Safety and Occupational Health Specialist
Bureau of Land Management
Summary This position serves as the administrative and technical lead for all aspects of the Safety and Occupational Health Program for the Spokane District Office, including advising and supporting management/supervisors and employees; implementing safety and health action plans; accomplishing program requirements; and preparing budget and funding requests. Salary Ranges: GS-07: $49,176 - $63,930 GS-09: $60,151 - $78,195 GS-11: $72,777 - $94,608 Responsibilities Duties will be developmental in nature when filled below the full performance level. Promotion to the full performance level is neither guaranteed nor implied and will be based solely on your ability to satisfactorily perform the work of the position, existing work at the higher grade level, and recommendation by the position's supervisor. As the Safety and Occupational Health Specialist in this position, you will: Serve as the administrative and technical lead for all aspects of the district safety program. Coordinate with State and Agency Safety Managers, supervisors and employees to ensure all safety protocol and procedures are followed. This includes advising and support to district leadership. Plan and implement annual safety and health action plans and coordinates required cashed audits of district work areas, buildings and equipment. Be responsible for education and training, accident investigation, and risk management for employees, public, resource management, heavy equipment, road maintenance, wildland and prescribed fire, industrial hygiene and laboratory activities. Requirements Conditions of Employment Qualifications In order to qualify, you must meet the experience and/or education requirements described below. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience. If qualifying based on education, a copy of your unofficial transcripts must be provided with your application. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: To be considered minimally qualified for this position, you must demonstrate that you have the required specialized experience and/or education for the respective grade level in which you are applying. GS-07: A. Specialized Experience: Applicants must have one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-05 grade level in the Federal service (obtained either in the private or public sector) performing 3 or more of the following: 1) assisting in safety and health inspections of facilities or operations to determine compliance with applicable safety and occupational health standards; 2) preparing reports of findings or analysis of mishap trends; 3) assisting an investigation team in securing accident details, causal factors, witnesses, or reports ; 4) providing informal safety and health training to managers, supervisors and/or employees; 5) researching on effective safety and occupational health practices and procedures to prepare training materials for display or dissemination to the public. OR B. Education: Have successfully completed 1 full year of graduate level education. The Undergraduate and Graduate Education must include 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. NOTE: You must submit a copy of your transcripts. OR C. Superior Academic Achievement: Successful completion of a bachelor's degree in a curriculum that is qualifying for this position as described above from an accredited college or university, AND meets one of the requirements for Superior Academic Achievement based on the following: (1) class standing (upper third standing in the graduating class of a college, university, or major subdivision, such as the College of Liberal Arts or the School of Business Administration, based on completed courses); (2) grade-point average (3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0) as recorded on the official transcript, or as computed based on 4 years of education, or (3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0) 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; (3) election to membership in a national scholastic honor society. NOTE: You must submit a copy of your transcripts as proof of any claimed education. OR D. COMBINATION: Successful completion of a combination of education and experience as described above that, when converted to percentages, equal at least 100% of the total requirement. To calculate your combined amount, first determine the amount of your specialized experience as a percentage of the requirement listed in A above. Then determine the amount of your graduate education in excess of one full year (18 semester hours) as a percentage of the requirement listed in B above; then add the two percentages. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. NOTE: You must submit a copy of your transcripts as proof of any claimed education. GS-09: A. Specialized Experience: Applicants must have one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-07 grade level in the Federal service (obtained either in the private or public sector) performing 3 or more of the following: 1) performing periodic safety and health inspections of facilities or operations to identify potential hazards for abatement; 2) preparing final reports of findings with recommendations for accident prevention or hazard control; (3) recording pertinent details of accident investigations for proper reporting to automated data system; 4) advising supervisors or employees on appropriate safety and occupational health measures to control or eliminate hazardous operating processes; 5) promoting safety campaigns through oral presentations, exhibits, or publications. OR B. Education: Successful completion of master's or equivalent graduate degree or two (2) full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree from an accredited college or university or LL.B or JD. Graduate level education included 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. NOTE: You must submit a copy of your transcripts as proof of any claimed education. OR C. Combination: Successful completion of a combination of education and experience as described above that, when converted to percentages, equal at least 100% of the total requirement. To calculate your combined amount, first determine the amount of your specialized experience as a percentage of the requirement listed in A above. Then determine the amount of your graduate education in excess of one full year (18 semester hours) as a percentage of the requirement listed in B above; then add the two percentages. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. NOTE: You must submit a copy of your transcripts as proof of any claimed education. GS-11: A. Specialized Experience: Applicants must have one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service (obtained either in the private or public sector) performing 3 or more of the following: 1) planning or scheduling safety and health inspections of facilities or operations to evaluate compliance with established industry standards; 2) advising management and/or employees on the implementation of safety and occupational health action plans; 3) leading accident investigations to determine root cause and devise measures to prevent recurrences; 4) developing safety training curriculum to promote safety and occupational health in all operations of activities; 5) executing safety and occupational health programs to facilitate safe work environment or facilities for visitors. Education Continuation of Qualifications: OR B. Education: Successful completion of 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree, or LL.M. Higher-level graduate education included 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. NOTE: You must submit a copy of your transcripts as proof of any claimed education. OR C. Combination: Successful completion of a combination specialized experience and graduate level education that, when combined, equals 100% of the total requirement. To calculate your combined amount, first determine the amount of your specialized experience as a percentage of the requirement listed in A above. Then determine the amount of your graduate education in excess of the first two years (36 semester hours) as a percentage of the requirement listed in B above; then add the two percentages. