Safety and Occupational Health Specialist - San Francisco

Job Overview:

The General Services Administration (GSA) Public Buildings Service (PBS) manages a diverse real estate portfolio of approximately 1,600 federally owned buildings and 6,500 leased facilities across the U.S. and territories. The real estate portfolio includes federal office buildings, courthouses, land ports of entry, federal campus facilities, laboratories, and warehouses.

This position is part of the Facility Risk Management Division (FRMD) of the GSA PBS Office of Facilities Management (OFM). The FRMD is responsible for GSA’s industrial hygiene, environmental compliance, facility safety, and fire protection programs, which help to provide safe and healthy workspaces to federal tenants, occupants, and visitors across GSA’s building portfolio.

The Safety and Occupational Health Specialist will be responsible for tasks and projects assigned by the FRMD Director or their designee. In general, the Safety and Occupational Health Specialist will support the overall management of the National Safety and Occupational Health Program. The National Safety and Occupational Health Program includes the following program areas:

Based on the needs of the position, occasional travel may be required to conduct field inspections or attend meetings.

programs related to their space or to buildings/facilities housing their operations.

(3) accidents for which prior analysis of the hazards or development of control and preventive measures have been unsuccessful. 

Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) compliance, including 

• Construction safety
• Electrical safety
• Fall protection / walk-working surfaces
• Confined space
• Occupational health and environmental control (noise, ventilation, non-ionizing radiation)
• Machinery and machine guarding
• Personal protective equipment (PPE)
• Medical surveillance
• Job hazard analysis
• Accident prevention and investigation
• Ammunition and explosives safety
• Hazardous materials / hazard communication
• Health and safety audits and risk management surveys
• Provides expert advice, guidance, troubleshooting and technical assistance to management officials, agency heads, staff members, buildings managers, employees and visitors on all issues related to the diverse range of safety and occupational health matters that arise, including but not limited to, accident investigation, building inspections, policy implementation and interpretation, OSHA regulations, injury reporting and occupational safety, crossing business, divisions and project lines.
• Using mastery of the OSH programs, serves as a national subject matter expert in matters relating to occupational health and safety matters for GSA.
• Provides expert advisory and consulting services to employees and managers at all levels in occupational safety and health matters and provides options to resolve the problems presented, many of which are highly complex in nature and impact critical projects or important operating issues.
• Provides expert advice, guidance and policy interpretation and implementation to improve building safety and reduce and/or prevent accidents and injuries.
• Implements all national policies and, as necessary, develops national guidance, training or operating procedures to facilitate understanding of this program.
• Analyzes and maintains all OSH related training information, training needs and develops training/curriculum based on regulatory changes or anticipated program needs to improve or enhance OSH knowledge.
• Develops, directs and conducts a safety education program to fulfill employee training/continuing education requirements for the diverse GSA workforce engaged in various aspects of the Agency's business.
• Develops and delivers training in building operations and construction safety for GSA, that are accepted for continuing education credits for GSA employees.
• Participates in accident investigations in GSA controlled facilities when potentially hazardous or unknown substances are involved.
• Operates as a national expert and resource to develop or revise policy, address new OSHA regulations or proposed legislation which could impact GSA mission accomplishment, troubleshoot unprecedented safety situations, research and resolve the most complex safety problems facing GSA nationwide through collaboration and use of expert of analytical skills, and share best practices.
• Manages, plans, develops, coordinates, and administers the internal GSA employee OSH program elements such as OSH inspections, record keeping, reporting and training.
• Manages, plans, coordinates, develops and administers the GSA OSH program to assist Federal agencies in carrying out their duties under Section 19, of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Act, Executive Order 12196, and 29 CFR 1960.
• Manages OSH Act compliance, administering implementation of provisions of the OSH Act, Executive Order 12196, and OSHA program regulations within the context of GSA's internal occupational safety and health responsibilities. This includes participation in GSA OSH committees.
• Serves as consultant to GSA and tenant agency personnel on OSH problems and
• Serves as a consultant to GSA and tenant agency personnel on safety problems and programs related to buildings and facilities under the control of GSA.
• Coordinates the Accident Prevention Program for GSA.
  • Investigates major facility safety and health incidents to determine cause, contributing factors and measures to prevent recurrence.
  • Advises management, workers, and unions in GSA and other federal agencies on technical matters involved in accident prevention.
  • Develops and/or prepares policies, handbooks, action memorandums, directives, standards and other guidance, which includes changes to OSH Policies, to assist PBS field staff.
  • Coordinates intensive efforts to achieve new safety techniques and standards for problems of an exceptionally difficult nature, e.g. (1) significant, new or emerging occupations, work processes or functions; (2) disagreement or controversy among subject matter experts about the need for, and means of, controlling hazards; and
  • Manages the overall program to reduce off-duty accidents, with special emphasis on prevention.
• Maintains close working relations with various safety groups (e.g., National Safety Council, the Federal Safety and Health Council, and the American Society of Safety Professionals).
• Promotes educational campaigns using posters, pamphlets, and literature through line supervisors and employees to practice mishap prevention procedures for off-duty activities such as boating, biking, camping, food and drug safety and operation of vehicles.
• Prepares solicitation documents, incorporating special provisions and revising the scope of work when required; reviews and analyzes specifications to ensure adequacy. Recommends revisions to specifications and develops and implements special clauses and provisions for unique procurements as required.
• Ensures all the recommendations on approved construction and building alteration plans, drawings, and building alteration plans, drawings, and specifications in the area of safety and occupational health are incorporated into projects to obtain compliance with standards to minimize risk to human life and damage to property.
• Determines portions of the building inventory to be surveyed.
  • Schedules and coordinates survey activities with field office staff.
  • Conducts scheduled and unscheduled comprehensive technical surveys of various facilities and construction types, housing offices, warehouses, laboratories, shops and computer rooms under the control of GSA, to evaluate OSH programs and requirements, including detection of actual physical hazards and potential hazards.
• As a result of surveys and investigations, prepares comprehensive reports detailing deficiencies or hazards uncovered.
  • Formulates recommendations to correct the hazard or deficiency.
  • Provides cost estimates for implementation of required recommendations or changes.
  • Prepares, or ensures preparation of abatement plans, actions and follow-ups to ensure hazards or deficiencies noted during surveys or inspections, or officially reported to the section branch by the tenant reports or OSHA, are corrected or programmed for correction.
  • Ensures that all Agency reports of unsafe or unhealthy conditions are resolved prior to renegotiation by the responsible operating office.
• Investigates official tenant agency reports of unsafe or unhealthy conditions. When requested, determines the suitability of building environments utilizing specialized instruments consisting of an Oxygen Indicator, Sound Level Measuring Set, Combustible Gas Indicator, Velometer, Precision Gas Detector, Drager Multi Gas Detector, Monitaire Sampler Kit, Gravimetric Dust Sampling Kit and a Gravimetric Dust Sampling Kit and a Gravimetric Pump Calibrator.
• Supports the health and safety risk management survey program, to include: reviewing survey reports; monitoring completion of scheduled surveys; recommending technically sound, cost-effective corrective actions to address survey findings; developing instructional guidance to support implementation of corrective actions; and approving completed corrective actions.
• Tracks and provides progress reports on project tasks assigned by the FRMD Director or their designee.
• Represents GSA in meetings and negotiations with internal and external stakeholders (e.g., tenant agencies, regulatory agencies, union representatives) to serve as a subject matter expert and ensure Safety and Occupational Health requirements and the interests of GSA are adequately represented and considered.
• Supports the FRMD with records management by collecting, organizing, and managing Safety and Occupational Health data, reports, and other records in designated file storage platforms and enterprise applications.
• Stays abreast of the latest developments in the Safety and Occupational Health field and monitors new laws, regulations, standards, and best practices for application within GSA.
• Conducts other duties as assigned by the FRMD Director or their designee in furtherance of the National Safety and Occupational Health Program and Facility Risk Management Division objectives.

