A Spotlight on Pestec - Pest Manager of the Year 2015

Congratulations go to Rowan & Pania Gregson, principals of Pestec from Narellan, near Sydney - winners of the Pest Manager of the Year >5 employees category, NSW Pest Manager of the Year and the 2015 National Pest Manager of the Year.
“It was a great thrill to win the award, particularly given the high calibre of the pest management companies we were competing against”.  

The Sydney based company was also last year’s NSW Pest Manager of the Year award winner.  Pania says the benefits flowing from winning this year’s award has exceeded their expectations.  She says, “It is quite amazing how much mileage we are getting off such an award.  It has been more than probably what we expected, and we are aware of new business that we got as a direct result of that.”   (Read more)

CPP Property Services Training Package Version 2 which includes the new CPP30115 Certificate III in Urban Pest Management was endorsed on 1 September 2015 and released on Training.gov.au on 8 September – click on this link to access the qualification:  http://training.gov.au/Training/Details/CPP30115

During August we were fortunate to have Dr Bill Robinson visiting our shores and sharing his vast experience around pests in general and more specifically about application techniques, equipment and product performance. As the Technical Director of B&G Equipment for the past 15 years, he is very qualified in this area. 

Bill has a B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. with majors in biology and entomology and minors in geology, meteorology and botany. He was a Professor and Director of the Urban Pest Control Research Centre at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University for about 30 years. For 16 years he was a Visiting Professor and Director of the Urban Entomology Centre at Zhejiang Agricultural University in Hangzhou, China. 

Along with 20 graduate and post-doctoral students he has conducted and published research on cockroaches, carpenter ants, dust mites, fleas, flies (phorids), termites, wood-infesting beetles, insecticide resistance, wood protection, and insecticide application technology, and turf pests. He has written several books on urban entomology and a series of training manuals for service technicians. In his latest manual “The Service Technician’s APPLICATION AND EQUIPMENT MANUAL, A Practical Guide for Pest Control Professionals” he shares practical information to help you build your understanding of the intricacies of application.  (Read more)

The AEPMA golf day, held recently in Perth at the Collier Park Golf Course was once again an outstanding success.  The weather, a balmy 28 degrees and not a cloud in the sky – setting the scene for a great day of golf.

44 players took to the course with the drinks cart following closely around to keep everyone refreshed and hydrated on such an outstanding day.

After a day of fierce competition the players headed back to the clubhouse for the presentations.  Congratulations go to the winning team, comprising of Stuart Clark from New Era Pest Control, Craig Gifford from MRP Pest Control, Paul Hinscliff from CTI Pest Control and William Killen from Ensystex Australia.

AEPMA would like to thank the support of our sponsors:- Bayer, Sundew Solutions, FMC Australasia, Altis Pty Ltd, Globe Australia, Dow AgroSciences Australia, Syngenta Australia, Sherwood Chemicals Australasia, David Gray & Co Ltd, Termatrac, Ensystex Australia, Adama, Sumitomo Chemical Australia, Starkeys Products, Rapid Solutions, Dummuster and Liphatech.

AEPMA would also like to particularly thank Richard Douglas from Globe and William Killen from Ensystex Australia for their tremendous effort in putting together this fantastic event.

We hope to see you all there again next year!

The 26th FAOPMA Conference was held in Penang, Malaysia from 2-3 September 2015.  The theme of the conference was 'Managing Invasive Pests for a Sustainable Tomorrow'.  A number of Australians made the trek to Penang and participated as delegates, speakers and representatives of our industry assocation.

Vasili Tsoutouras led the Australian delegation.  He received the FAOPMA flag for the 27th convention to be held at the Gold Coast next year.  He was also unanimously elected to the FAOPMA Executive as Vice President and impressed his Malaysian hosts with a heart-felt redition of Waltzing Matilda.  A full report on FAOPMA will be included in the next FAOPMA newsletter.

Readers can be assured that FAOPMA conferences will continue to get bigger and better and the 2016 conference will be no exception.

When it comes to enforceability of the terms of enterprise agreements, it sometimes seems that employers’ rights are not so secure compared to employees’ rights.  A company has had to fight to access a right that it had negotiated, despite its entitlement being unambiguously included in its enterprise agreement. 

The dispute arose when the company was experiencing commercial pressures and wanted to reduce costs by changing some of its employee’s base operations to sites other than its headquarters. This was to eliminate travel expenses and overtime rates paid for travel outside of ordinary hours to locations other than their nominated base under the agreement. Concomitantly, this would reduce extra travelling time and inconvenience for employees.   (Read more)

Queensland held a breakfast meeting on Tuesday morning for its members, offering bacon and eggs, pastries and fresh coffee.  An informative address was given by Mr Terry Ryan who discussed industry statisitics in Queensland as well as the state of the local economy.  Attendees found the report to be very interesting.

A TERMITE infestation is being blamed for the collapse of a roof on an elderly woman in Payneham.

The 84 year old, who is believed to have been trapped from the waist down in the rubble, managed to press her call alert button to notify her family and emergency services.

It took firefighters about half an hour to free the woman, who was taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital for assessment. She was discharged overnight.

The woman’s daughter returned to her mother’s home on Monday morning.

She said her mother initially thought the roof collapsing was thunder but then discovered her legs were trapped under the rubble.    (Read more)

Just a few words on the licencing changes.  Pest Management and Fumigation Certification (Licencing) was transferred on 1st September 2015 from WorkCover NSW to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA).  Your existing licences will still be valid until their expiry date. The renewal for your licence will be coming from EPA and not from WorkCover.  AEPMA has been told by EPA that the price for a Pest Management licence is not going to change for the next 18 months except for CPI. During this period, the EPA will be writing their regulations and will be consulting with AEPMA. 

AEPMA will be seeking clarification of EPA objectives in taking over Pest Management and Fumigation Licencing and will be formulating an appropriate and workable position once this issue is clear. 

Be assured that your obligations under pesticide, fumigant and general work health and safety still apply and will still be monitored by WorkCover. The only change at this stage is that Licencing has been transferred to the EPA.  More information is available at www.workcover.nsw.gov.au    (Read more)

Dear Madam/Sir

I am a French engineer student and I am seeking a 2-3 months training period to become a fully-qualified construction site engineer. To obtain my graduate degree, I need to spend a minimum of eight weeks abroad to the purpose of gaining knowledge of international construction practices. Moreover, a placement in your company would enable me to perfect my English, which is today at an intermediate and operational level.

I would be very grateful if you would allow me to integrate your team, from January 11th to March 25th 2016.

To this end, please see attached my cover letter and my resume with which you can appreciate my professional experiences and training.  You can contact me by e-mail at alexis_bertho@hotmail.fr.

I look forward to hearing from you.
 
Yours faithfully
Alexis BERTHO

This long running and profitable Pest Control Business is offered for sale by the current Owners of the last 20 years.

Operating from the Kalgoorlie-Boulder region this business has an excellent financial track record sure to impress any buyers.

This business will suit either an existing Pest Control company or someone just looking for a quality business showing excellent returns. The business can even be run under the current manager.

To Register your Interest please contact Reece O’Sullivan on 0419 198 584 or email enquirieswa@finnbusinesssales.com.au

Priced at $489,000 psav

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