Panhandle

Job Announcement
PH-08-01
Field Technician

Location: All district office locations listed below
Opens: April 1, 2008
Closes: end of 2008 eradication season

HOW TO APPLY

All candidates must complete an official TBWEF application and return to one of the offices listed below. If you worked for the Foundation previously it is necessary to complete a current application.

 
Dumas
Panhandle
508 North Birge
301 Elsie Street
Dumas, TX 79029
Panhandle, TX 79068
(806) 537-4688
(806) 934-2808

Job Title
Field Technician

Service Location
Field Office

FLSA Class
Non-exempt

Job Status
Temporary/Seasonal

Reports To
Field Unit Supervisor/Field Unit Manager

Job Type
Neither Supervisory or Management

Job Summary

Drives a Foundation vehicle to and from the assigned airport, cotton field or roads surrounding a cotton field to perform the assigned tasks. Deploys and removes boll weevil traps in and around cotton fields. Monitors and collects information from those traps to identify the location and density of boll weevil populations. Maintains accurate chemical records and flight records of aerial applications. Observes whether the proper cotton fields are sprayed in an effective and efficient manner. Performs duties with daily supervision and a high level of quality control checks.

Essential Duties

Driving

  • Follows safe-driving practices.
  • Drives a Foundation vehicle from the office to the assigned worksite and back again in a safe manner.
  • Reads, understands and follows maps of cotton fields and surrounding areas.
  • Maintains complete vehicle mileage and gas records.
  • Performs daily maintenance checks on assigned vehicle to ensure mechanical reliability and reports damage and mechanical problems to supervisor immediately.

Trapping

  • Follows safety procedures for handling insecticide strips and driving stakes.
  • Assembles, deploys, services, cleans and removes boll weevil traps, stakes and trap parts in assigned cotton fields.
  • Positions, services and inspects traps to capture boll weevils and monitor their populations in and around cotton fields.
  • Records trap and boll weevil information in scanner and on traps.
  • Communicates with cotton producers/growers to ensure trap placement and monitoring activities are conducted without property damage or interference with grower's equipment or operations.
  • Monitors and reports cotton-crop stages and crop-destruction status.

Airport Recording

  • Completes daily flight records and airport logs.
  • Maintains accurate chemical inventory by recording pesticide quantities loaded, applied, unloaded and available in containment area. Does not physically assist in handling or loading of fuel or pesticide into the aircraft.
  • Communicates with other Foundation employees about airport weather conditions and aerial-spray progress during aerial applications.
  • Checks aircraft spray systems for leaks to ensure systems are in compliance with contract specifications.

Ground Observing

  • Drives to cotton fields designated for treatment to observe the spray application.
  • Records weather conditions at the designated cotton-field location and flight times of the aerial applicator.
  • Maintains radio contact with pilot, supervisor and airport personnel.

Other Duties

  • May clean office and surrounding area, as assigned.
  • May load wooden stakes and traps from storage building to vehicles as needed for trap deployment, as assigned.
  • May perform Assistant Field Unit Supervisor's duties occasionally, as assigned.
  • May perform Mechanic duties occasionally, as assigned.
  • May place dye cards in and around cotton fields to record chemical dispersal during aerial application.
  • May perform clerical or secretarial duties.

Essential Job Requirements

Education/Experience Requirements

Prefer a high-school education or equivalent and/or two-to-six months farm-related experience or training.

Abilities Requirements

  • Drive a Foundation vehicle.
  • Identify boll weevils.
  • Hammer/drive wooden stakes into the ground.
  • Read, write and speak English language at a 9th grade level.
  • Write in a legible manner.
  • Learn and complete simple tasks with minimal direct supervision.
  • Follow detailed but uninvolved written or oral instructions and use common sense in carrying out those instructions.
  • Enter numbers into a handheld scanner.
  • Add, subtract, multiply and divide two-digit numbers.
  • Communicate clearly using a two-way radio.
  • Communicate clearly with supervisor and co-workers.
  • Hear aircraft and radio communication.
  • Read and follow cotton-field and road maps.
  • Perform math operations using the U.S. system of measurement, volume and distance.
  • Deal with problems involving a few concrete variables in standardized situations.

Driving Requirements

  • Have and maintain a valid driver's license.

  • Be insurable under the Foundation's auto insurance guidelines.

Special Requirements

  • Willing and able to work hours longer than normal office hours, which may include evenings, weekends and holidays, as requested by supervisor.
  • Regular attendance is an essential requirement for this position.
  • Willing and able to provide blood samples as needed for ongoing cholinesterase monitoring program.

Physical Requirements

Must be physically and mentally able to travel to and work in isolated, remote cotton fields. Work involves:

  • Performing all essential duties and job responsibilities of this position in a safe and effective manner.
  • Driving daily over extremely rough roads, ruts, washouts and slippery, muddy fields.
  • Daily walking, hiking, climbing, standing, balancing, kneeling, stooping, bending, stretching and reaching in extremely rugged, cotton-field terrain, including walking across ditches and furrows, up and down steep banks, over muddy ground and through loose, shifting sand.
  • Working outside daily in all types of weather, including rain, extreme hot and cold temperatures and fierce, dusty winds.
  • Frequent entering and exiting a Foundation vehicle throughout each day.
  • Sitting and driving in a normal, seated position for extended periods of time in a vehicle.
  • Hammering/driving wooden stakes into the ground.
  • Using hands to manipulate equipment and plants.
  • Medium work involving lifting 50 lbs. maximum with frequent lifting and/or carrying of objects weighing up to 25 lbs.
  • Distance vision, depth perception and field of vision within normal parameters.
  • Hearing ability within normal parameters.

Work Environment

  • Hazards in the work environment may involve the following:
  • Travel by vehicle to and from cotton fields and airports.
  • Isolated work in remote cotton fields and county roads where noise level is normally low.
  • Work at airports where the noise level is usually moderate to very noisy during aircraft takeoff and landing.
  • Work with wooden stakes that may split and splinter when hammered.
  • Exposure to stinging and biting insects.
  • Exposure to poisonous plants, non-poisonous and poisonous snakes and other types of wildlife found in and around cotton fields and farmland, including mice, rats and other types of rodents.
  • Possible exposure to chemicals, pesticides or herbicides associated with cotton fields and agriculture.
  • Possible exposure to conditions consistent with airports, aircrafts and aerial applicators, including aircraft propellers and aircraft fuel.


AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
Drug-Free Workplace
Pre-employment drug testing required for all applicants

Download an application form

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