Certified Field Biologist Training and Exam
You might have heard the term Field Biologist, but are not too sure what a Field Biologist is, or why they are necessary. We discuss here what it’s all about.
Why are Field Biologists needed?
Many food companies work to Standards set by independent auditing companies (such as British Retail Consortium/BRC) or by supermarkets (such as M&S). These Standards specify there must be one to four in-depth quality assurance inspections in addition to the Routine/PPM (Proactive Pest Management) technician visits. Sometimes they specify that these quality assurance inspections must be carried out by a certified Field Biologist.
What does a Field Biologist do?
The Field Biologist is expected to:
- Probe deeper than the technician and thoroughly check every part of a site and examine equipment for signs of infestation or potential infestation.
- Carry out regular Pest Risk Assessments to justify frequency of pest management visits types of monitoring required
- Analyse monitoring data for activity trends to help determine root cause and recommend rectifications
- Ensure compliance with the pest management specifications of all the Standards the site is working to
- Ensure the technicians are performing effective monitoring and record keeping
- Check the folders or portals are fully up-to-date with training certificates, Risk Assessments, Safety Data Sheets, COSHH Assessments, reports, pest sighting logs, site plans, reports etc.
- Liaise with the site pest control contract manager to discuss how pest prevention and management can be enhanced
What attributes does a Field Biologist need?
A Field Biologist must have a broad knowledge and experience of pest control as you will need to complete comprehensive surveys where you identify root cause of infestations and recommend solutions. You are expected to be able to identify and know a bit about the majority of stored product insects that could affect the UK food industry. In your reports, you need to write the scientific names for the insects, so it helps if you know these as well as the common names (though scientific names can obviously be looked up relatively easily). You need to have the skills and aptitude to complete pest risk assessments and trend analysis, and the confidence to communicate at a high level with technical contacts in the food industry.
What training is available?
The NPTA offers 1-day training courses around the country on ‘Food Pest Management for Aspiring Biologists’. This is an introductory course that covers all the core knowledge required of a field biologist, and discusses examples of pest management problems and solutions in food manufacturing. Some insect identification is included.
Nurture Pest Control Training Academy offers a Field Biologist training course that extends over 2 days (with a gap between for self-study). This covers the same material as the NPTA course, with additional content on insect identification. Lots of insect specimens are examined to help ensure your familiarity with all the species. This course is intended to fully prepare you for the FB exam.
What does the NPTA certified Field Biologist assessment involve?
There are pre-requisites of L2 Award/Certificate in Pest Management or equivalent (ideally you will L3 Award in Pest Management), L2 Award in Health & Safety and L3 Award in Food Safety.
The assessment is split into several sections:
- Insect identification (scientific names required)
- Long answer question on data analysis and trending
- Long answer question on pest risk assessments
- Short answer questions
- Oral exam
- In addition, you need to have supplied copies of five biologist type reports that you have completed on customer sites.
For the full specification, please CLICK HERE, where you can also book a place on the exam.
