Backtalk

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

In the article “Are Annual Inspections Performed on Time?” in the January issue of PCT magazine (page 46), the Georgia Department of Agriculture points out that of the homeowners that paid for their annual inspection, only 72 percent the first year and only 64 percent the second year actually received their inspection.

On the surface, these numbers are damning to the pest management industry here in Georgia. But on second glance, there are many ways this could happen, including:
• Homeowner refused to make the property accessible.
• Homeowner forgot to meet the inspector.
• “I thought my husband called to cancel.”
• The dog was in the yard.
• Homeowner was on vacation.
• Renters refused to let us in.
• The crawl door was locked.
• The children are at home.
• Mom, dad, etc., was sick.
• Family member died.
• And a hundred more!

None of these examples were considered in the Georgia Department of Agriculture’s calculations. As a past president of the Georgia Pest Control Association (and what seems to be a life-long member of the WDO committee here in Georgia), these reasons as to why the inspections were not completed on time are not made up, they are true issues that we as pest management professionals face every day.

When we present incomplete data, as does this article, we hurt ourselves and the public’s perception as to what we do.

It might be noted that one of the authors, Jim Harron, proposed changes to the Rules of the Georgia Structural Pest Control Act. These changes included requiring annual inspections in contract renewals for control of wood-destroying organisms, such as termites.

Similar well intended, but ill conceived regulations were in place in Alabama and Mississippi. Millions of dollars were spent to defend companies. Class-action lawsuits cost not only millions of dollars but pest management professionals’ good names as well. The end results in Alabama and Mississippi were to have the regulation repealed. Why? For the exact same reason. Recently, at a public hearing, six leading pest management professionals from throughout Georgia spoke against this proposal and pointed to numerous examples of just why a company might fall short of the dates.
Stephen M. Arnold
President
Peachtree Pest Control Co.
Norcross, Ga.

Editor’s note: On Jan. 30, the Georgia Structural Pest Control Commission voted against the aforementioned proposed changes to the Rules of the Georgia Structural Pest Control Act.

AUTHOR’S RESPONSE
As was stated in the article, there was little previous data to be found on the subject of annual inspections and if/when they are performed. Since this was one of the first attempts to examine this issue, the study was limited in scope. As was also clearly stated in the article, the study was only designed to answer two questions: 1) What percentage of contracts required an annual inspection vs. a periodic inspection? and 2) What was the actual inspection interval of these contracts?

No attempt was made to address the issue of why a given inspection was not made or determine the motives of a company for not performing an inspection since that was not the intent of the study.

In the study, more than 44 percent of the eligible companies were surveyed with about four contracts per company reviewed. Of the 1,242 original contracts reviewed, 813 were followed to their second year. We feel comfortable that the design of the survey and the findings were valid and answered the two questions. It is hoped that this study and findings will prompt others to conduct additional surveys and expand the scope of this initial work.

This study and the recent actions and discussions of the Georgia Structural Pest Control Commission in this area have brought to light the need for the industry, in Georgia, to more closely examine the practice of annual inspections. For whatever reason, of contracts examined in this survey, approximately 29 percent the first year and 36 percent the second year did not receive a timely inspection.

As was indicated in the closing statement of the article, “If the annual inspection is truly one of the basic principles for providing early detection and protection against WDOs in structures, greater effort needs to be made to ensure that consumers receive these inspections in a timely manner.”
Jim Harron
Director
Structural Pest Control Division
Georgia Department of Agriculture
Atlanta, Ga.