Environmental Health Tech

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/18/2024. 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-08 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. For a GS-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-08. 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. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Environmental Health Technician Series, 0698 Individual Occupational Requirements Specialized Experience Experience that involved identifying, preventing, or eliminating health hazards in one or more areas of environmental health. Such experience must have provided a practical knowledge of environmental health hazards, survey techniques, and control and eradication methods, and may have been gained in work such as biological technician, medical technician, pest control technician, quality control positions with dairy or food service industries, or environmental health worker. Journey level experience in a trade or craft may be credited as specialized experience when the work was closely associated with and provided the required knowledge of environmental health techniques, methods, and skills, e.g., pest control operator, water plant operator. And: Grade Requirements Specialized Experience GS-08: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade, GS-07, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: experience in exposure monitoring and sampling; knowledgeable in industrial hygiene concepts, principles, and practices; experience in using industrial hygiene equipment. OR Education Two full years of graduate education or a master’s degree meets the requirements for GS-9. One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered as satisfying the 1 year of full-time study requirement. Part-time graduate education is creditable in accordance with its relationship to a year of full-time study at the school attended. Specialized Experience GS-09: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade, GS-08, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: experience in identifying, evaluating and controlling workplace health hazards; knowledge in providing technical assistance to and assessing the status of recommended abatement actions; knowledgeable in using specialized instruments such as air sampling pumps, sound level meters, noise dosimeters, heat stress monitors, and dust, gas, and vapor monitors. OR Education Two full years of graduate education or a master’s degree meets the requirements for GS-9. One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered as satisfying the 1 year of full-time study requirement. Part-time graduate education is creditable in accordance with its relationship to a year of full-time study at the school attended. PREFERRED EXPERIENCE: Practical knowledge of a basic range of Environmental Health and Preventative Medicine (EH/PM) concepts, principles and practices applicable to the performance of routine EH/PM monitoring surveys, or to portions of large and /or complex surveys. Knowledge of mathematical concepts relating to construction plans and diagrams; basic principles of biology and chemistry; familiarity with common scales of weights and measures; practices and procedures, rules, regulations, and laws associated with a variety of environmental health programs; inspection techniques and research methods. Working knowledge and experience collecting and analyzing environmental samples, such as air, water, soil, and food. The employee demonstrates increased competency in completing required field inspection sheets; sheets require, at most only minimal corrections or editing. Ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing (standard and accepted English usage, spelling, grammar, and punctuation), to communicate with persons inside and outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. this information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or email. 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; religions; 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. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: Industrial hygiene monitoring surveys are frequent and require the Environmental Health Technician to carry moderately heavy equipment. Such surveys may also involve standing, walking, bending, and climbing. Some travel outside of Illinois is required. He/she must pass a respirator physical qualification examination, and will be enrolled in the hearing conservation and asbestos medical surveillance programs if so recommended by the FHCC Occupational Health Physician or equivalent healthcare provider. 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/.
This position is located within the Fleet Medicine Directorate, Public Health Department in the Preventive Medicine Division, located at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center (FHCC), North Chicago, Illinois; a1c complexity facility. The Lovell FHCC is larger than just a single facility, it is a system of facilities throughout Northeastern Illinois and Wisconsin which provide medical and dental services to U.S. Military Veterans, Recruits, Active-Duty, and eligible beneficiaries.