Safety & Occupational Health Manager

About the role

The Safety and Occupational Health Manager position is within the Office of the Director and is assigned to Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 1 - New England Healthcare System. This position is full-time at 40 hours per week. Location negotiable within VISN 1 - upon selection.

Responsibilities

• Serves as the principal source of technical expertise for programs related to Safety
• Plans, directs, monitors, coordinates, and evaluates a comprehensive agency safety and fire protection program for all VHA facilities within VISN 1
• Provides a professional interpretation of applicable regulations and guidelines and assures that specific policies are consistent with federal, state, and local regulations and procedures that may affect VA-related activities
• Demonstrates leadership and management skills - which require the development of safety criteria to eliminate or control serious hazards encountered in the construction, operation, and maintenance of healthcare facilities, fabrication, plants, and research laboratories
• Serves as the principal source of technical expertise for programs related to Safety
• Supports the VA Central Office with the development of safety goals, policy, and procedural documentation
• Conducts audits and investigations of facilities within the VISN, providing advisory support and specialized training to safety staff throughout the Network
• Other duties as assigned

Requirements

To qualify for this position - applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement - 07/14/2026. 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-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. 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.

Qualifications

• Experience: 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. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: Managing safety or occupational health program elements; Developing and 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.
• Education: Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study 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.
• Certificate: Certification as 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 meets the requirements for GS-5.

Skills

Applicants may also qualify for higher grade levels based on their education and/or experience. You may qualify based on your experience as described below:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 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 of Safety, Occupational Health, Emergency Management, Life Safety and EMS principles; knowledge of healthcare work processes, procedures equipment, facilities, materials and activities sufficient to anticipate and control hazards; knowledge of the standards and policies of OSHA, EPA and Joint Commission (JC); knowledge of environmental management systems, respiratory protection programs and decontamination.
• Preferred Experience: Applying OSHA, NFPA, and environmental safety standards in a healthcare or similar setting. Using standard software to document inspections, track hazards, and prepare reports.

Benefits

None specified in the job posting.

Pay

Actual pay will be adjusted upon after duty location is established.

Schedule

Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30pm

Telework

Available for ad-hoc

Virtual

This is not a virtual position

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives

Not authorized

Critical Skills Incentive (CSI)

Not approved

Permanent Change of Station (PCS)

Not approved

Notifications

Location negotiable within VISN 1 - upon selection

Veterans' preference

Does not apply for internal or other current permanent Federal agency employees

Bargaining Unit

This position is in the Bargaining Unit AFGE

Locality-Based Comparability Pay

Not applicable

Interchange Agreements with Other Merit Systems

Employees who occupy medical or medical-related positions and were appointed under 38 U.S.C. 4701(1) or (3) [formerly 38 U.S.C. 4104 (1) and (3)] must be serving in a full-time position without time limit and have served continuously for at least one year in this other merit system to be eligible to convert to the Title 5 System

Other Information

None specified in the job posting.