Minimum Qualifications:

Management (IHMM) is preferred.

• The incumbent must have a bachelor’s degree in the safety or occupational health fields (safety, occupational health, industrial hygiene) or degree in other related fields that included or were 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.
• The incumbent must have a minimum of 5 years of relevant work experience, in scientific or technical work that provided an understanding of the basic principles and concepts of the safety and occupational health field.
• A certification (e.g., CSP) from the Board for Global EHS Credentialing (BGC), Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP), or Institute of Hazardous Materials
• The incumbent must have expert knowledge of safety and occupational health concepts, principles, laws, regulations and precedent decisions which provide the capability to recommend substantive program changes or alternative new courses of managerial action requiring the extension and modification of existing safety and occupational health management techniques critical to the resolution of safety and occupational health management problems.
• The incumbent must have knowledge sufficient to serve as a technical authority on occupational safety and health matters and to make significant far reaching recommendations in the development, interpretation or application of the Agency's safety and occupational health policies and critical program criteria.
• The incumbent must have expert knowledge of policies, practices procedures, techniques and codes dealing with occupational safety, building construction methods, environmental and hazardous materials, industrial processes and safety systems sufficient to enable the specialist to conduct surveys and inspections of construction sites, work places and operations, and to identify and evaluate occupational hazards, compliance of work practices, safety conditions and operations with applicable safety and health and occupational safety codes, regulations and criteria.
• The incumbent must have technical skill and ability to read and interpret engineering design drawings and specification sufficiently to ensure that proposed safety and health features adequately protect the occupants and visitors of GSA owned/operated buildings
• The incumbent must have highly developed skills in oral and written communication to: present sensitive recommendations to managers and executives; motivate field staff to implement safety policy requirements and initiatives; articulate technical subject matter to a non-technical audience; and represent the agency to external audiences such as federal customer agencies).
• The incumbent must have excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
• The incumbent must have comprehensive and extensive knowledge of a wide variety of complex and hazardous work operations and conditions associated with and found in vehicle repair facilities, hazardous and flammable materials storage, warehousing and materials handling operations, records storage, automated data processing facilities, boiler plants, and all phases of building construction which enables the specialist to detect hazards, analyze accident and incident data, observe operations to determine if construction, work processes and equipment operations are consistent with applicable safety criteria. 
• The incumbent must have expert knowledge and expertise necessary to make independent judgments and decisions on existing circumstances, to develop new procedures or techniques on resolving hazardous or unsafe equipment or work operations, construction practices and recommending control measures and techniques to reduce or eliminate potential for injuries, accidents, mishaps, control unsafe environmental working conditions, and specifying control measures to protect employees and property. Many issues encountered due to the aging building inventory, unique prior fixes or other extenuating circumstances regularly contribute to decisions in this area being unprecedented in nature.

Limitations:

Duties performed by this professional shall be reviewed and approved by a GSA Program Manager.

Employee Benefits:

We believe in taking care of our employees so they can perform their best work. Our benefits include:

• Competitive health, dental, and vision coverage
• Retirement savings plan with employer contribution
• Paid time off to rest, recharge, and take care of what matters most
• Support for your growth through training and development opportunities
• Short and Long Term Disability Plans
• Flexible Spending Account
• A collaborative, people-first work environment

• Employee Discounts for select retailers