Supervisory Safety and Occupational Health Specialist

Summary

This position is organizationally aligned under the Office of the Medical Center Director. This position is located at the Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital, Hines IL. (578) - a Level 1a Complexity VHA Facility and is organizationally aligned under the Director, Safety and Occupational Health Service.

Duties

• The Safety and Occupational Health Specialists work with supervisors, union officials, and safety and occupational health committees to eliminate or control hazardous operations or conditions for all facilities within the medical center. Duties include, but are not limited to: Advises the Safety & Occupational Health Manager within the assigned area on the status of the safety and occupational health programs and recommends changes in the design of work programs to meet new safety and occupational health standards. Confers with safety and occupational health specialists external to the facility to identify hazards related to new laboratory equipment or other areas and to become familiar with evolving techniques and protective devices for controlling or eliminating potential safety hazards. Independently schedules surveys of VA buildings and offices to identify and evaluate risks involving a wide variety of work environments; determines the extent to which mechanical and physical conditions comply and makes decisions regarding adherence to established safety policies and procedures. Directs investigations of accidents, analyzing precipitating factors and accident cause data to develop specific methods for prevention. He/she also consults with specialists from related occupations concerning work process modifications and recommends corrective or remedial safety measures. Trains other employees and lower grade occupational safety and industrial hygiene staff, providing instruction on a variety of subjects, including chemical, biological, or physical safety topics. He/she adapts various available media to fit special and unique training requirements and participates in the development of novel or innovative safety training and promotion activities. Participates in the Hines Safety, Accident Incident Review Board (AIRB), Hines Construction Safety Committee and Environment of Care (EOC) committees. Performs other related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: 7:00am-3:30pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Supervisory Safety and Occupational Health Specialist/PD250360 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/04/2026. 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: Specialized Experience: 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; and work in occupational fields such as industrial hygienist, safety engineer, fire prevention engineer, health physicist, and occupational health nurse. OR, Education: 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: A copy of your transcript must be provided with your application. IN ADDITION TO MEETING THE BASIC REQUIREMENTS LISTED ABOVE, YOU MUST MEET THE FOLLOWING GRADE REQUIREMENTS TO QUALIFY FOR THIS POSITION. GS-12 GRADE REQUIREMENTS: 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 are: Using data and techniques to identify and analyze safety and occupational health problems; evaluate and recommend adoption of new or enhanced safety and occupational health approaches; conduct safety and health studies and investigations, analyze findings, prepare and present r…

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/.