Hospital Housekeeping Officer – Environmental Management Service

Summary The Hospital Housekeeping Officer serves as the Chief of Environmental Management Service (EMS) and is the principal Environmental Management expert at the Dayton VAMC. The Dayton VAMC is a Level 1C, tertiary facility that provides a continuum of care that encompasses all levels of acute, nursing home, mental health, hospice/palliative, and domiciliary care in an affiliated teaching and research environment. Responsibilities Duties Include, but are not limited to: Coordinates program efforts with other internal activities and management. Provides technical and administrative support to all sections within environmental services. Ensures the Environmental Sanitation Department, through delegation to subordinate supervisors, provides daily coverage to designated patient and non-patient care areas. Maintains a comprehensive knowledge of chemical and biological concepts utilized in the wide range of environmental sanitation, pest management, laundry and waste management. Establishes, in cooperation with the Textile Care Supervisor, laundry work standards, equipment and techniques to effectively tailor manpower requirements and workload characteristics. Responsible for the full cycle of linen management as the Linen Control Officer, to include type and quantities of line purchased based on established quotas. Determines needs for resources and their appropriate allocation and effectiveness of use. Provides advice and information to leadership on a broad spectrum of factors including Joint Commission, OSHA requirements, public relations, and economic impact. Coordinates a complete program that includes but is not limited to the development and maintenance of standards for cleanliness and sanitation, frequency of cleaning, methods, procedures, necessary supplies, and safety precautions to be followed. Initiates personnel actions when appropriate. Delegates to subordinate supervisors and holds them accountable for performance of assigned duties. Serves as an advisor to top management and performs as a member of various committees. Implements a waste management program to minimize or eliminate the possibility of serious hazards to employees or damage to the environment and/or community, often in laboratory settings where little or no precedent information is available. Applicable Environmental Management standards and precedent methods are often inadequate or not available. This requires the development of new measures for controlling or eliminating hazards caused by a wide variety of environmental conditions, hazardous, unusual activities, and grounds exposed to potential damage. Work Schedule: Full Time; Monday – Friday, 8:00am – 4:30pm. Schedule subject to change based on the needs of the facility. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Hospital Housekeeping Officer – Environmental Management Service/PD92389-0 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: May be Authorized. Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized. PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized. Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required. 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 A Relocation or Recruitment Incentive may be approved for a highly qualified candidate. To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/21/2024. 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-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12 level. 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: Applicants applying to the GS-0673-13 Hospital Housekeeping Officer position must meet the Individual Occupational Requirements for the Hospital Housekeeping Management Series (0673). An applicant must possess the following Education and/or Specialized Experience to meet the Individual Occupational Requirements: Education Undergraduate Education: Major study — chemistry or biological sciences, sanitary science or administration, institutional sanitation or administration, hospital administration, hotel administration, public administration, business administration, or other fields related to the position. Graduate Education: Major study — Major study — public health or business administration with emphasis in hospital administration. OR Specialized Experience Specialized Experience (for positions above GS-5): Experience in two or more of the following areas, or other work related to the position to be filled: Experience that demonstrated a practical working knowledge of the basic principles of chemistry, biology, and bacteriology as applied to environmental sanitation, infection control, and to the choice and use of antimicrobial agents in the disinfection, sanitization, and/or sterilization of surfaces and equipment. Experience in laundry and linen management. Experience in interior design management. Experience that demonstrated a knowledge of waste management, including the requirements relating to hazardous, toxic, and infectious wastes and provisions for their final disposition. Experience that demonstrated a knowledge of pest management, including alternative methods of control and the selection and application of chemicals. Grade Level Requirements In addition to meeting the above Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR), applicants must also meet the Specialized Experience required for the GS-13 grade level. Specialized Experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. The Specialized Experience must be equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-12). Examples of Specialized Experience include, but are not limited to: Experience with hospital organization, functions, specialties, and programs; Experience using pertinent laws, regulations, directives, policies, and procedures that relate to administration of Environmental Management Service; Skill in conducting detailed analyses of complex VA patient administration functions and work processes; Skill in communicating and writing with the ability to articulate complex regulatory information in understandable terms and present information to diverse audiences; Experience establishing and maintaining effective relationships with and gain the cooperation of supervisors, managers, and co-workers on complex or controversial issues. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Administration and Management Communication Compliance Process Control 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: Work is generally sedentary with walking required. Flexibility is required to accommodate events and activities occurring in other than normal duty hours such as health fairs where the incumbent may be required to attend. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Managements website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/. Education Individual Occupational Requirement: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Grade Level Requirement: There is no educational substitution at this grade level. Note: 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/. 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 applicants 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.