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Safety & Occupational Health Specialist

Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Health Administration
Northern Arizona VA Healthcare System

Summary

This position is located at the Northern Arizona VA Healthcare System (NAVAHCS), Facilities Management Service, Prescott, AZ. The primary purpose of the Safety and Occupational Health Specialist is to perform the tasks to create a safe environment for our employees to work in. This position ensure employees are working in a safe workplace that meets all regulatory guidelines.

Overview

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Accepting applications
Posted today · Apply by 07/30/26
Due by 11:59 p.m. ET on July 30, 2026
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Work site options
Telework eligible
No
Remote job
No
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Salary
$74,678 - $97,087 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 11
Promotion potential
None
Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job.
Work schedule
Full-time
Travel Required
25% or less - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Appointment type
Permanent
Supervisory status
No
Federal service type
This job is in the Competitive Service
Represented by a union
Yes
Drug test
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Jobs require a background check and some require a security clearance. The type depends on the job.
Background check type
Financial disclosure required
No
Some jobs require financial disclosure to identify conflicts of interests.
Announcement number
CBSX-13000763-26-CC
Control number
877482000

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Duties

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Major duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Schedules, conducts, and performs difficult inspections to evaluate potential hazards, risks and unsafe environmental conditions associated with a wide variety of work environments and occupations (clinician, lab personnel, and engineers) that handle high level contaminants, toxins, ionizing and non- ionizing radiation, and infectious diseases at the Medical Center.
  • Conducts audits, evaluations, and inspections of Medical Center areas to locate potential or existing hazards or violations of safety code and policy as per Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) standards, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) standards, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, American Congress of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA,) The Joint Commission, and various state and county regulations. The incumbent generates all necessary documents to show thorough evaluation and recommends changes to alleviate a hazard or potential hazard to the using Service Supervisor.
  • Schedules and performs required fire alarm tests and drills on all shifts, and follows up the tests and drills with necessary reports. The incumbent independently critiques and makes suggestions to supervisors or management and conducts thorough participant debriefing and question and answer sessions.
  • using established techniques, investigates accidents, mishaps, or other occurrences, obtains statements from witnesses, and photographs the scenes where the accident occurred; records circumstances of accidents and the extent of injury, conducts accident trends and analysis, estimates costs of property damage and prepares reports of findings with recommendations to correct unsafe acts or conditions that caused personnel injury or property damage that fall within the jurisdiction of the Safety Service.
  • reates safety plans and prepare supplements, guidelines, and written procedures to implement technical safety standards, codes and safety requirements for a variety of operations and activities for the different departments in the medical center, clinics, veteran's homes, CBOCs, and community nursing homes.
  • Statistically analyzes and complies data obtained from investigations and studies and develops data tables and graphs to identify hazards, problems or potent threats to the safety of healthcare operations.
  • Inspects construction projects to determine compliance with occupational standards; and is responsible for design review for new areas that are being built or renovated. inspects construction projects to determine compliance with occupational standards; and is responsible for design review for new areas that are being built or renovated.
  • Performs other duties as assigned.


Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 08:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Safety & Occupational Health Specialist/PD14533-0
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
  • To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the 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 identification 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

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 07/30/2026.

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-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. 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.

This position has an INDIVIDUAL OCCUPATIONAL REQUIREMENT which is a basic requirement that must be met to qualify for entry into this job series, and it is something that cannot be waived. To meet the basic requirement for the Safety and Occupational Health SpecialistOccupational series, applicants must demonstrate one of the following:

  • Undergraduate and/or Graduate Education with Major study as follows -- 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 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.


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/.

Education

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Additional information

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments.

Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

How you will be evaluated

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

Areas of Consideration: Eligible applications will be reviewed and referred in the following order.

  1. Current permanent employees of the Northern Arizona VA Healthcare System (NAVAHCS)
  2. Current permanent Veterans Health Administration employees
  3. Current permanent employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs
  4. Current permanent Federal Employees

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 for this position:
  • Attention to Detail
  • Customer Service
  • Flexibility
  • Integrity/Honesty
  • Interpersonal Skills
  • Learning
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Reasoning
  • Self-Management
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Teamwork


Your experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. 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. IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on the online assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

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.

During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

Veterans Health Administration

OUR MISSION: To fulfill President Lincoln's promise "To care for those who have served in our nation's military and for their families, caregivers, and survivors" - by serving and honoring the men and women who are America's Veterans. How would you like to become a part of a team providing compassionate whole health care to Veterans?

The VA Desert Pacific Health Care Network advocates for a Whole Health System of care in each of the Medical Centers. This is an approach to healthcare that empowers and equips people to take charge of their health and well-being and live their lives to the fullest. As an employee operating in a Whole Health System of care, you will operate in a model that is based in a partnership across time, seeking to create a personalized health plan for each Veteran. This is done in the context of healing relationships and healing environments and a connection back to the Veteran's community. This aligns with the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Mission Statement to Honor America's Veterans by providing exceptional health care that improves their health and well-being.

Agency contact information

Corayma Chavez
Phone
562-625-2870
Email
Corayma.Chavez@va.gov
Address
Bob Stump VA Medical Center
500 Highway 89 North
Prescott, AZ 86313
US

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Learn more about what it's like to work at Veterans Health Administration, what the agency does, and about the types of careers this agency offers.

https://www.va.gov/jobs/

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