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. NOTE: You must submit a copy of your transcripts as proof of any claimed education. Status merit promotion applicants must meet applicable time-in-grade requirements to be considered eligible. One year at the GS-05 is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the GS-07 level. One year at the GS-07 is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the GS-09 level. One year at the GS-09 is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the GS-11 level. (Must submit your SF-50 that shows Time-in-Grade eligibility and reflects your title, series, and grade. No award SF-50 will be accepted). Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement.IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. If your resume does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s). Volunteer Experience: 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). 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. You must include months, years and hours per week worked to receive credit for your work and/or volunteer experience. One year of specialized experience is equivalent to 12 months at 40 hours per week. Part-time hours are prorated. You will not receive any credit for experience that does not indicate exact hours per week or is listed as "varies". A review of your resume and supporting documentation will be made and compared against your responses to the Occupational Questionnaire to determine if you are qualified for this job. If your resume is incomplete or does not support the responses provided in the Occupational Questionnaire, or if you fail to submit all required documentation, you will be rated 'ineligible', 'not qualified', or your score may be adjusted accordingly. If a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications or experience, you may lose consideration for this position. You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), the responses you provide on the application questionnaire, and the result of the additional assessments required for this position. To qualify based on education, you must submit a legible copy of transcripts from an accredited institution with your name, school name, credit hours, course level, major(s), and grade-point average or class ranking. Transcripts do not need to be official, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work. If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet qualification requirements, you must show that your 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. PASS/FAIL COURSES: If more than 10 percent of your undergraduate course work (credit hours) were taken on a pass/fail basis, your claim of superior academic achievement must be based upon class standing or membership in an honor society. GRADUATE EDUCATION: One academic year of graduate education is considered to be the number of credits hours your graduate school has determined to represent one academic year of full-time study. Such study may have been performed on a full-time or part-time basis. If you cannot obtain your graduate school's definition of one year of graduate study, 18 semester hours (or 27 quarter hours) should be considered as satisfying the requirement for one year of full-time graduate study. Additional Information Any individual who is currently holding, or has held within the previous 52 weeks, a General Schedule position under non-temporary appointment in the competitive or excepted service, must meet time-in-grade requirements (must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade or equivalent in the Federal service). Time-in-grade requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement. Physical Demands: The work requires the incumbent to visit field locations and inspect working conditions such as construction work sites, outlying buildings, recreation areas, and other facilities and equipment in various remote locations. The performance of inspections and investigations of mishaps requires frequent standing, walking, climbing, bending, and traveling off road. Office work is mostly sedentary. Working Conditions: Work involves a mixture of time in the office, spent traveling and performing field related activities such as inspecting facilities or investigating accidents. The incumbent may be exposed to a variety of climactic and travel conditions while working in the field. Travel may include flying in small aircraft of helicopters, riding or driving in cars, trucks or off highway vehicles over rugged terrain in remote areas in quickly changing and sometimes hazardous conditions or in extreme hot or cold outdoor temperatures. Additionally, there may be exposure to unusual or potentially dangerous conditions, such as contaminated materials, unexploded ordinance, wildfires, industrial plants with high-frequency noise, scenes of hazardous or toxic material spills and various hazardous chemicals or substances. Because of these environments, the position may require the incumbent to utilize personal protective equipment i.e., metatarsal shoes, hard hat, eye and hearing protection, respirator, and gloves for conducting inspections. Telework: The Bureau of Land Management has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval. This position is offering a Relocation Incentive of up to $10,000 To be eligible for a Relocation Incentive, you must be a current Federal Employee employed with the Federal Government and be willing to work directly from the BLM OR/WA office in Spokane District location (not remote). The selectee's current duty location must be more than 50 miles from the duty location of this position. Certain incentives (such as Recruitment, Relocation or Student Loan Repayment) may be authorized to eligible selectees. If eligible and qualified, you may be offered a recruitment or relocation incentive. The decision to offer an incentive will be made on a case-by-case basis and is neither promised nor guaranteed. For information visit: Recruitment Incentive or Relocation Incentive or Student Loan Repayment. Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) or Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP): For information on how to apply as an ICTAP or CTAP eligible see http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/ctap\_guideline.pdf. To be well-qualified and exercise selection priority for this vacancy, displaced Federal employees must be rated at 90 or above on the rating criteria for this position. If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, please contact San Antonio Services Branch at SASBMailbox@opm.gov or 816-541-8101.
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