Insect Production Worker

INTRODUCTIONThe incumbent of this position performs routine, repetitive assignments involved in insect mass production, packaging, storing, sterilization, and delivering of insects, and is also involved in the cleaning, disinfection, and maintenance of work areas in support of the insect production program in a designated state/Duty Station.APHIS is an emergency response agency. This means all Agency employees may be asked or assigned to participate in rotating temporary duty assignments away from their assigned duty station to support emergency programs at some time during their careers with APHIS.DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIESDepending on the needs of the specific duty station assigned, the incumbent may perform any combination of or all of the following grade controlling duties on a regular and recurring basis:Prepares and weighs out different rearing media and diet ingredients using different scales in preparing to make artificial diet for a variety of insect life stages, and maintains records of when the ingredients were weighed.Follows egg disinfection and preparation protocols to establish rearing colony. Disinfects colony housing equipment to ensure healthy production levels through the productive lifespan of the colony. Operates and/or synchronizes multiple pieces of equipment for the establishment of the colony.Provides feed to insects, controls temperature and humidity, and harvests pupae or adults, records collection data, and verifies that the data is correct and properly backed up in case of data loss from any given source.Separates insects into categories such as sex and/or species and controls them to prevent escape or intermingling.Observes insect collections for obvious changes of life cycles, deaths, and general activity, and reports observations to the supervisor.Uses variable quality control data and balance to calculate and weigh the specified number of pupae or sterile adults for delivery to different customers.Provides the Quality Control section with a representative random sample of pupae or adults to obtain statistics for the quantification of daily yields and quality of pupae or adults.Determines daily production of adults and pupae by determining the average weight and inputting that data into facility database, and forwards data by email or fax to customers, notifying them of the total weight and number of adults and the number of shipping containers in transit.Maintains approved disinfectants to clean and sanitize the floors, walls and equipment of rearing rooms, and disinfects them based on established protocols.Prepares disinfectant, for cleaning and sanitation of equipment for rearing of various insect life stages and disinfects based on established protocols.Determines when the insect rearing vessels should be changed, notifies the supervisor, or changes it in the absence of the supervisor.Operates high pressure steam washers to clean diet equipment, emergence boxes, and rearing racks.Performs irradiation and irradiation monitoring of insects prior to shipping and puts the information into storage and/or a database.Moves adults from controlled climate emergence rooms to refrigerated chill rooms, and performs all phases of the collection process in order to prepare the adults for aircraft release.Maintains ultraviolet light fiber optic systems used to attract adults out of emergence boxes, and uses plumbing equipment and high-speed industrial blowers to clear and clean collection lines and dry them.Safely uses autoclave to sterilize materials, water, and objects used in insect rearing.Performs set-up, servicing, maintenance, tear-down, and cleaning and disinfection of egg layer containers, including changing egg laying substrate and hydrating insect feeder pads.Keeps all work areas and equipment clean and aides in the setup and preparation for the next day’s duties. Follows and obeys all safety guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).