[PCT Book Excerpt] The #1 Rule of Pest Control

Editor’s Note: Earlier this year, in cooperation with Copesan Services, the PCT Media Group published the PCT Guide to Commercial Pest Management featuring editorial contributions from some of the industry’s leading technical directors. PCT will excerpt portions of this publication in the coming months. This month, we’re featuring the insights of Jim Sargent, director of technical support and regulatory compliance, Copesan Services, who discusses regulatory considerations in commercial pest management. To order a copy of the book, visit www.pctonline.com/store.
 

Perhaps the most distinctive differences between commercial and residential pest management or other types of pest management business are the large number and variety of regulations and requirements of which commercial pest management professionals must be aware and with which they must comply. There are national laws, state regulations, local ordinances, client requirements, audit standards and more.

A fundamental difference between residential and commercial pest control is the attitude of the customer. The residential client wants your service and your expertise in solving a pest problem or preventing pest problems. It’s an elective service. The commercial customer may or may not want to pay for the service, but various regulations require pest control (e.g., food processing, food warehousing, food service, health-care facilities, etc.).

The most important obligation of a PMP and a commercial pest management company is to provide pest management services that comply with all applicable laws and regulations and won’t result in embarrassment for the client in any way. That’s not what commercial clients say they want, but just see what happens if you apply a pesticide in a manner that is considered illegal (e.g., pesticide not registered, site not on the label, off-label rate, not following label directions, etc.) and you get caught.

The client will not appreciate the media attention, the harm to their brand or name, the loss of business, the extra attention of other regulatory agencies and the costs of fixing your illegal application. Food manufacturers face huge losses and expenses if a food product must be recalled because of an illegal pesticide application.

There is the lost expense of having produced food products that can’t be sold, the cost of the recall, the cost of destruction of the products, the loss of future sales and the general distrust of the consumer for the brand or food company. If your application of a pesticide costs a client millions of dollars in direct or indirect losses, you will be looking for a new job (besides facing fines and jail time) and the pest management company will have lost a client and could possibly go out of business.
 

Read and Follow the Label.

As simple as it sounds, it can be challenging for a pest management professional to “Read and Follow the Label.” This may be due to vague and confusing wording submitted to EPA by the chemical manufacturer or registrant when the product was registered; it may be due to a lack of knowledge about pests in the real world when EPA orders changes to label wording as a condition of registration; or it may be due to the differences in meaning that some words have for different individuals or in different parts of the country. Reviewing the label and discussing the meaning of seemingly obvious sentences is interesting, as is highlighting some of the inconsistencies of PMPs in a commercial pest management company.

This is easy to demonstrate with any pesticide product. In fact, it is a useful training exercise to review various sentences on a pesticide label and discuss the meaning of each in a variety of situations.

For example, what does it mean when the pesticide product label says, “Read the entire label before using this product”? Does this mean that you should read the label when you open a new container? That you should read the label if you haven’t used the product before (or recently)? That you should read the label before applying it the first time each day? Or does it mean that you should read the label each time you use the product at a different location?

A second example: What should the applicator do if the label says, “Do not make applications during rain”? Does this apply to indoor applications? Does it matter where it’s raining? Some of the recent changes to pyrethroid insecticide labels have resulted in contradictory label directions. For example: “Treat drains” and “Do not treat drains.” Or “Treat exterior walls” and “Do not treat exterior walls” elsewhere on the same label.

It can be confusing and frustrating to determine exactly what is meant by some label directions and precautions, especially if they are contradictory. If you ask your supervisor or regulatory officials for their interpretation of label wording, you’re likely to receive a different interpretation from each person you ask.

If you are ever asked to explain why you used a pesticide product the way that you did, remember that you are required by federal and state laws to “Follow the Label.” For example, if you are asked by a state inspector, your supervisor or an attorney (during a deposition or other court action) if you’ve read the label of a particular pesticide product before you applied it, remember that there is usually a sentence near the beginning of the label saying something like “You must read the entire label before using this product.” Again, you must follow all label directions. If the label says to read the entire label and you didn’t do so, then you are violating federal and state laws and, in some companies, it is also grounds for termination.

