Job description

Industrial Hygienist

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Veterans Health Administration

COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement

The COVID-19 vaccination requirement for federal employees pursuant to Executive Order 14043 does not currently apply. Some jobs, however, may be subject to agency- or job-specific vaccination requirements, so please review the job announcement for details. Click herefor more information.

*** You must apply on USAJOBS copying this link to your browser: https://www.usajobs.gov/job/683353600***

Summary

The position serves as the facility Industrial Hygienist assigned to the Safety and Emergency Management Service (EMS) at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System (VAPAHCS). Palo Alto, CA. The HCS is a major tertiary system with three hospital-based divisions at Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Livermore. There are seven community-based outpatient clinics located in Fremont, San Jose, Monterey, Capitola, Modesto, Stockton, and Sonora. The HCS is affiliated with the Stanford School of Medicine.

This job is open to

Career transition (CTAP, ICTAP, RPL)

Federal employees who meet the definition of a "surplus" or "displaced" employee.

Family of overseas employees

Family members of a federal employee or uniformed service member who is or was, working overseas.

Federal employees - Competitive service

Current or former competitive service federal employees.

Individuals with disabilities

Internal to an agency

Current federal employees of this agency.

Land & base management

Certain current or former term or temporary federal employees of a land or base management agency.

Military spouses

Peace Corps & AmeriCorps Vista

Veterans

Clarification from the agency

All status and VEOA eligibles may apply.

Duties

The incumbent is the primary technical authority for this multi-site, multi-disciplinary HCS and research facility on industrial hygiene matters, providing expertise and advice to top level management, service chiefs and their staff, and to employee organizations. Specifically, advice concerns occupation health, safety, and environmental hazards associated with a wide variety of industrial work situations, including laboratory and maintenance operations. This includes domestic and industrial wastewater treatment and environmental media permitting; toxic substances; and regulatory oversight. Ensures that Green Environmental Management System (GEMS) policies and programs are carried out in accordance with governing regulations. Applies GEMS environmental science and technology to issues of human health, ecosystems, environmental media, and natural resources.

The incumbent is responsible for the preparation, writing and timely submission of internal and external documentation, reports, and correspondence. Responsible for implementation of ongoing industrial hygiene management program, including periodic review of specific programs, policies, and processes for applicability with changes in operations and regulations pertaining to employee safety and environmental and specific GEMS laws. Provides advice and direction on the following industrial hygiene matters:

• Workplace health surveys, including selection of sampling equipment and of analytical tests to be performed on samples taken that are used to identify known or suspected conditions that may pose a health or safety hazard.
• Use of toxic and hazardous substances including storage, handling, and disposal.
• Policies and control measures for dealing with hazardous exposures including work practices and substitution of less hazardous substances.
• Application of Federal occupations health standards to employee hazards.
• Evaluation of hazards and policy development for exposures not covered by health standards.
• Evaluation of unusual hazards and/or exposures resulting from complex work processes or from unusual combinations of hazardous materials.
• Program design and policy development. Legal and technical sufficiency of program operations to meet agency and program requirements are met.
• Availability and interpretation of industrial information, such as standards, journals. Environmental and abatement programs.

Location: Palo Alto, CA

Salary: $115,928 - $150,703 per year

Pay Scale & Grade: GS-13

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Industrial Hygienist/PD02155O
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: May be authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized

Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

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, 10/24/2022.

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-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12. 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.

Candidates must meet the following Individual Occupational Requirement: Candidates must meet the following minimum qualifications of the 0690 Industrial Hygiene Series.

• A bachelor's or graduate/higher level degree in industrial hygiene, occupational health sciences, occupational and environmental health, toxicology, safety sciences, or related science. (Copy of transcript must be submitted with application)
• 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. (Copy of transcript must be submitted with application)
• Certification from the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH). (Submit copy of certification)

Please note: The education must be accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained. 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.

In addition to the Individual Occupational Requirement candidates must also meet the following specialized experience:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: planning, directing, coordinating, and evaluating a comprehensive industrial hygiene program for medical facility; serves as a technical authority on occupation health, safety, and environmental hazards associated with a wide variety of industrial work situations including laboratory and maintenance operations, domestic and industrial wastewater treatment, environmental media permitting, toxic substances; and regulatory oversight; completion of workplace health surveys; use of toxic and hazardous substances including storage, handling, and disposal; application of Federal occupations health standards to employee hazards; availability and interpretation of industrial information, such as standards, journals; and environmental and abatement programs.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Health Physics
• Health Risk Analysis
• Project Management
• Safety Engineering
• 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 work requires the employee to carry a good deal of equipment and involves walking, standing, bending, climbing, or crawling during surveys.

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/.

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: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Additional information

Receiving Service Credit or Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator.

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

To ensure compliance with an applicable preliminary nationwide injunction, which may be supplemented, modified, or vacated, depending on the course of ongoing litigation, the Federal Government will take no action to implement or enforce the COVID-19 vaccination requirement pursuant to Executive Order 14043 on Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees. Therefore, to the extent a VA job announcement includes language requiring applicants to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 pursuant to Executive Order 14043, that requirement does not currently apply to this Job Announcement. VA may request information regarding your vaccination status, if selected, for the purposes of implementing other workplace safety protocols, such as masking, physical distancing, testing, travel, and quarantine.

If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $115,928.00 - $150,703.00 per year

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance

Schedule:

• 8 hour shift
• Day shift
• Monday to Friday

Ability to commute/relocate:

• Palo Alto, CA 94304: Reliably commute or planning to relocate before starting work (Required)

Application Question(s):

• Must be a U.S. Citizen
• Please read position description for Specialized Experience needed

Experience:

• Industrial Hygiene Concepts: 1 year (Required)

Work Location: In person

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