Safety and Occupational Health Manager

Summary This position is located in Blue Ridge Parkway, in the Superintendent's Office. Responsibilities This position is duty stationed in Asheville, North Carolina at Park Headquarters and reports directly to the Blue Ridge Parkway Assistant Superintendent. The incumbent will be responsible for planning, developing, directing, and coordinating the safety and occupational health program for the Blue Ridge Parkway; in addition to providing safety program guidance and support to Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site, Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, and Guilford Courthouse National Military Park. The Safety and Occupational Health Manager is responsible for managing a complex safety and occupational health program that encompasses extensive park lands and operations, private concessions, administrative facilities, maintenance shops, and a variety of public visitor attractions and recreational activities. Duties will be developmental in nature when filled below the full performance level. The Blue Ridge Parkway consistently is one of the most visited parks in the NPS system and because of its linear nature, it presents many unique changes. The Parkway is 469 miles long, spanning 2 states, crossing 29 different counties. There are 3 mountain ranges on the park with 16 peaks over 5,000 feet tall. The parkway consists of 26 tunnels, 91 historic building, 176 bridges, 381 overlooks and 910 maintained roadside vistas. Current surplus and current or former displaced Federal individuals who have special priority selection rights under the Agency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or the Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) must be well qualified for the position to receive consideration for special priority selection. Well qualified means that the applicant meets the following: OPM qualification standards for the position; all selective placement factors, where applicable; special qualifying conditions that OPM has approved for the position, where applicable; is physically qualified with reasonable accommodation, where appropriate to satisfactorily perform the duties of the position upon entry; and is rated by the organization at least at the well qualified level on all competencies. Federal employees seeking CTAP/ICTAP eligibility must submit proof that they meet the requirements of 5 CFR 330.605(2) for CTAP and 5 CFR 330.704 for ICTAP. This includes a copy of the agency notice, a copy of their most recent Performance Rating, and a copy of their most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location. Please annotate your application to reflect that you are applying as a CTAP/ICTAP eligible. If you are selected for Federal employment, you will be required to fill out a Declaration of Federal Employment, OF-306, prior to being appointed to determine your suitability for Federal employment and to authorize a background investigation. Failing to answer all questions truthfully and completely or providing false statements on your application may be grounds for not hiring you, or for firing you after you begin work. Also, you may be punished by fine or imprisonment (U.S. Code, Title 18, section 1001). Documentation for the Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act (LMWFA) eligibility, submission of ALL SF-50s and performance information for each period of temporary/term employment that qualifies for LMWFA. Performance documentation can be obtained by contacting the supervisors for the positions you served in during your 24 months. If they did not complete performance appraisals ask them to provide a statement of performance for each period of service. The statement must specify the dates for each employment period and your level of performance (dates should match the dates on the SF-50s). Land Management Eligible Employees (LMEs) are subject to time-in-grade (TIG) regulations in 5 CFR 300, subpart F. The Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act cannot be used to circumvent TIG, in accordance with 5 CFR 300.603. In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 9602, eligibility under these regulations applies to certain individuals serving, or who served, under a time-limited appointment and have not received a permanent position in the Federal government. Temporary appointment time is not credited toward the probationary or trial period. However, the governing statute at 5 U.S.C. 9602(c)(2) states that individuals appointed under this authority acquire competitive status upon appointment. Therefore, competitive status is acquired by a LME selected via the provisions of the Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act, the selectee is placed on a career appointment, and no further probationary or trial period is imposed upon the selectee. Requirements Conditions of Employment U.S. Citizenship required. Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication. Meet Selective Service Registration Act requirement for males. Complete the initial online assessment and USAHire Assessment, if required. Selectee will be required to participate in the Direct Deposit Electronics Funds Transfer Program. Any individual who is currently holding, or has held within the previous 52 weeks, a General Schedule position under non-temporary appointment in the competitive or excepted service, must meet time-in-grade requirements (must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade or equivalent in the Federal service); with few exceptions as outlined in 5 CFR 300.603(b). Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal civilian employees applying for reinstatement who have had a break in service of less than one year, as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointments. Time-in-grade does not apply to new excepted service appointments. Time-in-grade requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement. You will be required to operate a government (or private) motor vehicle as part of your official duties; a valid driver's license is required. You will be required to submit a Motor Vehicle Operator's License and Driving Record. You must also submit (within a State sealed envelope or submitted directly by the State authorities), and at your own expense, all certified driving records from all States that disclose all valid driver's licenses, whether current or past, possessed by you. You will be required to wear a uniform and comply with the National Park Service uniform standards. A uniform allowance will be provided. You may be required to work on-call, evenings, weekends, holidays, and overtime. If you are a new employee or supervisor in the Federal government, you will be required to complete a one-year probationary period. You may be required to travel overnight away from home up to two (2) nights per month. You must obtain a government charge card for travel purposes. You may be required to complete training and obtain/maintain a government charge card with travel and/or purchase authority. Qualifications All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-07/28/2024-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. For current Federal employees, if hours worked per week are not included on your resume, you must submit a non-award SF-50 as part of your application to be used to validate your work schedule and determine the amount of specialized experience that you will be granted. An award SF-50 will not be acceptable documentation for which to consider your amount of qualifying experience. For all other applicants who are not current federal employees, your resume must state either "full-time" (or "40 hours a week") or "part-time" with the number of hours worked per week to ensure proper crediting of specialized experience. For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the full and/or part-time hours requirement as the service dates will be reflected. To qualify for this position at the GS-11 grade level, you must possess at least one of the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement: GS-11 EXPERIENCE: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). 