Summary The Primary Purpose of the Position is to serve as the Supervisory Industrial Hygienist (IH) for the Central Texas Health Care System containing inpatient treatment, outpatient clinics, nursing homes, various mental health facilities, research, and all associated program elements the multi-facility, highly affiliated clinical and research spanning two major metropolitan medical centers; and, supervises part of the Safety and Industrial Hygiene Section. Responsibilities DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY: This position is being filled using Direct-Hire Authority (5 CFR 337.201) for this occupation. Major duties include, but not limited to: The incumbent serves as a technical expert in industrial hygiene for a wide variety of industrial hygiene and environmental functions. Programs managed include ergonomics, chemical exposure assessment, thermal stress, hazardous noise, moisture and mold management, personal protective equipment, emergency management, indoor air quality, lasers, Green Environmental Management Systems and other environmental and occupational health issues for CTVHCS employees. Specific duties are described as follows: Supervisory Responsibilities: Explains performance expectations to employees and provides regular feedback on strengths and weaknesses. Plans work to be accomplished by subordinates, sets and adjusts short-term priorities, and prepares schedules for completion of work. Plans the work accomplished by subordinates and considers factors such as regulatory and agency policy requirements, OSHA compliance requirements and issues, CTVHCS customer service requirements, implementation of new agency programs, and possible areas for improvement in quality and efficiency when setting and adjusting goals and priorities and planning the work to be accomplished by subordinates. Sets and adjusts short term and daily priorities and prepares schedules for completion of work in accordance with: daily demands, emergency work requests, such as an employee or visitor injury, requirements pertaining to impromptu and scheduled OSHA inspections, OSHA complaints concerning work safety, The Joint Commission (TJC) compliance requirements, as well as regulatory and VA policy requirements pertaining to industrial hygiene, workplace safety, and emergency readiness. Program Administration: The Industrial Hygienist is responsible for coordinating the development and implementation of program policies and objectives for the administration of the facility's occupational health and environmental programs. These programs include industrial hygiene, hazardous materials and chemical waste management, hazard communications, blood borne pathogens, thermal stress, confined spaces, employee education and monitoring, respiratory protection, hearing conservation, ergonomics, and environmental management. Hazard and Compliance Assessments: Manages prioritized risk assessments of CTVHCS workplaces ensuring potential environmental or health problems are addressed. At operations where hazardous exposures or regulatory noncompliance is suspected, incumbent determines appropriate sampling techniques for employees and collects and prepares these samples which are then forwarded to the appropriate testing laboratory for analysis. On completion of these inspections, incumbent advises management of initial test results and whether repeat samplings are required. Communication, Training and Customer Service: Coordinates and verifies completion of industrial hygiene and environmental management workload, serving as a technical expert and consultant to the Safety Program Manager and Construction Safety Coordinator, providing advice on design of engineering controls, industrial hygiene practice, chemical hygiene safety, and biosafety for the control of occupational health and environmental hazards. Incumbent also provides professional instruction to the facility staff in in the prevention of occupational diseases and their role in controlling hazards. Emergency Management and Response: Assists the Emergency Preparedness Committee in the area of disaster planning and emergency response to environmental disasters and the Environment of Care Committee in the area of occupational health, industrial hygiene, respiratory protection, and waste management activities. The employee serves as a technical expert in the hospital incident command system regarding physical, biological, environmental and chemical health hazards and their appropriate personal protective equipment. Provides technical advice and oversight for the safe use, transportation, and disposal of hazardous chemicals. Other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00 am - 4:30 pm. Compressed Tour May Be Available Position Description Title/PD#: Supervisory Industrial Hygienist/PD082180 Physical Requirements: Most work is done in a health care facility, emergency operations may require operating from outdoors or in facilities without climate control. Incumbent's work regularly involves exposure to hazards such as moving machinery, infectious disease, shielded radiation sources, toxic chemicals and gases, dusts, flammables, high noise levels, high and low temperature, electrical shock, etc. All functions require the ability to walk and climb stairs or ladders for extended periods of time and to bend or stoop to reach locations in air handlers, pipe basements, or other confined spaces. Work requires moderate lifting. Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this job Subject to a background/suitability investigation Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 A complete application package; Resume, Transcripts, etc. is required 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. Upon completion of your probationary period/trial, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest. As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary 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 Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. Qualifications Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement. Individual Occupational Requirements (IOR) Basic Requirements: The education must be accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained. 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 (ABIH)). CERTIFICATION REQUIRED Courses in the history or teaching of chemistry are not acceptable. Evaluation of Education All science or engineering courses offered in fulfillment of the above requirements must be acceptable for credit toward the completion of a standard 4-year professional curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in science or engineering at an accredited college or university. For engineering degrees to be acceptable, the curriculum must be in a school of engineering with at least one curriculum accredited by the ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) as a professional engineering curriculum. Evaluation of Experience Qualifying experience involves the recognition, evaluation, corrective actions, and elimination of environmental conditions in the workplace that causes sickness, impaired health, or illness. This experience must demonstrate a professional knowledge of the theory and application of the principles of industrial hygiene and closely related sciences such as physics and engineering controls. Such work must have involved experience in all of the following areas: the acquisition of quantitative and qualitative data, and the measurement of exposures for a variety of chemical, physical, and biological stresses; the analysis of the data acquired and the prediction of probable effects of exposures on the health and well-being of workers; and the selection and recommendation of appropriate controls, including management, medical, engineering, education or training, and personal protective equipment. In addition to the above, 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 the GS-11 grade level in the federal service; experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA's) and other characteristics to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes: Developing, planning, managing, and continuously evaluating the effectiveness of the industrial hygiene, safety, occupational health, environmental health, radiation, and fire protection programs; Full evaluations, risk assessments and investigations; Determine continual compliance with occupational safety and health standards, The Joint Commission (TJC) standards; Solve systemic issues dealing with occupational health and the environment. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Chemistry Environmental Engineering Health Risk Analysis Safety Engineering Managing Human Resources Information Management Technical Competence 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. Education A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Note: If your school has changed names, or is no longer in existence, you must provide this information in your application. 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. 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. Participation in the seasonal influenza program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP). It is a requirement that all HCP to receive annual seasonal influenza vaccination or obtain an exemption for medical or religious reasons. Wearing a face mask is required when an exemption to the influenza vaccination has been granted. HCP in violation of this directive may face disciplinary action up to and including removal from federal service. HCP are individuals who, during the influenza season, work in VHA locations or who come into contact with VA patients or other HCP as part of their duties. VHA locations include, but are not limited to, VA hospitals and associated clinics, community living centers (CLCs), community-based outpatient clinics (CBOCs), domiciliary units, Vet centers and VA-leased medical facilities. HCP include all VA licensed and unlicensed, clinical and administrative, remote and onsite, paid and without compensation, full- and part-time employees, intermittent employees, fee basis employees, VA contractors, researchers, volunteers and health professions trainees (HPTs) who are expected to perform any or all of their work at these facilities. HPTs may be paid or unpaid and include residents, interns, fellows and students. HCP also includes VHA personnel providing home-based care to Veterans and drivers and other personnel whose duties put them in contact with patients outside VA medical facilities. Pursuant to VHA Directive 1193.01, VHA health care personnel (HCP) are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 subject to such accommodations as required by law (i.e., medical, religious or pregnancy). VHA HCPs do not include remote workers who only infrequently enter VHA locations. If selected, you will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before your start date. The agency will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation will be needed and how you can request a legally required accommodation from this requirement using the reasonable accommodation process. 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/.
