Summary 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. Responsibilities The Environmental Health Technician (Preventive Medicine) plays a critical role in identifying and mitigating potential environmental health and communicable disease risks. The employee ensures that Lovell FHCC and Naval locations and activities comply with relevant regulations and standards to protect public health and safety. Environmental Health and Sanitation Inspections and Management Provides sanitation inspection capabilities for food service facilities, berthing spaces, retail stores, barber/beauty shops, childcare facilities, gyms, laundries, recreational, swimming pools, water systems, and other areas for general sanitation as requested. Conducts regular drinking water quality inspections. Analyzes halogen, pH and bacterial content of potable water systems and sources ashore (and afloat, as requested). Works with Navy Facilities personnel to recommend appropriate environmental control measures including pesticide application. Establishes and executes periodic schedules for sanitation inspection targets. Periodically reviews facilities lists for new inspection targets and changes. Provides regular reports of all activities to leadership. Conducts bacteriological testing for water and ice sources. Provides food sanitation training to military and civilian personnel. Environmental and Preventive Surveillance Conduct exposure monitoring and surveillance activities for recruits, students, and customers of FHCC to include: Maintains the latent tuberculosis treatment database, reporting all discrepancies to the Preventive Medicine Officer (PMO). Ensures all division rosters for all preventive appointments for recruits are continuously tracked and results maintained and documented during recruit training and transfer to subsequent duty stations. Performs entry and quality assurance of Military Readiness Reporting System (MRRS) data entries for all divisions going through Recruit Training Command. Regulatory Reporting and Administration Analyze and evaluate collected data, noting trends and anomalies that may signal increased risk of communicable disease, or successes in disease prevention. Completes daily entries of relevant data in the following electronic databases: o Navy Disease Reporting System o Tuberculosis Surveillance Database o Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Database o Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Database o Blood Donors and Viral Markers Database o Communicable Disease Summary Database for Infection Control o Health Care Worker Surveillance (Immunizations and TST) o Medical Readiness Reporting System (MRRS) o Defense Occupational Environmental Health Readiness System (DOEHRS) o ESSENCE o Illinois Disease Surveillance System Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. Work Schedule: 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM Monday - Friday Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Environmental Health Tech/PD242610 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 You may be required to serve a probationary period Subject to background/security investigation Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details. Qualifications 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/. Education A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Notes: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/. Graduate education or an internship meets the specialized experience required above GS-5 only in those instances where it is directly related to the work of the position. One full year of graduate education meets the requirements for GS-7. 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. Additional Information Receiving Service Credit or Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. Pursuant to VHA Directive 1193.01, VHA health care personnel (HCP) are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 subject to such accommodations as required by law (i.e., medical, religious or pregnancy). VHA HCPs do not include remote workers who only infrequently enter VHA locations. If selected, you will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before your start date. The agency will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation will be needed and how you can request a legally required accommodation from this requirement using the reasonable accommodation process. If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement. Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.