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 specialized experience include, but are not limited to the following: managing safety, occupational health, and security program elements; inspecting or surveying work sites for compliance; identifying and resolving security issues and safety hazards, develop policy and modify processes to eliminate or reduce frequency, severity and costs of accidents; or applying security, safety and occupational health laws, regulations, principles, theories, practices, and procedures to advise on and resolve technical matters dealing with security and occupational safety and health issues; participating on a survey or inspection team that contributes to the effectiveness of the overall safety and occupational health program by analyzing and evaluating findings and recommending corrective measures; preparing guides or instructions that educate employees in safe operating practices or techniques; and using a variety of computer programs to manage safety/health information databases, record keeping and tracking systems, write reports of findings; able to interpret design criteria sufficient to review building plans, drawings and sketches for safety standard compliance. Providing informal training to workers on safety or occupational health subjects. Work in occupational fields such as industrial hygienist, safety engineer, fire prevention engineer, health physicist, and occupational health nurse. You must include hours per week worked on your resume. -OR- EDUCATION: Successful completion of at least a PhD or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree with a major study in safety or occupational health fields (safety, occupational health, industrial hygiene), or PhD or equivalent doctoral 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. You must include transcripts. -OR- Successful completion of a combination of education and experience as described above. To combine education and experience, first take percentage of education completed. Then take the number of months of full time experience and divide by 12 months. Add the percentages together. The total must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. You must include transcripts. To qualify for this position at the GS-12 grade level, you must possess at least one of the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement: GS-12 EXPERIENCE: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-11 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). This experience includes activities such as: 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. You must include hours per week worked on your resume. Volunteer Experience: 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; religious; 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 To qualify based on education, you must submit a legible copy of transcripts from an accredited institution with your name, school name, credit hours, course level, major(s), and grade-point average or class ranking. Transcripts do not need to be official, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work. If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet qualification requirements, you must show that your education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. There is no substitution of education for experience at the GS-12 grade level of this announcement. Additional Information A selectee receiving a first appointment to the Federal Government (Civil Service) is entitled only to the lowest step of the grade for which selected. The display of a salary range on this vacancy shall not be construed as granting an entitlement to a higher rate of pay. A Recruitment Incentive May Be Authorized for a newly selected employee when appointed to a permanent, temporary, or term position. A Federal employee who is transferring to the National Park Service from another component, bureau or Federal agency and who does not meet the conditions under 5 CFR 575.102 is not eligible for a recruitment incentive. A Relocation Incentive May Be Authorized for a Federal employee when the employee must move, as directed by the National Park Service (NPS) either through a management directed reassignment or selection for employment, to a different location at least 50 miles away from the one where his/her position of record held at time of selection is currently located, due to a need of the NPS. A relocation incentive is not the same as a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) move and, as such, may be granted in conjunction with one another. This announcement may be used to fill additional positions if identical vacancies occur within 90 days of the issue date of the referral certificate. Promotion to the full performance level is neither guaranteed nor implied and will be based solely on your ability to satisfactorily perform the work of the position, existing work at the higher grade level, and recommendation by the position's supervisor. Physical Demands: The performance of inspections and investigations of mishaps requires frequent physical exertion such as frequent walking and hiking over rough, uneven, or rocky surfaces, crouching, climbing, stooping, crawling under buildings and in attics, etc. Occasionally is required to ride as a passenger in light fixed wing aircraft and/or helicopters, and to ride in or operate small watercraft. The use of personal protective equipment (hard hat, steel-toed boots, gloves, eye goggles, and respirators) is required due to exposure to hazardous occupational environments. The interpersonal relationships and conflicts involved with compliance and problem resolution can produce high job stress. Frequent travel away from the incumbent's office is required. Working Conditions: Incumbent is subject to exposure to operating machines and equipment, hazardous materials, high noise level, hazardous gases, fumes and dust, hazardous waste materials, and other occupational environments. Protective clothing and equipment is required. Incumbent also serves in a staff position in a heated/air-conditioned office setting. However, field work often occurs in rough terrain and under varying weather conditions. Work may be underground, may have exposure to high electrical energy and/or heights. Emergency operations may also require working in nighttime operations, in adverse terrain and all climatic conditions. The National Park Service has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval.