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***THIS IS NOT A VIRTUAL POSITION, YOU MUST LIVE WITHIN OR BE WILLING TO RELOCATE WITHIN A COMMUTABLE DISTANCE OF THE DUTY LOCATION***

Duties will include, but may not be limited to the following:

• Plans and conduct industrial hygiene surveys and evaluations to ensure compliance with environmental, occupational health, and safety standards.
• Performs exposure assessments, recommends control, and provides technical advice to program officials. Assessments include identifying hazards such as physical, chemical, biological, and radiological risks across diverse work areas, including industrial shops, surgical suites, laboratories, research facilities, confined spaces, productions areas, and outdoor sites.
• Operates appropriate sampling equipment, performs analytical tests, interprets results, and recommends corrective actions in compliance with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards and other regulatory requirements.
• Evaluates hazardous and infectious waste handling and storage practices and recommends controls to program officials in accordance with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), state, local and other regulations, which may involve documents employee exposures and disposal activities.
• Prepares comprehensive reports of monitoring activities, evaluates program effectiveness, and ensure legally sufficient documentation of all industrial hygiene activities.
• Develops and delivers training programs for healthcare personnel and collaborates with affiliated agencies on occupational and environmental health matters.
• Conducts evaluations in specialized exposure areas such as asbestos, ethylene oxide, formaldehyde, nitrous oxide, mercury, antineoplastic drugs, hearing conservation, hazard communications, respirator protection, and water quality parameters, and helps implement control measures.
• Perform other duties, as necessary.

Work Schedule: Full-Time, Monday-Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm
Telework: This position may be authorized for ad-hoc telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process.

Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved

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 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, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

BASIC REQUIREMENTS: Applicants must meet one of the following Basic Requirements. The education must be accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education(external link) at the time the degree was obtained. Courses in the history or teaching of chemistry are not acceptable. (TRANSCRIPT AND/OR CERTIFICATION REQUIRED)

A. 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

B. 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

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

In addition to the Basic Requirement, applicants must meet at least one of the following specialized experience and/or education qualification requirements.

A. EXPERIENCE: One year of specialized experience that equipped me with the particular 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. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes: Planning and conducting industrial hygiene surveys and evaluations to ensure compliance with environmental, occupational health, and safety standards; performing exposure assessments, recommends controls, and provides technical advice to program officials; operating appropriate sampling equipment, performs analytical tests, interprets results, and recommends corrective actions; evaluating hazardous and infectious waste handling and storage practices; and developing and delivering training on industrial hygiene topics (e.g. hazard communication, respiratory protections, chemical hygiene, hearing conservation) to employees and supervisors. OR

B. EDUCATION (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED): Successfully completed 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree, related to the position as described above. OR

C. COMBINATION (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED): Equivalent combinations of successfully completed graduate level education and specialized experience to meet total experience requirements. Only graduate education in excess of 2 years is creditable towards meeting this requirement.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS: The performance of duties requires longs periods of walking, standing, crawling, kneeling, and bending. Moderate lifting and carrying equipment, use of personal protective devices, and work in hazardous and confined spaces is required. Use of all appendages, good vision, and hearing are necessary. Emotional and mental stability are required. Employee is subjected to risks and discomforts associated with industrial and healthcare activities of the agency, and may encounter exposure to hazardous materials including biological, chemical, and radioactive agents.

You will be rated on the following Competencies as part of the assessment questionnaire for this position:

• Communication
• Compliance Inspection
• Hazardous Materials
• Health Risk Analysis

IMPORTANT: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. All experience listed on your resume must include the month and year start/end dates. 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.

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.

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. If your resume does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s).

Your responses to the assessment questionnaire will be reviewed along with the information provided in your resume and supporting documentation to determine if you are qualified for the position. If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and or experience, your rating may be lowered and/or you may lose consideration for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your eligibility.

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.

Candidates who apply under All U.S. Citizens announcements will be rated and ranked using Category Rating procedures. Qualified candidates will be assigned to a quality category. The categories are defined as follows:

• Best qualified - applicants possessing experience that substantially exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are highly proficient in all requirements of the job and can perform effectively in the position;
• Highly qualified - applicants possessing experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the requirements of the job;
• Well qualified - applicants possessing experience that meets the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in some, but not all, of the requirements of the job; and
• Qualified - applicants possessing experience and/or education that meets the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors.

Application of Veterans' Preference: Category rating and selection procedures place those with veteran's preference above non-preference eligibles within each category. Preference eligible applicants that meet the eligibility and qualification requirements and who have a compensable 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).

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.