Summary Performs as a Health Physicist and Alternate Hospital Radiation Safety Officer assigned to Hines Hospital under the supervision of the Associate Director of Operations. Applies professional knowledge and competence in health physics and radiation safety, ensuring the protection of persons and their environment from unwarranted exposure to ionizing and non-ionizing radiation for a given block of services or zones in the hospital. Responsibilities This position reports under the Associate Director of Operations. The position performs activities which support the Hines VAR Safety, Occupational Health & Industrial Hygiene Section's programs in order to assure hospital NRC license and compliance with VACO, DOT, DOE, EPA, FDA, OSHA, and NRC guidelines. Is an alternate Hospital Radiation Safety Officer, when assigned under the hospital disaster plan and for inspections and surveys conducted by governing bodies Is a member of the Radiation Effects Team in support of the hospital disaster plan Inspects and surveys ionizing equipment, radioactive materials and work stations where these are received, stored, employed and/or disposed; reads and records wipe tests. Assures that contractors perform surveys and/or monitoring activities according to contract specifications and within hospital needs Recommends, advises and trains personnel and management on safe work practices /procedures and effective and safe use of materials and equipment. Develops and conducts training on a variety of subjects including but limited to ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, Hazwoper, DOT, and New Employee orientation Assures that required reports from services arc received complete and timely Responds to notices and inquiries from hospital personnel on methods and processes of handling ionizing and non-ionizing radiation producing equipment and materials Recommends updates for hospital regulations, manuals and procedures for approval by the Hospital Radiation Safety Officer Properly establishes and maintains radiation safety records: personnel exposure, "cradle to grave" of radioactive materials, laboratory survey and wipe test records, source leak test records, personnel bioassay results and, incidents such as spills, accidents or loss of radioactive materials. Advises the Associate Director of Operations and the Hospital Radiation Safety Officer on experimental and healthcare delivery procedures and methods when new equipment, materials or other appropriate considerations are identified. Oversees calibration of equipment of appropriate time frames. Performs and documents assigned occupational safety and health inspections, surveys and monitoring. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 4:30 pm Position Description Title/PD#: Health Physicist/ PD030910 Physical Requirements: The work requires regular physical exertion such as long periods of standing and recurring activities such as bending, stooping, lifting, pushing and carrying (radioactive waste pick up). May require use personal protective equipment (Ex: gloves, eye goggles, respirators, etc). Requirements Conditions of Employment Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement. 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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-9 level. 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. BASIC REQUIREMENTS: Degree: natural science or engineering that included at least 30 semester hours in health physics, engineering, radiological science, chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics, and/or calculus. OR Combination of education and experience -- courses as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or other education; or certification as a health physicist by the American Board of Health Physics, plus appropriate experience and other education that provided an understanding of sciences applicable to health physics comparable to that described in paragraph A. IN ADDITION TO MEETING THE BASIC REQUIREMENTS LISTED ABOVE, YOU MUST MEET THE FOLLOWING GRADE REQUIREMENTS TO QUALIFY FOR THIS POSITION. GS-11 GRADE REQUIREMENTS: Must have one of the following: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-9 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: knowledge, skills and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the Health Physicist position, and that is typically in or related to the duties of this position. To be credible, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-7 level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position consists of: experience in positions that provided professional knowledge of radiation safety, health physics principles, radiation dosimetry, radiation calculations, radiation biology, and radiation shielding techniques; knowledge of federal regulations promulgated by the VHA, NHPP, FDA, OSHA, DOT, and EPA; knowledge of categories of radiation hazards, potential for internal and external exposure, and common methods of corrective actions in nuclear medicine and research practice; and broad knowledge of the underlying principles of X-ray producing devices and methods of assessing satisfactory performance of these systems including all @types of radiographic and fluoroscopic instrumentation. OR Education: Master's or equivalent graduate degree in natural science or engineering that included at least 30 semester hours in health physics, engineering, radiological science, chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics, and/or calculus. Transcripts Required. OR Combination: Combination of education and experience -- courses as shown above, plus appropriate experience or other education; or certification as a health physicist by the American Board of Health Physics, plus appropriate experience and other education that provided an understanding of sciences applicable to health physics comparable to that described above. TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Chemistry Manages and Organizes Information 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. Education 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. 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/. 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. The following will be communicated to applicants for VA employment in a testing designated position and will also be included in all VA vacancy announcements for such positions: All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drugs use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA. 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 well-qualified, applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors if applicable, and must be proficient in most of the requirements of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website which can be found at https://www.opm.gov/. 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. If you are unable to apply online and request information about the Alternate Application process, please contact the Agency Contact listed for this Job Opportunity Announcement (JOA).
