Junior Design Review/Construction Safety Professional

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory • Berkeley, CA

8d • $89,000 - $96,000 • Onsite

About The Position

The Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is hiring a Junior Design Review/Construction Safety Professional for its Operations Support Team. Working under specific direction and close technical review, this role provides Prevention through Design (PtD) and EHS design-review support for facility, infrastructure, construction, and maintenance projects. The position helps project teams identify foreseeable lifecycle hazards early and incorporate practical controls into planning, design, procurement, construction documents, commissioning, operations, maintenance, and decommissioning.

The professional applies foundational health and safety knowledge to routine and moderately scoped design reviews using established criteria, checklists, drawings, specifications, hazard registers, and project systems. Responsibilities include documenting comments, tracking resolution, coordinating with EHS subject-matter experts, and promptly escalating complex or high-risk issues. The role also conducts routine construction-safety field assurance and provides limited industrial-hygiene support within established qualifications and under technical oversight.

The appointment is a full-time career position, exempt from overtime pay. Work will be performed primarily at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California. Candidates must be eligible to work in the United States at the time of hire; visa sponsorship is unavailable. A background check is required. Priority consideration is given to applications submitted by October 29, 2026, and applications will be accepted until the posting is removed.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Occupational Safety, Public Health, Engineering, Industrial Hygiene, Architecture, Construction Management, or a related discipline and up to three years of relevant experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Basic knowledge of Prevention through Design, the hierarchy of controls, occupational and construction health and safety principles, and common facility and construction hazards.
• Basic ability to read routine drawings, specifications, design narratives, equipment layouts, and project documents; identify common lifecycle hazards; and recommend standard design controls using established criteria.
• Ability to document concise, actionable design-review comments; maintain hazard and decision records; track responses; and verify closure under technical supervision.
• Ability to recognize when engineering, regulatory, industrial-hygiene, fire-protection, environmental, radiation-protection, or other specialized review is needed and route issues to the appropriate subject-matter expert.
• Ability to learn and apply OSHA, Cal/OSHA, DOE, ANSI, Berkeley Lab, building-project, and other applicable requirements within established procedures and with technical guidance.
• Ability to conduct basic construction field observations and hazard assessments, compare installed conditions with approved controls, and escalate deviations appropriately.
• Ability, after training and qualification, to support basic industrial-hygiene sampling, equipment calibration, field documentation, data organization, and records management.
• Effective written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills for collaborating with project managers, architects, engineers, construction managers, subcontractors, maintenance personnel, customers, and EHS staff.
• Ability to organize assigned reviews, manage multiple routine priorities, meet deadlines, and provide timely status updates with close supervisory support.
• Demonstrated judgment to stop or pause work when conditions appear unsafe or fall outside established controls and to promptly seek technical direction.
• Ability to follow specific direction, defined assignments, established priorities, and close technical review from the manager or an assigned senior safety professional.
• Must be eligible to work in the United States at the time of hire; visa sponsorship is not available.
• Must undergo a background check.

Nice To Haves

• Internship, cooperative education, technician, field engineering, architecture, construction management, or early-career professional experience in project design, facility planning, construction, maintenance, industrial hygiene, or occupational safety.
• Familiarity with project design phases, drawings, specifications, basis-of-design documents, BIM/model viewers, submittals, RFIs, design comments, Bluebeam, Smartsheet, and comment resolution.
• Foundational knowledge or applied experience in Prevention through Design (PtD), design hazard analysis, lifecycle risk review, maintainability, or design-for-safety practices.
• Experience in or exposure to DOE national laboratories, research institutions, campuses, healthcare, industrial settings, or other complex, multi-employer project environments.
• Introductory experience with construction field assurance or industrial-hygiene sampling, including equipment calibration, field documentation, and basic data interpretation.
• Relevant coursework or applied experience in PtD, design review, project delivery, construction or maintenance safety, industrial hygiene, or STEM disciplines.

