Clarification from the agency

This position is open to current, permanent employee within the following duty stations as indicated in block 40 of your Standard Form (SF) 50: 760 Leavenworth CMOP, 761 Chelmsford CMOP, 762 Tucson CMOP, 763 Dallas CMOP, 764 Murfreesboro CMOP, 765 Hines CMOP, 766 Charleston CMOP, 770 National CMOP.

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The CMOP facilities cover a complex industrial pharmaceutical setting requiring comprehensive knowledge of occupational health programs as they relate to both health care and industrial related operations. The Industrial Hygienist Serves as the principal industrial hygiene advisor for the National CMOP office. The incumbent interprets new health regulations and assures that specific industrial hygiene policies are consistent with state and local regulations and procedures. Acts as an authoritative consultant on industrial hygiene program matters for the many professional, scientific and administrative services that make up the CMOP facilities such as facility directors, other facilities management, pharmacists, technologists, technicians, engineers, employees, and employee representatives when problems arise.

The duties of this position include, but are not limited to:

• Interprets new health regulations and assures that specific industrial hygiene policies are consistent with state and local regulations and procedures.
• Performs a professional industrial hygiene & environmental evaluation of facilities, operations, and policies.
• Develops changes and modifications to work processes, equipment operation, and/or protective devices to minimize injuries to patients and employees.
• Provides information on any potentially hazardous condition that may cause damage to property or cause injury or illness to patients, visitors, or employees.
• Provides administration of facility wide environmental regulatory and legal oversight, decision making, and compliance with environmental laws and regulations.
• Consults with other agency experts including safety officers, health physicians, industrial hygienists, environmental engineers, and fire protection engineers to resolve difficult hazards and to develop guidelines and procedures

Work Schedule: 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday, per organizational needs
Telework: This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process.
Virtual: This position may be filled as virtual (i.e. the employee may work at a VA facility or VA-leased space other than the facility that is hiring the employee and may include telework on an ad-hoc basis)
Position Description/PD#: Industrial Hygienist/PD132000
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

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
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your probationary period or trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/17/2026.

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.


You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

Individual Occupational Requirements: All applicants must possess one of the following in order to meet minimum qualifications for this position.

Basic Requirements

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 Board for Global EHS Credentialing (formerly American Board of Industrial Hygiene(external link) (ABIH)).

Courses in the history or teaching of chemistry are not acceptable.

In addition to the Individual Occupational Requirements above, you must possess the specialized experience as described below:

• 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. To be minimally qualified for this position at the GS-13 level, you must meet 4 of the 7 experiences listed below:
  1. Interprets new health regulations and assures that specific industrial hygiene policies are consistent with state and local regulations and procedures.
  2. Acts as an authoritative consultant on industrial hygiene program matters.
  3. Performs a professional industrial hygiene & environmental evaluation of facilities, operations, and policies.
  4. Identifies specific hazardous conditions that require in-depth analysis and subsequent implementation of measures to control or eliminate unhealthy conditions.
  5. Coordinates and conducts mandatory annual facility evaluations.
  6. Provides administration of facility wide environmental regulatory and legal oversight, decision making, and compliance with environmental laws and regulations.
  7. Acts as coordinator and representative in matters related to compliance with the Agency's environmental procedures.

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

• Hazardous Materials
• Compliance Inspection
• Health Risk Analysis
• Education and Training

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 is generally sedentary with occasional walking and standing when conducting on-site evaluations. On-site evaluations of CMOP facilities require industrial environments that may pose extra physical demands in order to complete evaluations. As a National CMOP representative travel to CMOP locations is required and schedules may pose additional physical demands.

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 you will be evaluated

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

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or contact for an interview. Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.