An easy way to stay out of trouble, but also to get into trouble, is through your service-ticket or pesticide-application documentation. If you record a rate of application not on the label, a treatment site not on the label, a pest not on the label or anything prohibited on the label, you’re in trouble. Therefore, always use the same words that are on the label of the pesticide product that you are using. If it says to apply to “soil,” don’t record that you applied it to “dirt” or “mulch” or anything else.

If a rodenticide label says the product can be used only for Norway rats, roof rats and house mice, don’t record that you used it for rats, brown rats, mice, field mice or anything that’s not on the label. Investigators are very good at comparing what you recorded in your service records to the label of the pesticide that you applied. Always read and follow — and match the label.

Some pesticide products have a sentence, usually near the end, that says, “Read the entire Directions for Use and Conditions of Sale and Limit of Warranty and Disclaimers and Limitations of Liability before buying or using this product.” Sometimes the label says that you must read and understand the entire label before using the pesticide product. Some labels are short (e.g., insect repellent) and easy to read and understand. Some are several pages long. Fumigant labels are probably the longest, even 40 to 50 pages long. Remember, you must “Read and Follow the Label.”

It should be mentioned there are some pesticide labels that say you must have the label in your possession during an application of the product. Again, know what the label says and requires — and do it.

Enforcement & Penalties.

When there is a complaint or an enforcement action against a pesticide applicator (such as yourself), usually you will be questioned first about exactly what you did when you applied the pesticide product. You might be asked exactly how you mixed the product, where you applied the product, what the wind or weather conditions were, what you said, who you talked to and every other little detail. Next, you will be asked, “Did you read the label?” Then, you will be asked what the label says you must do for everything that you just described that you did. It’s a painful experience if you admit that you don’t know what is required or what is on the label of a product that you applied.

Often the penalties for using a pesticide in a manner inconsistent with the label directions are more maddening (because of interpretation) or embarrassing than punitive. For example, most states will send you a warning letter the first time it is determined that you did not follow the label. However, within FIFRA, civil penalties of up to $5,000 can result if the violation was “unintentional.” Penalties of up to $25,000 or one year in prison, or both, can be the result if the pesticide applicator knowingly violated the law. In many instances, the state will settle for a lesser penalty (e.g., $1,000) but will multiply it by the number of times the law was violated. So, for example, failure to follow one of the label directions multiplied by 1,000 applications of the product over a period of time could result in a $1 million fine.

It is never a defense for an illegal application to say that “you’ve always” done it that way or “everyone else” does it that way. If it is easy to prove that you violated the law, a large penalty and probably a news release may be used as an example to teach and sensitize other pesticide applicators about pesticide regulations.

There are all sorts of reasons given for not following label directions and precautions. A few are good reasons; most are not. Sometimes a technician is pressured by his or her supervisor or by a person at the client facility to solve a difficult or continuing pest problem and “just spray.” If you explain to the client that the application is against the law, you may be threatened in some way (e.g., losing your job or losing the client). The person pressuring you probably does not know that the pesticide applicator is responsible for any illegal pesticide application under federal and state law and is the one who is punished. Occasionally, there are examples, especially recently, of the pest control company or the applicator’s employer also being penalized.
 

Summary.

There are many regulatory considerations that affect commercial pest management companies and technicians. Besides thousands of pages of federal and state regulations, there are client rules, protocols, requirements and policies that affect commercial pest management at a facility. It’s important to remember that regulations and all of a client’s requirements are dynamic; they are constantly changing based on industry and consumer demands, as well as the availability of new technologies and products. To be successful in commercial pest management, you need to comply with all rules and regulations affecting you and your client.