PMPs Share Opinions on Industry Regulations

Editor's note: This article originally appeared in the January print version of PCT under the headline "Red Tape Everywhere."

“We haven’t had a break,” says Cindy Ziemke about researching, anticipating for and strategizing about how to manage the legislative environment and inevitable future regulatory constraints.

American City Pest & Termite is based in Gardena, Calif., which is in Los Angeles County.

“There’s just over-regulation,” she says, expressing a sentiment shared by other PCT-NPMA survey respondents who called out government/regulations as the No. 3 business concern, preceded by inflation/higher costs, and hiring and retaining good employees.

Seventy-two percent of PMPs who completed the survey are taking steps to become more sustainable. And while change is a demand on time and money, 40 percent acknowledge that government regulation is needed to protect consumers, workers and/or the environment. Thirty-five percent disagreed completely and 24 percent don’t agree with either statement.

Ziemke unleashed the company’s vice president on an info-gathering mission to figure out what the company should do proactively and operationally to stay compliant in the worst-case scenarios. She calls suppliers, compares active ingredients, compares efficacy and environmental impact, and trains technicians on conscientious product use.

“I’m a planner,” Ziemke says. “We like to order inventory ahead of time to stay stocked up, but things are always changing, which is a challenge.”

Billy Oleson is the policy affairs representative for the Washington State Pest Management Association. “We can bide our time, but if we don’t have programs and protocols in place as the EPA migrates toward what I believe is the anticipated direction, it will be too much change very quickly and [we will be] playing catchup,” says the fourth-generation member of Olympia Pest Services in the state’s capital.

He says, “The EPA is trying to navigate the system to say, ‘How can we protect endangered species while still allowing for control of rodents.’”

Rodents are a growing issue in his region, particularly rats, which Oleson calls “the nasty of the nasty.”

‘We’re trying to future-proof’

Designing rodent control programs that are mindful of possible restrictions while building a portfolio of solutions to swap out to problem-solve difficult accounts is the focus at Olympia Pest Services.

“We’re trying to future-proof,” Oleson says.

At Spidexx locations across the country, National Operations Director Nate Heider also is preparing for rodenticide restrictions. “We’re pushing for more training for rodent exclusion,” he says, noting that the practice goes beyond simply sealing up cracks and crevices. “We’re using concrete, wood, silicon and copper mesh for a more permanent solution.”

Meanwhile, Bill Schendel looks west of his Iowa-based business, Schendel Pest Control, and wonders, “When will this come our way?” he says. The ag-centered region where he operates — a state where farming is a major contributor to the economy — has not adopted robust pest control regulations...yet. “But we have already considered intelligent monitoring and other tools [to reduce product use],” he says, noting too that his company is offering exclusion services.

‘Legislators listen to small businesses’

Oleson maintains that “state legislators really love to hear from small business constituents.”

They want to help small businesses in their area, he says, and recognize the more feedback they gather from the field better informs decisions for situations like one he calls a gut punch: An apartment with a single mother and children infested with cockroaches, mom depending on the landlord to hire pest control services.

“We’re making a difference in people’s lives,” Oleson says. “What we do matters and our technicians get to see the impact of their work on members of our communities.”