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization in the Federal Service that has given you the particular knowledge, skills and abilities required to successfully perform the duties of an Industrial Hygienist, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. Examples of Specialized experience includes but is not limited to: Uses new developments to solve novel or obscure problems and an ability to extend and modify existing techniques are necessary in solving a variety of occupational health problems. Recognized by the agency as being an expert in the broad practice of industrial hygiene. Serves as an agency expert and to make decisions or recommendations that significantly affect the context, interpretation or development of agency policies or programs concerning industrial hygiene matters. Conduct industrial hygiene studies, to develop sampling or control methods and to provide expert advice to facility staff in a broad range of industrial hygiene matters. Research technical publications and applies technical knowledge to healthcare environmental and occupational health issues. ~OR~ Possess 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or equivalent doctoral degree in a course of study directly related to this position. Note: Transcripts required. ~OR~ Combination of specialized experience and successfully completed graduate level education beyond a Master's degree (36 semester hours) in a course of study directly related to 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. 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, knowledges, abilities, personal characteristics, and merit factors deemed to be pertinent to successful performance. Physical Requirements: The work requires the employee to carry a good deal of equipment and involves walking, standing, bending, climbing or crawling during surveys. Work Environment: Work is usually performed in an office setting, although there may be occasional exposure to industrial hazards during infrequent walk-through surveys that are conducted as part of a larger study. During surveys, the incumbent is subjected to all the risks and discomforts association with industrial activities of the agency. This exposure requires the use of protective clothing and equipment, including respirators, hardhats, ear protectors, and safety shoes. The incumbent may encounter exposure to hazardous materials including biological, chemical, and radioactive agents, thereby requiring wear of designated protect clothing/equipment. Education A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/. Additional Information This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. Pursuant to VHA Directive 1193.01, VHA health care personnel (HCP) are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 subject to such accommodations as required by law (i.e., medical, religious or pregnancy). VHA HCPs do not include remote workers who only infrequently enter VHA locations. If selected, you will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before your start date. The agency will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation will be needed and how you can request a legally required accommodation from this requirement using the reasonable accommodation process. If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement. Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.