Job Summary

You will serve as a Safety Technician with the Environmental Health & Safety department of the Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center located in Spokane, Washington.

Job Description

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/05/2026. 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-6 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-5, and for a GS-7 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-6. 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. Individual Occupational Requirements (IOR): The Safety Technician 0019 series requires specific education or experience to be met in order to be appointed into a position of this series. Applicants must have one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level. Applicants may also qualify by substituting education for experience, or with a combination of education and experience. The IOR is set by Office of Personnel Management (OPM) includes Specialized Experience: Experience that involved: (l) identifying, preventing, or eliminating safety hazards in work methods or environmental conditions; or (2) safety training or promotion. Such experience must have provided a practical knowledge of occupational and environmental safety hazards, survey techniques, and control and preventive methods. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include biological technician, medical technician, engineering technician, fire prevention inspector, and environmental health worker. You may qualify for the GS-6 level based on your experience and/or education as described below: SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-05 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 fire prevention and fire protection standards to identify and evaluate life safety requirements and construction building codes, and to eliminate risks in environmental, fire and building construction areas; knowledge of fire extinguishers, emergency eyewash and showers, hazardous material storage, handling and disposal, and respiratory protection equipment; and knowledge of computer applications for hazardous material management, safety incident record keeping, fire prevention inspection reports, and respiratory protection fit testing. OR, EDUCATION (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED): Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed 6 months (9 semester hours) of graduate education that is directly related to the duties of the position. You may qualify for the GS-07 level based on your experience and/or education as described below: SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-06 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: technical knowledge of hazards present in a health care facility, hazard abatement and surveillance procedures and ability to correct hazards identified; knowledge of safety and occupational health standards including environmental, occupational safety and health and fire protection policies and procedures, pertinent to clinical and industrial settings, to identify and evaluate a wide variety of environmental risks and conduct meaningful inspections; knowledge of fire prevention and fire protection standards to identify and evaluate life safety requirements and construction building codes, and to eliminate risks in environmental, fire and building construction areas; knowledge of fire extinguishers, emergency eyewash and showers, hazardous material storage, handling and disposal, and respiratory protection equipment; and knowledge of computer applications for hazardous material management, safety incident record keeping, fire prevention inspection reports, and respiratory protection fit testing. OR, EDUCATION (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED): Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed one (1) year of graduate education (18 semester hours) that is directly related to the duties of the position. OR, COMBINATION (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED): Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond 6 months (9 semester hours) of graduate level education may be used to qualify applicants at the GS-7 grade level. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university. (To compute the percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education beyond two years by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify.). For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.