The Duties and responsibilities of a Science technican

· Delivery and collection of equipment to and from the laboratories

· Ensuring kits in labs are kept stocked

· Making up stock solutions of chemicals

· basic servicing of equipment e.g. microscopes

· Making minor repairs to equipment

· Assisting in stock control/ordering of equipment

· Preparation and disposal of microbiological media

· Setting up practical assessment material

· a willingness to learn about desktop computing and databases

· College based Health & Safety within the immediate working environment

1. Preparation for lessons, the technician in a day must prepare equipment and chemicals for all the lessons and for the following day, due to the variety of lessons and the amount of equipment needed the technicians can prepare around twenty different sets of equipment. Due to this large amount of work the technicians must schedule the workload very carefully, also just one set of equipment involves doing the following;-

i. examining the requisition slips to see what equipment and if any special items are needed for the practical,

ii. the technicians refuse to prepare any practical if a risk assessment has not been completed by the lecturer before hand,

2. Health and Safety, the technicians must always be conscious of the Health and Safety Act 1974 with regards to every action they do in a laboratory, for example;-

4. Stocktaking/replenishment and ordering, whilst the technician must prepare equipment for lessons another important job that they must perform is stock taking and ordering, for the smooth running of the department the levels of all chemicals must be monitored and reordered when levels run low, but there are a few of the more dangerous chemicals for which the technicians must possess a special licence, these include, but are not limited to: - radioactive substances, ethanol and industrial mentholated spirits. These licences are issued from Customs and Excise who also regulate how much of these substances the department is allowed each year.

3. The repair and maintenance of equipment, science technicians must also be very competent at repairing equipment and keeping all electrical appliances in full working order as not to pose a threat to any persons that may come into contact with the appliance whilst in the laboratory.

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