Responsibilities

• Support EHS reviews of project concepts, programming documents, schematic and design-development packages, construction documents, and significant design changes using established criteria and checklists.
• Review routine drawings, specifications, design narratives, equipment layouts, workflows, access provisions, and related documents to identify foreseeable health and safety hazards and opportunities for early risk reduction.
• Apply the hierarchy of controls, prioritizing hazard elimination, substitution, and engineering controls over administrative controls and personal protective equipment.
• Evaluate hazards across the asset lifecycle, including construction, installation, testing, commissioning, operation, inspection, maintenance, repair, emergency response, and decommissioning.
• Assess routine design considerations involving access and egress, work at heights, material handling, hazardous energy, electrical clearances, guarding, ventilation, chemicals, noise, ergonomics, confined spaces, and maintainability.
• Support design hazard analyses, risk registers, checklists, decision logs, and records of hazards, recommended controls, responsible parties, and resolution status.
• Enter actionable review comments in Bluebeam, Smartsheet, or other project systems and track responses, revisions, and closure under senior technical review.
• Participate in design charrettes, design, constructability, and readiness reviews, and project coordination meetings as assigned.
• Identify required EHS disciplines, route questions to subject-matter experts, compile multidisciplinary input, and track comments to resolution.
• Help verify that accepted EHS controls are incorporated into drawings, specifications, equipment requirements, procurement documents, work packages, commissioning plans, and other enforceable project documents.
• Use field observations, incident trends, lessons learned, and recurring deficiencies to recommend improvements to design-review checklists, standard details, specifications, and project guidance.
• Recognize and promptly escalate issues requiring engineering calculations, code interpretation, advanced industrial-hygiene analysis, or specialized judgment; do not independently approve designs or act as the engineer of record.
• Prepare design-review summaries, comment-resolution reports, and performance data for project teams and EHS leadership.
• Conduct routine field assessments, inspections, and work observations to verify implementation of approved design controls, work-planning requirements, and standard construction-safety controls.
• Identify common construction hazards involving falls, ladders and scaffolds, excavation, electrical and hazardous energy, material handling, mobile equipment, heat, access and egress, and housekeeping.
• Review contractor safety programs, Site Specific Safety Plans, Job Hazard Analyses, pre-task plans, and related submittals for completeness and routine compliance; refer final technical determinations for senior review.
• Document field conditions, communicate routine deficiencies, track corrective actions, and compare field experience with design assumptions to improve future PtD reviews.
• Exercise Berkeley Lab stop-work authority for unsafe conditions, uncontrolled hazards, or uncertainty; promptly notify the assigned senior safety professional or manager and support corrective-action and restart verification.
• After required training and qualification, assist with qualitative and quantitative hazard evaluations and industrial-hygiene sampling, including noise, indoor air quality, asbestos, lead, silica, and chemical exposures.
• Prepare sampling equipment, perform calibrations, maintain field notes and chain-of-custody records, organize data, and enter results into the industrial-hygiene database or successor system.
• Prepare routine technical summaries under senior review and help translate findings into design criteria, engineering-control recommendations, and field controls.
• Complete required training and qualifications and maintain current knowledge of Berkeley Lab policies and applicable OSHA, Cal/OSHA, DOE, ANSI, and consensus-standard requirements.
• Provide timely project and activity updates, attend team and division meetings, maintain constructive customer relationships, and support data quality, performance reporting, and continuous improvement.
• Provide qualified support to other Operations Support Team programs and perform other assigned duties within established training, authorization, and supervisory boundaries.
• Promptly escalate complex, high-risk, novel, disputed, regulatory, or policy-sensitive issues and matters beyond established controls or personal qualifications.
• Apply foundational professional judgment within established procedures and standard control strategies; seek guidance before non-routine design interpretations, technical commitments, or final closure decisions.

Benefits

• Exceptional health and retirement benefits, including pension or 401K-style plans.
• Tuition Assistance Program.
• Vacation and sick time accrual.
• Annual Winter Holiday Shutdown.
• Parental bonding leave for mothers and fathers.
• Pet insurance.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level