Laundry Machine Operator

Summary

This position is located in the Laundry Section of Environmental Management, Facilities Management Service, Sheridan VA Health Care System. The incumbent performs the full range of commercial laundry machine operating duties associated with processing textiles for the Sheridan VA Health Care System and supported VA facilities, including the Billings Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC).

Duties

• Soiled Processing and Laundry Machine Operations Receives soiled textiles delivered to the designated soiled-linen receiving area from the Sheridan VA Health Care System and supported facilities. Ensures contaminated textiles remain physically separated from clean textiles and clean-processing areas in accordance with established infection prevention and laundry procedures. Sorts and classifies soiled textiles according to fabric type, degree and type of soil, required treatment, washing characteristics, and established processing requirements. Identifies items requiring special treatment or handling and determines the appropriate established wash process. Weighs sorted textiles and maintains required production and load documentation. Determines appropriate load sizes based on equipment capacity, textile type, processing requirements, and safe operating limits. Operates multiple commercial/industrial washing machines, including three approximately 200- pound-capacity washers, one approximately 125-pound-capacity washer, and a smaller commercial washer. Loads and unloads equipment and maintains an efficient sequence of work to meet established production requirements. Selects appropriate wash formulas and programs based on textile composition, soil conditions, infection-control requirements, and processing needs. Selects or verifies appropriate water temperatures, wash and rinse cycles, cycle duration, chemical concentrations or dilution requirements, and other operating parameters necessary to obtain acceptable results while protecting textile integrity. Monitors machine operation and wash quality throughout processing. Recognizes conditions such as inadequate soil removal, staining, discoloration, fading, chemical residue, excessive wear, or premature textile deterioration. Determines whether established operating parameters require adjustment and, within authorized procedures, adjusts or modifies wash processes to correct processing deficiencies. Uses established knowledge of laundry chemicals and chemical-injection systems to ensure appropriate products are available and properly connected. Changes chemical containers or supplies as required and follows applicable Safety Data Sheets (SDS), manufacturer's instructions, personal protective equipment requirements, and facility safety procedures. Observes washers and associated equipment during operation for abnormal vibration, leakage, unusual noise, improper chemical delivery, control problems, or other indications of malfunction. Takes appropriate action within established operating procedures and promptly reports mechanical or chemical-system problems requiring maintenance or specialized repair. Maintains required production levels while ensuring that safety, infection prevention, textile quality, and equipment-capacity requirements are met. Clean Processing Transfers processed textiles from washers to dryers and other finishing operations while maintaining required separation between soiled and clean laundry areas. Loads and unloads commercial dryers in accordance with equipment capacities and textile requirements. Selects established drying cycles and temperatures appropriate for the materials being processed. Inspects processed textiles for cleanliness, stains, damage, excessive moisture, or other quality deficiencies and identifies items requiring reprocessing or removal from service. Assists with folding, stacking, sorting, and preparation of clean textiles for distribution. Loads clean-linen carts with the appropriate textiles and quantities while maintaining cleanliness and preventing contamination of processed linen. Supports continuous production flow between washing, drying, finishing, and distribution operations and assists other laundry employees as necessary to meet daily workload and customer requirements. Washroom and Equipment-Area Cleanliness Maintains the washroom and assigned equipment areas in a clean, orderly, and sanitary condition. Removes lint and debris; cleans equipment exteriors and designated work surfaces; and performs sweeping, mopping, sanitizing, and other housekeeping functions necessary to maintain safe and sanitary laundry operations. Immediately addresses or reports spills, wet floors, chemical leaks, obstructions, and other conditions that could create safety, infection-control, or operational hazards. Assists with general cleaning of the laundry plant and maintains assigned supplies, tools, carts, and equipment in their designated locations. Performs other related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: 7:00am - 3:30pm, Monday-Friday Position Description Title/PD#: Laundry Machine Operator/PD148760 Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Authorized Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/15/2026. EXPERIENCE: A specific length of training and experience is not required, but you must show evidence of training or experience of sufficient scope and quality of your ability to do the work of this position. Evidence which demonstrates you possess the knowledge, skills, and ability to perform the duties of this position must be supported by detailed descriptions of such on your resume. Applicants will be rated in accordance with the OPM Federal Wage System Qualification Standards. SCREEN-OUT ELEMENT: Your qualifications will first be evaluated against the prescribed screen out element, which usually appears as question 1 in the on-line questionnaire. Those applicants who appear to possess at least the minimal acceptable qualification requirement are considered for further rating; those who do not are rated ineligible and are eliminated. The potential eligibles are then rated against the remainder of the Job Elements: Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: The work requires sustained physical effort throughout the workday. The incumbent regularly stands and walks for extended periods on concrete or other hard surfaces and frequently bends, stoops, reaches, pushes, pulls, and performs repetitive hand and arm movements. The incumbent pushes and maneuvers heavy laundry carts; handles large quantities of dry and wet textiles; loads and unloads commercial washers and dryers; and pulls heavy wet textiles from processing equipment. The work regularly requires lifting, carrying, pushing, or otherwise handling linen bags, bundles, and loads weighing more than 50 pounds. Considerable strength and stamina are required to maintain production while performing repetitive material-handling tasks. Working Conditions: Work is performed primarily in an industrial healthcare laundry environment. The incumbent is regularly exposed to high machinery noise levels, heat, humidity, lint, moisture, drafts, detergents, laundry chemicals, and wet floors. During soiled-linen operations, the incumbent handles textiles that may be contaminated with blood, bodily fluids, infectious organisms, bacteria, viruses, and other potentially hazardous material. Offensive odors may be encountered while receiving, sorting, and processing soiled textiles. The incumbent is subject to possible cuts, scrapes, bruises, strains, slips or falls on wet surfaces, and accidental punctures from improperly discarded sharps or other objects concealed in soiled linen. Required personal protective equipment is worn when performing soiled-linen processing and other tasks presenting biological, chemical, or physical hazards. PPE may include gloves, protective gowns or aprons, eye or face protection, and other equipment prescribed by facility policy, hazard assessment, or applicable Safety Data Sheets. The incumbent follows established procedures for infection prevention, hazard communication, chemical handling, machine safety, and response to potentially hazardous items discovered in laundry.

Requirements

You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 Subject to background/security investigation Pre-employment physical required Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment. Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary period or trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

How to apply

All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on 09/15/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13058618. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USA JOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire. Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package. NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. If initial application submission is updated and resubmitted with a new resume, only the most current resume will be reviewed for consideration. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at: https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/merit-hiring-plan-resources/applicant-guidance-on-the-two-page-resume-limit/ Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified, you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified (have a final rating of 85 or more) for this vacancy. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.