Safety and Occupational Health Specialist

Safety and Occupational Health Specialist

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Boise, Idaho, Portland, Oregon, White City, Oregon, Vancouver, Washington

Salary Range: $96443 - $125378 Per Year

Job Summary: This position serves as the Safety & Occupational Health Specialist for the Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISN 20) an integrated healthcare system comprised of eight healthcare institutions and may be located in any of the following locations: Boise, ID Portland, OR Vancouver, WA White City, OR The Specialist assists with program planning, development, and execution of the Network Environmental, Safety, Occupational Health, and Fire Protection Program Manager (ESOH) programs.

Major Duties:

• ***THIS IS NOT A VIRTUAL POSITION, YOU MUST LIVE WITHIN OR BE WILLING TO RELOCATE WITHIN A COMMUTABLE DISTANCE OF THE DUTY LOCATION*** LOCATION INFORMATION: This announcement is for 1 vacancy to be filled at any one of the locations listed above. Applicants must reside within 50 miles of a VISN20 VA facility at the time of appointment or be willing to relocate at their own expense prior to entrance on duty. Relocation expenses will not be authorized. See locations for specific cities and states that are within the VISN20 Catchment Area Major duties and responsibilities include: Reporting directly to the VISN Safety Manager and assisting with program planning, development, and execution of the Network Environmental, Safety, Occupational Health, and Fire Protection Program Manager (ESOH) programs. Tracking and directing facilities to comply with all safety, industrial hygiene, inspection initiatives, and fire safety measuring/monitoring identified in the Network Director performance standards. Providing a professional interpretation of applicable regulations and guidelines and assuring that specific policies are consistent with federal, state, and local regulations and procedures that may affect VA-related activities. Evaluating or investigating employee safety related complaints that cannot be resolved at the local level. Making a final determination by studying the problem and assessing the degree of compliance with applicable regulations and standards, and when necessary, developing changes and modifications to work processes, equipment operation, and /or protective devices to minimize injuries to patients, visitors, and employees and damage to VA property. Evaluating requests for equivalencies submitted within the VISN to assure that the actual intent of the standard being varied from is met and that the request meets agency requirements and is in agreement with applicable organizations such as TJC, OSHA, EPA, NFPA, and others. Conducting the Annual Workplace Evaluations (AWE) annually or as required at each VA facility within the VISN, which includes VHA hospitals, community-based clinics, VA Domiciliary, National Cemeteries, Vet Centers, Outreach Centers, and VBA Regional Offices and other VA/VHA leased spaces. Serving as the technical advisor for ESOH-related programs but not limited to VISN and Facility Leadership, the VA Area Emergency Manager, the VISN Environment of Care Leadership Committee, the VISN Partnership Council, the VISN Quality Managers, VISN Infection Control staff, Workers Compensation staff, Occupational Health staff, Research staff, staff and other key positions. Representing VISN 20 Facilities or the Network in conferences as necessary, including local, state, and federal agencies and private concerns that may impact health care safety or the safety of any other VA-related activity. Attending/facilitating all required environmental training and establishing effective operational controls for hazardous material operations and activities. Performing other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:30am - 4:00pm Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved Telework: This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process.

Qualifications: IN ORDER TO QUALIFY FOR THIS POSITION AT THE GS-12 LEVEL YOU MUST MEET THE FOLLOWING: SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: You must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-11) in the Federal service. Specialized experience is 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. This includes 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. Working in occupational fields such as industrial hygienist, safety engineer, fire prevention engineer, health physicist, and occupational health nurse. (THIS EXPERIENCE MUST BE SUPPORTED BY YOUR RESUME TO BE CREDITABLE.) Physical and working conditions: The work requires moderate physical activity, including walking, climbing stairs and vertical ladders, and long periods of standing when conducting onsite evaluations. Onsite visits require regular and recurrent exposure to operating machinery, equipment, high-noise areas, hazardous materials, dust, and fumes, which may require personal protective equipment to control or reduce the risk. The work requires significant travel utilizing vehicles and air transportation that may involve long hours of travel, often beyond the normal work shift. Travel is often required on weekends to meet complex work and meeting schedules. 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/.

How to Apply: Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply for this position, you must complete the initial online application, to include the initial online assessment and submission of the required documentation specified in the Required Documents section above. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12898307. The application process is as follows: To begin, click Apply Online to create a USA JOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date, 03/06/2026. After submitting the online application, you will be notified whether or not you are required to take additional online assessments through the USA Hire Competency Based Assessment system. This message will be delivered to you via email notification. The email may be routed to your "Spam" or "Junk" folder. IMPORTANT: If you are asked to take the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be presented with a unique URL to access the USA Hire system. Access to USA Hire is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Be sure to review all instructions prior to beginning your USA Hire Assessments. Click here for Computer System Requirements. Set aside at least 3 hours to take the USA Hire assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue at a later time, you can re-use the URL sent to you via email and also found in your USAJOBS account under the "Track my application" link for the corresponding application. Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us. To view the announcement status or your application status: https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at: https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit.

Application Deadline: 2026-03-06