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Safety and Occupational Health Specialist

Department of the Interior
National Park Service
South Florida National Parks and Preserve
This job announcement has closed

Summary

This position is located in Everglades National Park, in the SOFL Health, Wellness, and Safety Program.

Open to the first 100 applicants or until 08/14/2024 whichever comes first. All applications submitted by 11:59 (EST) on the closing day will receive consideration.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
07/24/2024 to 08/14/2024
This job will close when we have received 100 applications which may be sooner than the closing date. Learn more
Salary
$49,025 to - $94,317 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 7 - 11
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Ochopee, FL
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
Yes—You may qualify for reimbursement of relocation expenses in accordance with agency policy.
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
11
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
SE-1628-EVER-24-12484439-DE
Control number
801116700

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Duties

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Salary:
GS-07 $49,025 - $63,733
GS-09 $59,966 - $77,955
GS-11 $72,553 - $94,317

GS-0018-07 Major Duties:
As an advanced trainee, the incumbent supports the Safety and Occupational Health Program by performing developmental work and a variety of recurring assignments while learning how to perform the full range of relevant duties.

  • Attends and successfully completes applicable courses and training, performs independently selected job assignments, and receives instructions on goals, objectives, regulations, procedures, occupational hazards, safety standards, inspection techniques, and work processes.
  • Provides safety training and safety orientation for new employees.
  • Receives instruction and completes assignments to become familiar with: Federal occupational safety and health laws, legal statues, and Executive Orders; typical processes and hazards; mishap investigation techniques; and hazards common to the park environment.
  • Studies and reviews past inspection records to further understand the application of technical standards to specific unsafe acts or conditions.
  • Completes computer generated inspection reports identifying noted inspection hazards, requirements for compliance and recommended abatement actions and provides reports to the Safety Manager.
GS-0018-09 Major Duties: Completing safety inspections and investigations. The Safety Specialist at this level is self-supporting, participating in management activities at all levels and divisions of the organization.
  • Responsible for planning, developing, and assisting management in executing safety program for the park. Acts as an advisor and consultant to management.
  • Performs periodic onsite surveys for assigned organizations; inspects construction projects and designs to determine compliance with applicable occupational safety standards, (e.g., question of exits & stairs, floor load capacity, aisle space, adequacy of sprinkling systems, safety features on storage tanks containing flammable and volatile liquids, & the adequacy of scaffolding erected to facilitate painting buildings).
  • Advises supervisors and safety representatives of appropriate safety and occupational health measures to control or eliminate hazardous operating processes or environmental conditions. Assists supervisors in preparing written safe work practices and procedures, Job Hazard Analysis, hazard assessments, and other guidelines. Interprets safety and health standards and makes recommendations concerning best practices.
  • Analyzes accident and injury reports, studying data to discover trends and mishap causes, and develop recommendations for eliminating or controlling the hazards detected.
  • Provides informal instruction to employees covering a variety of safety and occupational health subjects.
  • Plans and carries out safety and health inspections at field locations, concession operations, all park buildings, facilities, park housing and other park sites. Prepares reports of inspections/evaluations and makes prioritized recommendations for methods necessary to assure compliance with OSHA, NFPA, NPS and other applicable safety and health standards/codes.
  • Investigates mishaps, obtains statements from witnesses, and photographs mishap scene; records circumstances of mishap and extent of injuries, estimates cost of property damage, and prepares a final report of findings with recommendations.
GS-0018-11 Major Duties: The incumbent is assigned a number of program elements such as inspection, evaluation, training, or responsibility for providing administrative and technical services to management representatives and employees. The incumbent supports the Safety and Occupational Health Program encompassing park lands/waters, private concessions, including hotels and recreational facilities, water treatment plants, maintenance shops, and/or a wide variety of public visitor attractions.
  • Collaborates with other Network safety staff in implementing policies and programs that will facilitate safe, healthful and efficient operations.
  • Provides technical support to the safety programs of supported parks in areas such as noise, asbestos, carbon monoxide, welding fumes, silica dust, solvent vapors, oxygen-deficient atmosphere, toxic and explosive gases, flammable materials, blood borne pathogens, laboratory hazards, chemical hazards mechanized equipment hazards, confined space, and work processes.
  • Provides guidance and oversight in the management of specific programs involving hazardous operations and activities conducted by NPS employees.
  • Manages documentation and records of all safety-related matters to assure compliance with state and federal regulations.
Duties will be developmental in nature when filled below the full performance level.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • U.S. Citizenship required.
  • Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication.
  • Meet Selective Service Registration Act requirement for males.
  • Complete the initial online assessment and USAHire Assessment, if required.
  • Selectee will be required to participate in the Direct Deposit Electronics Funds Transfer Program.
  • You will be required to operate a government (or private) motor vehicle as part of your official duties; a valid driver's license is required. You will be required to submit a Motor Vehicle Operator's License and Driving Record. You must also submit (within a State sealed envelope or submitted directly by the State authorities), and at your own expense, all certified driving records from all States that disclose all valid driver's licenses, whether current or past, possessed by you.
  • You will be required to wear a uniform and comply with the National Park Service uniform standards. A uniform allowance will be provided.
  • You may be required to work on-call, evenings, weekends, holidays, overtime and shift work.
  • If you are a new employee or supervisor in the Federal government, you will be required to complete a one-year probationary period.
  • You may be required to travel overnight away from home up to 2 nights per month. You must obtain a government charge card for travel purposes.
  • You may be required to complete training and obtain/maintain a government charge card with travel and/or purchase authority.
  • DUE TO PHYSCIAL REQUIREMENTS OF THIS POSITION AND THE USE OF PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE), THE EMPLOYEE MUST BE ABLE TO COMPLETE AND PASS A GENERAL PHYSICAL EXAMINATION PRIOPR TO OCCUPYING THE POSITION.

