This position is located at the Fort Harrison Montana VA Medical Center and serves Montana VA Healthcare system to include Health Care Centers (HCC) Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs), and other related facilities statewide. It is organizationally aligned under the Safety and Occupational Health Service.
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement. ALL applicants for the Industrial Hygienist, GS-0690-11 must meet the following Individual Occupational Requirement(s) (IOR) prior to further consideration: Education Requirement: The education must be accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education 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 American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH). NOTE 1: Courses in the history or teaching of chemistry are not acceptable. NOTE 2: 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. NOTE 3: 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. AND In addition to meeting the Individual Occupational Requirements (IOR), ALL applicants must meet one of the following: Specialized Experience: 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to at least GS-09. This is experience that equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. Examples of specialized experience include but are not limited to: asbestos control and abatement, ethylene oxide, formaldehyde, hearing conservation, hazard communication, nitrous oxide, mercury, hazardous and infectious waste management, water testing and treatment, respirator program, and anti-neoplastic drugs; conducting studies of work operations and processes, examining work environments, analyzing findings, promulgating recommendations, and preparing regulatory reports; identifying potential occupational health hazards and the need for further investigative studies and surveys; conducting studies and surveys to determine 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; providing information for evaluation purposes; selecting or devising methods and instruments; conducting measurements, and studying/testing materials associated with the work operation or work environment; performing analysis to determine nature and degree of toxic materials present; interpreting 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 presenting specific conclusions and recommendations to appropriate management and health officials; OR, Graduate Education (qualifying for grades GS-07 through GS-11): Completion of 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D degree or Ph.D or equivalent doctoral degree; OR, Combination of Education and Experience: When combining education with experience, the applicant's total qualifying education will be determined as a percent of the education required for the grade level. The applicant's experience will be determined as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level. The total of the two percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify an applicant for the grade level. 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.
Duties include but are not limited to: Planning and implementing a comprehensive Industrial Hygiene program Leading the organization in the development of facility industrial hygiene policy, objectives and goals for occupational health and safety programs Providing professional advice to leadership on a wide range of occupation health and safety issues Performing workplace inspections Conducting reviews of service operations and processes Determining compliance with occupational health and safety standards, regulations, Veterans' Health Administration (VHA) Directives and industry standards Recommending corrective measures to eliminate or reduce occupational health and safety hazards, reviewing corrective actions to ensure hazard abatement has been accomplished Investigating accidents, complaints of employees concerning work conditions, responding to requests/complaints from management, employees, and employee representatives concerning occupational health/industrial hygiene matters, and preparing necessary reports and records Evaluating health hazards through experienced judgement using qualitative measurement techniques to assess the magnitude of environmental stresses in relation to their potential for impairing occupant's health and well-being Employing a wide variety of sampling instrumentation and techniques to determine the degree of hazard to which occupants are exposed; arranging for shipment of samples to laboratory for analysis; preparing comprehensive and legally sufficient written reports of all monitoring activities performed Working with engineering staff on facility water safety and health compliance program; monitoring domestic water system through environmental sampling (hands on); serving as the technical expert on safe operations of the medical center domestic water system; analyzing, tracking, and trending water system data, preparing reports for management, and maintaining comprehensive records Working with Water Safety Committee members on the development, oversight, and review of written Healthcare-Associated Legionella Disease (HCA LD) and Scald Prevention Plan; ensuring related written plans follow with requirements identified in VHA Directive 1061 and guidance defined by the VHA Water Safety Program; accountability for the timely and accurate submission of sampling data into the Water Safety Management Tool (WSMT). Work Schedule: Monday - Friday; 8:00 am - 4:30 pm Position Description Title/PD#: Industrial Hygienist/PD131710 Physical Requirements and Work Environment: The performance of duties requires long period of walking, standing, crawling, kneeling and bending, moderate lifting and carrying of equipment, use of personal protective devices is required. Use of all appendages, good vision and hearing are necessary. Emotional and mental stability are required. Work is usually performed in an office setting, although there may be occasional exposure to industrial hazards during walk-through surveys or monitoring of program aspects. Some work may involve getting into mechanical spaces, exterior areas, crawlspaces, etc. where moderate risks may be present. During inspections or surveys there is regular exposure to all the hazards and discomforts to which the workers are subjected. This may include toxic chemicals, physical stresses, and safety hazards. The employee may be required to use a variety of protective equipment and clothing.