Safety & Occupational Health Manager

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/16/2026. 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: 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.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Managing safety program elements; developing and recommending safety policy to higher levels of management; applying safety laws, regulations, principles, theories, practices and procedures to advise on or resolve technical matters dealing with safety requirements; developing safety standards, regulations, practice and procedures to eliminate or control potential hazards; developing/implementing programs to reduce the frequency, severity and cost of accidents; analyzing/evaluating new and existing jobs, processes, products or other systems to determine the existence, severity, probability, and outcome of hazards; designing/modifying workplaces, processes, products or other systems to control or eliminate hazards; inspecting/surveying workplaces, processes, products or other systems for compliance with established safety policies or standards and to identify potential new hazards; training workers, supervisors, managers or other safety personnel in safety or occupational health subjects..

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Accountability Customer Service Decisiveness Environmental Engineering Flexibility Interpersonal Skills Leadership Problem Solving Resilience Safety Engineering 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.

01Physical Requirements

The position requires you to exert considerable and strenuous physical effort on a regular basis while performing the functions required of the position. The functions are normally performed while the incumbent conducts safety surveys and inspections that require crawling in confined building areas. This position involves walking frequently back and forth between buildings and, also traveling among all community clinics.

The individual spends additional time outdoors in conjunction with projects taking place and spends time at construction sites and on VASNHCS inspections. 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/.

The Safety Manager's job, with the assistance of his subordinate staff, is to oversee, monitor and evaluate safety activities; to manage the overall facility safety program to provide the patients, visitors and staff of VASNHCS the highest attainable level of safety possible, and to identify opportunities for improvement through an ongoing effort of problem identification, evaluation, resolution, monitoring and evaluation.

The Safety Manager is also responsible for defining safety issues, collecting reports, investigating accidents and incidents, assisting in prioritizing the activities of the Accident Review Board, and assisting in defining solutions that can be implemented by supervisory line officials at all management levels.

The Safety Manager reviews, analyzes and makes recommendations on VASNHCS construction projects during all phases from conceptual design through final acceptance of construction to verify compliance with all applicable VA, NFPA and other safety codes and requirements, to ensure technical conformance with safety criteria, and/or to make safety recommendations for structural changes to achieve full compliance when deficiencies are detected.

The Safety Manager prepares the Statement of Construction and Fire Protection for the facility as required by The Joint Commission (TJC) for health care occupancies. Based on the Statement of Construction, incumbent makes recommendations for structural changes or seeks approval for fire safety equivalencies to bring the Medical Center into compliance for life safety code compliance and for TJC accreditation.

The Safety Manager has total responsibility for implementing, managing and monitoring a comprehensive Safety Program as defined by Department policy and meeting the Safety and Life Safety requirements of both the Department of Veterans Affairs and TJC.

These guidelines emphasize integration of safety management and clinical responsibilities, and a "closed loop" safety cycle of communication and documentation for significant safety issues and incidents, which consists of problem identification and prioritization, problem analysis, problem resolution and monitoring and evaluation.

With the technical assistance of a subordinate Industrial Hygienist, the Safety Manager oversees an aggressive program of industrial hygiene, biohazards management, hazardous materials management, chemical hygiene and environmental safety and compliance.

The Safety Manager interacts with the facility Office of Quality Management (which includes quality assurance, utilization management and risk management) headed by the medical center's Quality Manager to assure a "closed loop" management process is followed in handling and documenting significant issues. The Safety Manager has responsibility for independently planning, designing and implementing programs, projects, studies or other work.

Results are considered technically authoritative and are normally accepted without significant change. If the work is reviewed, the review concentrates on such facts as fulfillment of program objectives and effect of advice and influence on overall programs. Recommendation for new programs and alteration of objectives are usually evaluated for availability of funding and other resources, broad program goals and medical center priorities.

The Safety Manager uses guidelines, including standard instructions, technical literature, Department policies and regulations, manufacturers' catalogs, precedents and standard practices to manage program. Since these guidelines are often inadequate when dealing with the many complex and unusual challenges encountered, the Safety Manager must use resourcefulness, initiative and judgment based on experience to deviate from or extend traditional safety methods and precedents.

The Safety Manager is responsible for developing material to supplements and explains VA Central Office and other regulatory guidelines at the station level. Incentives may be authorized for highly qualified candidate. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 0730-1600 Compressed/Flexible: Not Available Telework: NoVirtual: This is not a virtual position.

Travel: Yes 25% Position Description/PD#: Safety & Occupational Health Manager/PD00948O Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required