Duties

Summary

This position is located in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Directorate of Enforcement Programs (DEP), Office of Chemical Process Safety and Enforcement Initiatives (OCPSEI). OCPSEI is responsible for an extensive set of safety enforcement programs focused on chemical safety, and manages and develops various safety and health enforcement initiatives for the field organizations of the agency.

• This position is inside the bargaining unit.

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

Major duties may include, but are not limited to:

• Independently managing all aspects of Process Safety Management (PSM) compliance, enforcement, and guidance activities.
• Providing safety engineering, especially Chemical Process Safety (CPS) management, advice and assistance for the resolution of safety matters forwarded from other National Office organizational elements, OSHA field offices, the Office of the Solicitor (SOL), and the private sector.
• Working with senior staff and solicitors to represent the Agency and to provide advice and background information needed to support settlement negotiations and litigation regarding complex safety engineering and CPS issues.
• Reviewing and evaluating field interpretations, such as proposed citations, for accuracy, and supportability.
• Responding to oral and written technical and operational inquiries from the OSHA National Office and field organizations, as well as from Congressional, public and private sector sources, regarding agency policies, the application of standards, safety procedures and enforcement operations, especially as they pertain to CPS.

Travel Required

Occasional travel - Occasional travel may be required.

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
14 - There is no obligation to provide future promotions to you if you are selected. Promotions are dependent on your ability to perform the duties at a higher level, the need for an employee promoted to the higher level, and supervisory approval.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Appointment to this position may require a background investigation.
• Requires a probationary period if the requirement has not been met.
• Must be at least 16 years old and an U.S. Citizenship.
• Position requires Public Trust-Moderate Risk Background Investigation

Applicants must meet all legal and regulatory requirements. Reference the "Required Documents" section for additional requirements.

Qualifications

This position has a minimum education requirement. In order to be considered qualified for this position, applicants must have a degree in engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET); or (2) include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics.

OR

Combination of education and experience -- college-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying professional engineering, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering. The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following:

• Professional registration -- Current registration as a professional engineer by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. Absent other means of qualifying under this standard, those applicants who achieved such registration by means other than written test (e.g., State grandfather or eminence provisions) are eligible only for positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of their registration. For example, an applicant who attains registration through a State Board's eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions.
• Written Test -- Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE)2 examination or any other written test required for professional registration by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.
• Specified academic courses -- Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and in engineering that included the courses specified in the basic requirements. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of a professional engineering curriculum as described in paragraph A.
• Related curriculum -- Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in engineering technology or in an appropriate professional field, e.g., physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a degree in engineering, provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. Ordinarily there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience, e.g., in interdisciplinary positions. (The above examples of related curricula are not all-inclusive.)

In addition to meeting the basic entry qualification requirements in paragraphs above, applicants must have specialized experience and/or directly related education in the amounts shown below: Applicants must have 52 weeks of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level in the Federal Service.

GS-13: Applicants must have 52 weeks of experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level, GS-12. Specialized Experience is defined as experience with Chemical Process Safety elements and OSHA process safety management standards and their application in chemical processing, refining, flammable liquids, and ammonia refrigeration industry sectors; performing risk assessments; participating on or leading multi-functional incident investigation and/or engineering project teams; AND assessing chemical processing safety problems and post-incident conditions.

GS-14: Applicants must have 52 weeks of experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level, GS-13. Specialized Experience is defined as experience with Chemical Process Safety elements and OSHA process safety management standards and their application in chemical processing, refining, flammable liquids, and ammonia refrigeration industry sectors; leading risk and hazard assessment teams; leading multi-functional incident investigation and/or engineering project teams; AND assessing chemical processing safety problems and post-incident conditions (i.e., prescribing abatement methods and corrective actions to prevent incident recurrence).

Education

Any applicant falsely claiming an academic degree from an accredited school will be subject to actions ranging from disqualification from federal employment to removal from federal service.

If your education was completed at a foreign college or university, you must show comparability to education received in accredited educational institutions in the United States and comparability to applicable minimum course work requirements for this position. Click Evaluation of Foreign Education for more information.

Additional information

DOL seeks to attract and retain a high performing and diverse workforce in which employees' differences are respected and valued to better meet the varying needs of the diverse customers we serve. DOL fosters a diverse and inclusive work environment that promotes collaboration, flexibility and fairness so that all individuals are able to participate and contribute to their full potential.

