Safety & Occupational Health Specialist, Boise, ID

Summary

This position is located in the Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Boise, ID. This position is inside the bargaining unit. Selection(s) can be made at any advertised grade. Additional vacancies may be filled if funding is available. Applicant must pass physical examination for performance of job duties. Applicant must possess a valid driver's license.

Responsibilities

For GS-11: 

Plans, schedules, and conducts the full range of occupational safety and health inspections of private businesses /worksites where there is a strong probability of encountering unsafe/unhealthful working conditions from minor to serious in severity.

Inspections may include fatalities, large numbers of serious injuries, very serious accidents or catastrophes.

Studies records and reports of occupational safety and health mishaps, injuries, and illnesses.

Conducts research of employers and their previous OSHA enforcement activity in advance of new inspections or investigations and to respond to requests for information.

Conducts workplace analyses to determine hazardous processes that contribute to employee injury and illness.

Develops strategies to mitigate or abate workplace hazards. Utilizes the automated enforcement system to calculate penalties assessed to employers based on the gravity, severity, and probability of occupational safety and health violations.

Writes complete and legally sufficient case files documenting all inspection procedures, interviews, sampling, identified hazards, and corrective actions.

Assists Department of Labor attorneys in the preparation of evidence for contested cases.

Serves as a witness and testifies on behalf of the Department.

Conducts opening and closing conferences with management officials, employees, and labor representatives.

Candidate required to obtain the necessary security investigation level.

Travel Required

50% or less - Frequent travel including some extended overnight lodging, some evening and weekend work required to conduct official OSHA enforcement inspection and investigation activities and training purposes.

Supervisory status

No

Promotion Potential

12 - Future promotions are dependent on your ability to perform the duties at a higher level, the continuing need for an employee assigned to the higher level, and supervisory approval.

Qualifications

The Safety and Occupational Health Series has an Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR):

Education

Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study -- 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.

OR

Experience

General Experience: Experience in scientific or technical work that provided an understanding of the basic principles and concepts of the safety and occupational health field. Creditable general experience must have demonstrated the achievement of knowledge equivalent to the education described above.

Specialized Experience (for positions above GS-5): 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.

Work in occupational fields such as industrial hygienist, safety engineer, fire prevention engineer, health physicist, and occupational health nurse.

OR

Certificates

Certification as a Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH), or Certified Health Physicist (CHP), or similar certification that included successful completion of a written examination meets the requirements for GS-5. Applicants may also qualify for higher grade levels based on their education and/or experience.

In order to qualify for this position, applicants must also meet the specialized experience requirements: Applicants must meet either the specialized experience OR substitution of education for specialized experience described below:

FOR THE GS-11: In addition to meeting the individual occupational requirement, applicants must also have 52 weeks of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level, GS-9, in Federal or Private Sector. Specialized experience is defined as:

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.

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.

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.

Training of workers, supervisors, managers, or other safety and occupational health personnel in safety or occupational health subjects.

OR

Substitution of Experience: A Ph.D degree or three years of graduate education leading to such a degree in the safety or occupational health or related fields that included at least 24 semester hours in the following disciplines: safety, occupational health, industrial hygiene, occupational medicine, toxicology, public health, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biological sciences, engineering, and industrial psychology.

Education

Any applicant falsely claiming an academic degree from an accredited school will be subject to actions ranging from disqualification from federal employment to removal from federal service. If your education was completed at a foreign college or university, you must show comparability to education received in accredited educational institutions in the United States and comparability to applicable minimum course work requirements for this position. Click Evaluation of Foreign Education for more information.

In addition, if you wish to use your education as a basis for meeting the minimum qualification requirements for this position, you must submit academic transcripts demonstrating that you meet the qualifying educational requirements. If specific course work is required to fulfill the minimum qualification requirements, you must supply transcripts from each academic institution in which the required courses were taken in order to receive credit for that course work. See the “Qualifications and Evaluations” section of this announcement for more details.

If you do not submit sufficient academic documentation necessary to demonstrate that you meet the eligibility and minimum qualification requirements described in this announcement, your application will be deemed incomplete and you will be ineligible for further consideration for this vacancy.