AIHA Backs Qualification Recommendations for GS-0018 Safety Specialists

In an Aug. 2 letter to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the American Industrial Hygiene Association expressed support for the recommendations made in the Federal Advisory Council on Occupational Safety and Health (FACOSH) Training Subcommittee report surrounding the educational qualifications in the GS-0018, Safety and Occupational Health Management Job Series.

“A considerable number of AIHA members work for the federal government. As such, AIHA is supportive of any effort to ensure that Federal agencies could hire GS-0018s with the skills to meet today’s demanding standards for performing the job functions,” wrote AIHA President Allan K. Fleeger, CIH, CSP. “The FACOSH Training Subcommittee reviewed the qualifications for these positions and determined that positive education requirements should be included in the GS- 0018, Safety and Occupational Health Management job series.”

The FACOSH report reviewed and detailed the current qualifications of the Safety and Occupational Health Management Job Series, GS-0018, and determined that positive education requirements should be included. According to AIHA, the FACOSH recommendations are aimed at helping make sure that occupational safety and health professionals in the federal government are able to best protect workers and serve the American people.

Specifically, AIHA supports:

• The recommendation that requires education and/or professional certification as a Certified Safety Professional (CSP) from the Board of Certified Safety Professionals, Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) from the American Board of Industrial Hygiene, or a Certified Health Physicist (CHP) from the Academy of Health Physics as a qualification.
• The recommendation that OPM include the phrase “from an accredited college or university” with the job series education requirements.
• The FACOSH recommendation that OPM move the GS-0018, Safety and Occupational Health Management job series, from the Administrative Series to the Professional Series.

“These recommendations were adopted to address the current classification’s inability to keep up with both changes in the practice of occupational safety and health and the increasing recognition of the vital role that occupational safety and health professionals play in advancing the bottom line mission of any organization, whether in government or the private sector,” Fleeger wrote. "The FACOSH recommendations are specifically aimed at helping make sure that occupational safety and health professionals in the federal government are able to provide the kind of organizational leadership in supporting their employers’ goals and mission to protect workers and provide the American people with efficient, effective service.

“AIHA urges you to adopt the FACOSH recommendations,” he concluded.