Refer to these links for more information: GENERAL INFORMATION , ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTATION , FORMER FEDERAL EMPLOYEES

Additional vacancies may be filled using this announcement, if authorized.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

If you meet the minimum qualifications, you will be evaluated against the evaluation factors below and will be placed into a category based on your vacancy question responses.

Categories

Category A (Best Qualified) - Meets the basic qualification requirements for the vacancy and has successful experience in the same or similar job that has demonstrated superior proficiency in applying critical competencies required by this position to work of increased levels of difficulty and complexity.

Category B (Well Qualified) - Meets the basic qualification requirements for the vacancy and demonstrates satisfactory proficiency in the critical competencies required by this position.

Category C (Qualified) - Meets the specialized experience described in the minimum qualifications requirements section of this announcement and demonstrates proficiency in the basic competencies.

Evaluation Factors (Competencies) - All qualified applicants will be evaluated on the following key competencies:

Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of engineering concepts, principles, and practices, and of equipment, tools, mechanical devices, and their uses to produce motion, light, power, technology, and other applications.

Technical Competence - Uses knowledge that is acquired through formal training or extensive on-the-job experience to perform one's job; works with, understands, and evaluates technical information related to the job; advises others on technical issues.

Planning and Evaluating - Organizes work, sets priorities, and determines resource requirements; determines short- or long-term goals and strategies to achieve them; coordinates with other organizations or parts of the organization to accomplish goals; monitors progress and evaluates outcomes.

Written and Oral Communication - Writes in a clear, concise, organized, and convincing manner for the intended audience. Makes clear and convincing oral presentations. Listens effectively; clarifies information as needed.

Chemical Engineering - Knowledge of the concepts, principles, and theories related to the chemical composition or physical characteristics of materials for the design, construction, operation, and improvement of processes or systems.

The information you provide may be verified by a review of your work experience and/or education, by checking references and through other means (ex. interview). The examining Human Resources Office (HRO) makes the final determination concerning applicant ratings. Your resume MUST provide sufficient information to substantiate your responses to the vacancy questions. If not, the HRO may amend your responses to more accurately reflect the level of competency indicated by the content of your resume. Your evaluation may also include a review by a Human Resources Specialist or panel and may include other assessments (ex. interview, panel review, written test, writing sample, etc.)

INFORMATION FOR ICTAP/CTAP ELIGIBLES ONLY: If you are eligible for special priority selection under ICTAP/CTAP, you must be well-qualified for the position to receive consideration. ICTAP/CTAP eligibles who are placed into Category B or higher will be considered "well-qualified".

Click Application of Veterans Preference for Category Rating Jobs for more information.

To preview questions please click here .

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Other

Drug test required
Yes

Required Documents

The following documents must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on the vacancy closing date. You are not required to submit a document if it does not apply to you. Warning: If you submit a document using the same document title, the 2nd submission will OVERWRITE the 1st submission. Also, do not upload password protected documents.

- Veterans Documents (if applicable): To be considered as a 5-point preference eligible, you must submit a copy of your Certificate of Release or Discharge From Active Duty, DD214. Your DD-214 must show the type of discharge and dates of active duty. To claim 10-point preference, you must submit a copy of your DD214; an Application for 10-point Veteran's Preference, SF15; and the proof of entitlement of this preference which is normally an official statement, dated 1991 or later, from the Department of Veterans Affairs certifying to the present existence of the service-connected disability and indicating the percentage of your disability. (For active duty service members expecting honorable or general discharge or release within 120 days, click Active Duty ). Without this documentation, you will not receive veteran's preference. For more information, go to: http://www.fedshirevets.gov/hire/hrp/vetguide/index.aspx

- Displaced Employee Placement Documents - Only required if requesting priority consideration under CTAP or ICTAP eligibility.

- Cover Letters are not mandatory and will not be used to verify experience, but may be submitted

Applicants selected for employment who are not current DOL employees will be required to provide proof of citizenship , and the E-Verify system will be used to confirm the employment eligibility of all new hires.

- Unofficial Transcript(s) (in English) - submit if using education as a basis for qualifying for this position. If so, you must submit all applicable academic transcripts demonstrating that you meet the qualifying educational requirements (ex. BA/BS, MA, JD, PHD, etc). If specific course work is required to qualify, you must supply transcripts from each academic institution in which the required courses were taken in order to receive credit.

You may upload your transcript(s) as one document (3 MB size limit). If over 3 MB, please submit via fax feature.

OFFICIAL Transcripts MUST BE RECEIVED prior to selection and report date. Reference the "Education Section" for College Transcript and Evaluation of Foreign Education.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education .

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.