This position, located at the Oklahoma City VA Health Care System, serves as an Industrial Hygienist and performs various duties in an Industrial Hygiene program to access work practices and environmental conditions for hazards to the health and safety of workers.
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/19/2025. 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-09 level. 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): This series has the following IOR... Basic Requirements: The education must be accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education(external link) at the time the degree was obtained. Applicants must meet one of the following 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 Board for Global EHS Credentialing (formerly American Board of Industrial Hygiene(external link) (ABIH)). Courses in the history or teaching of chemistry are not acceptable. Evaluation of Education: All science or engineering courses offered in fulfillment of the above requirements must be acceptable for credit toward the completion of a standard 4-year professional curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in science or engineering at an accredited college or university. 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. Evaluation of Experience: Qualifying experience involves the recognition, evaluation, corrective actions, and elimination of environmental conditions in the workplace that causes sickness, impaired health, or illness. This experience must demonstrate a professional knowledge of the theory and application of the principles of industrial hygiene and closely related sciences such as physics and engineering controls. Such work must have involved experience in all of the following areas: the acquisition of quantitative and qualitative data, and the measurement of exposures for a variety of chemical, physical, and biological stresses; the analysis of the data acquired and the prediction of probable effects of exposures on the health and well-being of workers; and the selection and recommendation of appropriate controls, including management, medical, engineering, education or training, and personal protective equipment. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade of GS-09 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to...Professional knowledge of industrial hygiene principles, procedures, standards, equipment, techniques, and methods; knowledgeable to a full range of industrial and hazardous operations such as: clinical, research, nuclear medicine, and radiological procedures; use and storage of hazardous drugs and materials, building construction; maintenance shops; generating plants; warehousing; grounds maintenance; hazardous waste handling and disposal; and various other medical center and all outpatient clinic operations where there is exposure to hazardous materials and environments; knowledge and skilled in the use of a full range of industrial hygiene sampling techniques, instrumentation, analytical methods, and control measures utilized to identify and control industrial hygiene exposures; knowledge of administrative practices to manage and direct an industrial hygiene program including planning and initiating surveys of work operations to identify and quantify hazardous (FL 1-7, 1250) conditions, and personal contact with medical center personnel to convey information and obtain corrective action; and knowledge and ability to prepare technical written and oral detailed plans, survey reports, corrective action, and follow-up reports...OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree...OR, Combination: Combinations of successfully completed graduate level education and specialized experience may be used to meet total experience requirements. Only graduate level education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level may be combined with experience. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Communication Environmental Engineering Hazardous Materials Technical Competence 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. Physical Requirements: The performance of duties requires long periods of walking, standing, crawling, kneeling, and bending. Moderate lifting and carrying of equipment, use of personal protective devices, and work in hazardous and confined spaces is required. Use of all appendages, good vision, and hearing are necessary. Emotional and mental stability are required. Driving is required. 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 of this position include but are not limited to... Conducts studies of work operations and processes, examining work environments, analyzing findings, promulgating recommendations, and preparing various reports Receives and disposes of hazardous wastes and maintains appropriate records in accordance with existing EPA standards, state laws, and VA regulations Prepares comprehensive and legally sufficient written reports of all monitoring activities performed which are subsequently incorporated into comprehensive reports prepared to assess the overall effectiveness of the industrial hygiene program Ensures proper documentation of employee exposures in medical records Regularly inspects the medical center to identify potential occupational health hazards and the need for further investigative studies and surveys Studies and surveys performed involve determining compliance with various established criteria, evaluating exposures, and advising on control measures and changes in work procedures or schedules to comply with established health requirements and providing information for evaluation purposes Performs analysis to determine nature and degree of toxic materials present Interprets results of studies for the work environment in terms of possible impairment to health, nature of health impairment, potential for medical center damages, etc., and presents specific conclusions and recommendations to appropriate management and health officials Determines the need for, and effectiveness of, control measures and changes in work procedures Recommends procedures that will be suitable and effective for the environment Preferred Experience: This position has the following preferred experience... Industrial Hygiene experience to include conducting studies on work operations and processes, inspecting work environments, interpreting data, making recommendation, and generating various reports. Environmental circumstances include physical, chemical, and biological risks, as well as ionizing and non-ionizing radiation and other environmental agents. Receives and disposes of hazardous materials while keeping proper records in line with current EPA standards, state law and VA requirements. Prepares detailed and legally sufficient written reports on all monitoring activities undertaken, which are then included into complete reports designed to assess the overall efficiency of the industrial hygiene program. Ensures accurate documentation of employee exposures in medical records. In depth understanding (knowledge and experience) of industrial hygiene concepts, procedures, standards, equipment, techniques, and approaches. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm Position Description/PD#: Industrial Hygienist/PD144650 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: May be authorized to highly qualified candidate Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized