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Safety and Occupational Health Specialist/Manager, GS-0018

Definitions:

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Specialized experience is 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 to be filled. Examples of qualifying specialized experience may include:

  • Managing safety or occupational health program elements.
  • Developing or 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.

UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION: A year of undergraduate education is 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours or the equivalent of college study. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university for which high school graduation or the equivalent was a prerequisite.

GRADUATE EDUCATION: In the absence of specific graduate program information, a year of graduate education is 18 semester hours or 27 quarter hours of graduate level college course work, or the number of credit hours the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full time study. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university.

 

For GS-05:

Applicants must meet one of the following to qualify for the GS-05 level:

**Completion of a 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor’s degree with a major in 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.

**3 years of general experience, 1 year of which is equivalent to at least GS-4 level, in scientific or technical work that provided an understanding of the basic principles and concepts of the safety and occupational health field. Creditable general experience must have demonstrated the achievement of knowledge equivalent to the education described above.

**Completed the certification requirements to become a Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH), or Certified Health Physicist (CHP), or similar certification that included successful completion of a written examination.

 

For GS-07:

Applicants must meet one of the following to qualify for the GS-07 level:

**One full academic year of graduate education (18 semester hours or 27 quarter hours or the equivalent) with major study in safety, occupational health, industrial hygiene or other related field that provided the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to do the work of the position to be filled.

**OR Superior Academic Achievement based on undergraduate study. (CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON SUPERIOR ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT).

**OR one year of appropriate specialized experience as defined above under "Definitions". To be creditable, this specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-5 grade level in the Federal service.

Examples of GS-5 level work may include as a trainee: 1) participating as a member of an inspection team led my a higher graded specialist; 2) conducting routine, preliminary analysis of accident reports; 3) interviewing supervisors and employees for facts about work operations, safety practices, and accidents; 4) conducting literature searches on safety subjects to write articles for publication in newsletters and/or pamphlets. For examples 1-4, the work experiences involved receiving clear, specific, and detailed instructions as to the methods, procedures, and guidelines to use. Work was closely supervised and assistance provided when original instructions or guidelines proved inadequate.

**OR a combination of successfully completed graduate level education, as described above, and specialized experience, as described above. (CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS ON HOW TO COMBINE GRADUATE EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE)

 

For GS-09:

Applicants must meet one of the following to qualify for the GS-09 level:

**Master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 years of progressively higher-level graduate education (36 semester hours, 54 quarter hours or the equivalent) with major study in safety, occupational health, or industrial hygiene. Or a masters degree in other related fields that included or was supplemented by at least 24 semester hrs or the equivalent 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. To be creditable, the education must have provided the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to do the work of the position to be filled.

**OR one year of appropriate specialized experience as defined above under "Definitions". To be creditable, this specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-7 grade level in the Federal service.

Examples of GS-7 level work may include: 1) conducting routine inspections where low safety and occupational health risks are anticipated; 2) conducting a limited segment of a major inspection of a large manufacturing firm; 3) providing informal instruction to others on mishap prevention and safe working practices. For examples 1-3, a designated person specified the nature of the work to be done, complicating factors, past history, and possible problems. Specific instructions and applicable techniques and procedures were provided for new or difficult tasks. The work involved the selection and application of appropriate methods, techniques, or procedures from among many different but conventional alternatives. Situations to which existing guidelines could not be applied were referred to a designated person.

**OR a combination of successfully completed progressive graduate level education, as described above, that is beyond the first year of graduate study and specialized experience, as described above. (CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS ON HOW TO COMBINE GRADUATE EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE)

 

For GS-11:

Applicants must meet one of the following to qualify for the GS-11 level:

** Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education (54 semester hours, 81 quarter hours or the equivalent) leading to a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in safety, occupational health, or industrial hygiene. Or a Ph.D. degree in other related fields that included or was supplemented by at least 24 semester hrs or the equivalent 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. To be creditable, the education must have provided the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to do the work of the position to be filled.

**OR one year of appropriate specialized experience as defined above under "Definitions". To be creditable, this specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-9 grade level in the Federal service.

Examples of GS-09 level experience may include: 1) inspecting conventional construction projects and designs to determine compliance with applicable safety standards; 2) preparing formal training materials and communicating standard safety and occupation health techniques and steps to participants; 3) advising supervisors and safety representatives of appropriate safety and occupational health measures to control or eliminate hazardous operating processes or environmental conditions. For examples 1-3, assignments were received with instructions as to objectives, priorities, possible problems and deadlines. Recurring assignments were carried out independently. Conferred with a designated person on difficult or unusual situations. Selection and application of appropriate technical criteria was necessary which frequently required adaptation to meet assignment needs.

**OR a combination of successfully completed graduate level education, as described above, that is beyond the second year of progressive graduate study and specialized experience, as described above. (CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS ON HOW TO COMBINE GRADUATE EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE)

 

For GS-12:

Applicants must meet the following to qualify for the GS-12 level:

**One year of appropriate specialized experience as defined above under "Definitions". To be creditable, this specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-11 grade level in the Federal service.

Examples of GS-11 level experience may include: 1) identifying and evaluating risk potential involving a wide variety of work environments & occupations; 2) directing investigation of accidents, analyzing precipitating factors and accident cause data and developing methods for prevention; 3) instructing employees on a variety of safety and occupational health subjects and participating in the development of novel or innovative safety training and promotion activities. For examples 1-3, the work was planned and performed within a framework of applicable instructions, policies, training experiences and practices. Conferred with other safety and occupational specialists as necessary or with the supervisor when controversial or unusual problems were encountered and precedent experience was inadequate. Judgment was used in selecting, interpreting, applying and adapting established criteria for application to specific cases or problems.

 

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