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-08/14/2024-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement.

Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. To receive credit for experience, your resume MUST clearly indicate the nature of the duties and responsibilities for each position, starting and ending dates of employment (month/year), and the resume must reflect full and/or part-time or total number of hours worked (i.e., work 40+ hours a week, rather than indicating full-time). If part-time, the hours must be annotated to be able to pro-rate the amount of qualified specialized experience.

GS-07 EXPERIENCE: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-05 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). This experience includes activities such as: 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. You must include hours per week worked.
-OR-
EDUCATION: Successful completion of a 1 full year of graduate level education or superior academic achievement. 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. (You must submit a copy of your transcripts to be considered). You must include transcripts.
-OR-
Successful completion of a combination of education and experience as described above. To combine education and experience, first take education percentage. Then take the number of months of full time experience and divide by 12 months. Add the percentages together. The total must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. You must include transcripts.

To qualify for this position at the GS-0018-09 grade level, you must possess at least one of the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement:

GS-09: EXPERIENCE: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-07 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). This experience includes activities such as: 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. You must include hours per week worked.
-OR-
EDUCATION: Successful completion of a Master's Degree or equivalent doctoral degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such as degree or LL.B. if related. 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. (You must submit a copy of your transcripts to be considered). You must include transcripts.
-OR-
Successful completion of a combination of education and experience as described above. To combine education and experience, first take education percentage. Then take the number of months of full time experience and divide by 12 months. Add the percentages together. The total must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. You must include transcripts.

Education

Qualifications Continued:
To qualify for this position at the GS-11 grade level, you must possess at least one of the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement:
GS-11 EXPERIENCE: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). 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 to be filled. Examples of specialized experience include, but are not limited to the following: managing safety, occupational health, and security program elements; inspecting or surveying work sites for compliance; identifying and resolving security issues and safety hazards, develop policy and modify processes to eliminate or reduce frequency, severity and costs of accidents; or applying security, safety and occupational health laws, regulations, principles, theories, practices, and procedures to advise on and resolve technical matters dealing with security and occupational safety and health issues; participating on a survey or inspection team that contributes to the effectiveness of the overall safety and occupational health program by analyzing and evaluating findings and recommending corrective measures; preparing guides or instructions that educate employees in safe operating practices or techniques; and using a variety of computer programs to manage safety/health information databases, record keeping and tracking systems, write reports of findings; able to interpret design criteria sufficient to review building plans, drawings and sketches for safety standard compliance. Providing informal training to workers on safety or occupational health subjects. Work in occupational fields such as industrial hygienist, safety engineer, fire prevention engineer, health physicist, and occupational health nurse. You must include hours per week worked on your resume.
-OR-
EDUCATION: Successful completion of at least a PhD or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree with a major study in safety or occupational health fields (safety, occupational health, industrial hygiene), or PhD or equivalent doctoral 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. You must include transcripts.
-OR-
Successful completion of a combination of education and experience as described above. To combine education and experience, first take percentage of education completed. Then take the number of months of full time experience and divide by 12 months. Add the percentages together. The total must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. You must include transcripts.

