Industrial Hygienist

About the role

The incumbent serves as an Industrial Hygienist in the Industrial Hygiene & Safety (IH&S) Section of Engineering Service. The incumbent shall serve as a backup to the Safety and Occupational Health Manager at the Cincinnati VA Medical Center.

Direct Hire Authority

DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY: This position is being filled using Direct-Hire Authority (5 CFR 337.205) for this occupation.

Major Duties

• Schedules and performs surveys of patient care and nonpatient care activities, equipment used in monitoring of airflow apparatus fixtures, for the medical center.
• Manages the Industrial Hygiene Management System, Confined Space Program, Asbestos Program, Hearing Conservation, Heat/Cold stress, Ergonomic Program, Eyewash/Emergency Shower Equipment Program, Hazardous Material and Spills, Personal Protective Equipment Program, Hazard Communication Program, and Respiratory Protection Programs for the medical center.
• Investigates or assists in accident investigations involving employees and safety complaints and takes action to resolve noted problems.
• Advises Safety and Occupational Health Manager, senior level management officials on the status of Industrial Hygiene programs and recommends changes in the design of work programs to meet new and existing industrial hygiene standards.
• Conducts industrial hygiene inspections of all work areas to determine compliance with standards set by OSHA, VA and other regulatory agencies.
• Updates and advises Employee Health as to medical surveillance requirements for employees working with hazardous materials as determined by OSHA. Manages the medical center's Hazard Communication Program - Maintains the Centralized Material Safety Data and Hazard Communication Library for the Medical Center.
• Assists with Environment of Care duties as assigned by the IH&S supervisor. These duties will be related to the Environment of Care Committee, Environment of Care rounding, and the correction of deficiencies noted during Environment of Care rounds.
• Serves as the On-Scene Hazardous Materials Specialist during HAZMAT incidents and exercises. Duties include providing on scene reports the Emergency Management Coordinator in the Emergency Operations Center and coordinating with the Emergency Management Coordinator on Decontamination Team deployment.
• Trains employees on a variety of industrial hygiene subjects including chemical and biological, safe storage practice requirements. Adapts various available media to fit special and unique training requirements and participates in the development safety and health training activities.
• Coordinates with other IH&S staff and medical center supervisors to develop adequate format for training programs so that all objectives are met.

Physical Requirements

The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required.

Qualifications

• To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 07/16/2026.
• All Applicants must meet the Education Requirement: 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
• In addition to meeting the Individual Occupational Requirements (IOR), ALL applicants must meet one of the following:
• GS-11 Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-09 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: Ability to perform job hazard analysis and other analytical techniques sufficient to perform accident investigation, determine causal factors, recommend procedures for elimination or confinement of the hazard. Knowledge of Industrial Hygiene sampling equipment and methods of obtaining required analysis. Ability to investigate occupational health problems which arise to determine probable cause and recommend measures to protect employees from a reoccurrence. Knowledge of healthcare work processes, procedures, equipment, facilities, materials, and activities sufficient to anticipate and control hazards, to evaluate and determine causal factors contributing to accidents and resulting hazardous working conditions. 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.