Safety & Occupational Health Specialist

About the role

This Safety and Occupational Health Specialist position is located within Facilities Management Service at VA Boston Healthcare System in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. This position is full-time at 40 hours per week.

Responsibilities

• Conduct safety surveillance audits and inspections on a frequent basis according to required standards and regulations and depending on the degree of hazard.
• Perform skillfully in safety work that involves a combined approach to unusual or complex safety and occupational health management issues.
• Review safety policies, procedures, and regulations published by serviced organizations.
• Conduct comprehensive analytical surveys and/or studies of serviced safety programs.
• Investigate hazardous conditions, equipment, and practices to identify and analyze the nature and severity of hazards and possible remedial actions.
• Investigate accidents/mishaps, obtain witness statements, photograph the accident scene, record circumstances and extent of injuries, and estimate cost of property damages.
• Advise and consult on the overall planning and programming requirements for and problems encountered in the day-to-day operations of a facility.
• Resolve difficult and complex technical, project management, and organizational problems using innovative and original approaches.
• Research various sources of information for promotional items and campaigns to initiate and maintain interest in accident prevention and occupational health for at-work and off-the-job employee activities.
• Develop or adapt materials for safety campaigns and training courses.
• Maintain historical safety records and note trends or changing conditions that warrant revision of safety procedures.
• Provide technical assistance to managers and supervisors necessary to achieve safe and healthy working conditions.
• Plan, schedule, and conduct difficult inspections in establishments and worksites where there is a strong probability of encountering hazardous work processes and materials, and unsafe environmental conditions, involving a substantial number of employees.
• Ensure safety programs meet regulatory compliance by oversight agencies.
• Ensure corrective actions are initiated and consult with personnel/managers on changes in work processes and proposed methods to eliminate unnecessary risks and control hazardous conditions.
• Regulate and enforce safety policies, programs, or activities.
• Update education and promotional information bulletin boards and disseminate information via contemporary communication means to all assigned areas.
• Prepare reports on investigation findings, which includes recommendations to correct unsafe acts or conditions which caused an accident.
• Ensure information and guidance developed by accident prevention committees is distributed to all pertinent parties.
• Manage computer programs and databases to enhance management of safety programs.

Requirements

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/30/2026.

Qualifications

• 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.
• Specialized Experience (for positions above GS-5): 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.