Safety Engineer

Summary Department of Health & Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Center for Clinical Standards and Quality, Survey and Operations Group, Division of Emergency Preparedness and Life Safety Code. As a Safety Engineer, GS-0803-13, you will evaluate health care facilities to determine compliance with the provisions of the federal agency Conditions of Participation and the Life Safety Code (LSC), ensuring the safety and structural soundness of these health care facilities. Responsibilities Provides authoritative professional and technical expertise in the area of safety engineering in the review and assessment of fire and related life safety issues in health care facilities. Conducts on-site life safety and emergency preparedness inspections and surveys of health care providers and suppliers participating in the Medicare program. Recommends termination of health care providers from CMS programs when fire and life safety practices and physical environment conditions are not in keeping with federal standards and develops documentation for termination. Applies an extensive technical knowledge of safety engineering theory and principles to obtain compliance with federal regulations. Provides advice and recommendations to the director of SOG and to other CMS managers on interpretation and application of the LSC for all health care providers, including specific recommendations on the approval or denial of LSC waiver requests. Requirements Conditions of Employment Qualifications ALL QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS MUST BE MET BY THE CLOSING DATE OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. Your resume (limited to no more than 2 pages) must include detailed information as it relates to the responsibilities and specialized experience for this position. Evidence of copying and pasting directly from the vacancy announcement without clearly documenting supplemental information to describe your experience will result in an ineligible rating. This will prevent you from receiving further consideration. Basic Qualifications: A. Degree: 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 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 B. 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 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: 1. Professional registration or licensure -- Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT), or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) 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. 2. 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. 3. Specified academic courses -- Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified in the basic requirements under paragraph A. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A. 4. Related curriculum -- Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a bachelor's 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.) AND In order to qualify for the GS-13, you must meet the following: You must demonstrate in your resume at least one year (52 weeks) of qualifying specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level in the Federal government, obtained in either the private or public sector, to include: 1. Conducting fire and life safety inspections or surveys of health care facilities to assess compliance with applicable safety codes and regulations (e.g., Life Safety Code, Health Care Facilities Code, or equivalent); 2. Applying safety engineering principles to identify hazardous conditions and recommend corrective actions; And 3. Providing technical guidance to stakeholders on fire and life safety standards, emergency preparedness requirements, and regulatory compliance obligations. 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, religious, 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. Education TRANSCRIPTS are required to verify satisfactory completion of the educational requirement listed above. Please see "Required Documents" section below for what documentation is required at the time of application. Foreign Education: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov. Click the following link to view the occupational questionnaire: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13047047 Additional Information Salary Range: Kansas City, MO: 108,173-140,627 Woodlawn, MD: 121,785-158,322 Dallas, TX: 115,711-150,426 Bargaining Unit Position: Yes Tour of Duty: Flexible Recruitment Incentive: Not Authorized Relocation Incentive: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure: OGE-450 Workplace Flexibility at CMS: This position has a regular and recurring reporting requirement to the CMS office listed in this announcement. CMS offers flexible working arrangements and allows employees the opportunity to participate in alternative work schedules at the manager's discretion. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced federal employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit the required documentation and be rated well-qualified for this vacancy. Click here for a detailed description of the required supporting documents. A well-qualified applicant is one whose knowledge, skills and abilities clearly exceed the minimum qualification requirements of the position. Additional information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at www.opm.gov/rif/employee_guides/career_transition.asp.