Volunteer Experience:
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; religious; 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.

EDUCATION:

To qualify based on education, you must submit a legible copy of transcripts from an accredited institution with your name, school name, credit hours, course level, major(s), and grade-point average or class ranking. Transcripts do not need to be official, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work.

If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet qualification requirements, you must show that your education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university.

Additional information

A selectee receiving a first appointment to the Federal Government (Civil Service) is entitled only to the lowest step of the grade for which selected. The display of a salary range on this vacancy shall not be construed as granting an entitlement to a higher rate of pay.

A Recruitment Incentive May Be Authorized for a newly selected employee when appointed to a permanent, temporary, or term position. A Federal employee who is transferring to the National Park Service from another component, bureau or Federal agency and who does not meet the conditions under 5 CFR 575.102 is not eligible for a recruitment incentive.

A Relocation Incentive May Be Authorized for a Federal employee when the employee must move, as directed by the National Park Service (NPS) either through a management directed reassignment or selection for employment, to a different location at least 50 miles away from the one where his/her position of record held at time of selection is currently located, due to a need of the NPS. A relocation incentive is not the same as a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) move and, as such, may be granted in conjunction with one another.

This announcement may be used to fill additional positions if identical vacancies occur within 90 days of the issue date of the referral certificate.

Promotion to the full performance level is neither guaranteed nor implied and will be based solely on your ability to satisfactorily perform the work of the position, existing work at the higher grade level, and recommendation by the position's supervisor.


Physical Demands: A significant amount of work is performed in an office environment. However, performance of inspections and investigations of mishaps requires frequent physical exertion such as frequent walking and hiking over rough, uneven, or rocky surfaces, crouching, climbing, stooping, climbing ladders, working on roofs, crawling under buildings and in attics, etc. There may be need for the incumbent to lift and carry moderately heavy objects. The use of personal protective equipment (hard hat, steel-toed boots, gloves, eye goggles, and respirators) may be required due to exposure to hazardous occupational environments.

Working Conditions: Although most work is performed in an office, on-site inspections involve exposure to hazardous chemicals, moving equipment, heights, closed spaces, high noise levels, temperature extremes, fumes and smoke. A fair degree of potential risk is involved. The incumbent is required to wear protective clothing/equipment at times. The work requires frequent onsite surveys necessitating prolonged standing, walking, climbing, bending, crouching, stretching, reaching and other physical movements. As stairs and aisles are often under construction, some physical coordination and balance is necessary.

The National Park Service has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

A review of your resume and supporting documentation will be made and compared against your responses to the Occupational Questionnaire to determine if you are qualified for this job. If your resume is incomplete or does not support the responses provided in the Occupational Questionnaire, or if you fail to submit all required documentation, you will be rated 'ineligible', 'not qualified', or your score may be adjusted accordingly. If a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications or experience, you may lose consideration for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully; errors or omissions may affect your rating.

You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position. You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

  • Attention to Detail
  • Communication
  • Customer Service
  • Flexibility
  • Influencing/Negotiating
  • Integrity/Honesty
  • Interpersonal Skills
  • Learning
  • Public Safety and Security
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Reasoning
  • Self-Management
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Teamwork
  • Technical Competence
  • Technology Application
  • Written Communication


To Preview the application questionnaire, click the following link:https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12484439
Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

Candidates will be rated and ranked using Category Rating procedures. These procedures place candidates with veteran's preference above non-preference eligibles within each category. Veterans with a service connected disability of at least 10 percent are listed in the highest quality category, except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-09 grade level or higher. Under Category Rating, candidates will be rated and ranked into one of three categories:
  • Best Qualified - applicants possessing experience that substantially exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are highly proficient in all requirements of the job and can perform effectively in the position
  • Well Qualified - applicants possessing experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are proficient in most of the requirements of the job
  • Qualified - applicants possessing experience that meets the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are proficient in some, but not all of the requirements of the job.

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