It’s the document that we’ve been talking about for a little while now and we are excited to announce that the AEPMA Code of Best Practice for Rodent Management is in its final draft stage.

Our Working Group have consulted with leading experts in the field and are working hard to ensure that the Industry will be provided with an up-to-date, valuable and importantly, useful resource document. 

We anticipate the Code being available for you in early 2019. Watch this space!

The team at Rapid Solutions is excited to officially launch their next conference. EduCON 2019 will bring together experts, professionals, suppliers and supporters at RACV Royal Pines on the Gold Coast from 8th-11th August 2019.

Earlybird registration will open in March, but expressions of interest are now being taken on an exciting range of sponsorship and exhibition opportunities that have been designed for all levels of investment and exposure for your business.

Visit rapidsolutions.com.au/eduCON to find out more.

A message from Founder, Nicky Turner:

I am excited to launch the new Professional Women In Australian Pest Management (PWAPM) organisation and page, together with the help of Michelle Eastwood from Pestrid Pest Control, Sydney.

Our mission is to attract, develop and support women in the pest management industry. Unique windows of opportunities have opened up to women involved in pest management. The industry has become more welcoming to women at all levels, including senior management, office administration, employees, sales and representatives, technicians and insurance, to name just a few.

Still, it is critical to keep up the momentum! Now is the ideal time for women to support each other and continue to make an impact in pest management.  

Click here to read more or visit the Facebook page @womeninpestmanagement 

Benjamin Franklin is often quoted: “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” So, now’s your opportunity to get involved.  

Sentricon’s online learning modules have been relocated, so you will need to sign up in the new system: learning.corteva.com 

Don’t’ forget to make sure that you choose country of training 'Australia' and that the Type is 'Residential Pest Control'.

Once signed up, you will gain access to both of their online modules as well as finding a suite of documents and information for you to use in your business.

“Both?” did I hear you say? Yes, both!

Sentricon have transferred their key technical training module to this website, that has a test at the end and is a requirement for use of Sentricon AlwaysActive in pre-construction.  

They have also added a small-business module. This covers a lot of aspects of small business they are sure you already know, but hopefully there are some things that you may not yet have considered, or haven’t had time to address.  Sentricon want to see your business grow, so hopefully there are some subjects in this new module to help you do just that.

If you have already completed the first module, please allow 5 business days from signing up for the system to update and assign this module as ‘completed’.

Happy Learning!

Rick Grimes has nothing on the humble American cockroach when it comes to avoiding zombification.

Far from being a weak-willed sap easily paralyzed by the emerald jewel wasp's sting to the brain -- followed by becoming a placid egg carrier and then larvae chow -- the cockroach can deliver a stunning karate kick that saves its life, Vanderbilt University biologist Ken Catania found.

Catania, who studies interactions between predators and prey, read about cockroaches attempting to defend themselves from wasps, but no one had taken a close look at the behavior or its effectiveness. It required ultra-slow-speed videography to capture roaches using the mechanism time and again to prove and understand it. He saw that, before the wasp can get into position and deliver its sting, the cockroach uses a swift blow with a spiny back leg to deter its attacker.

Read the full article here.

Congratulations to David Chand and the Flick Anticimex-Fiji team, on winning the Fiji Business Excellence Award Prize Level 2018 award, for the 5th consecutive year, what an achievement!

The aims of the Fiji Business Excellence Awards are to help organisations attain world - class quality in products and services and recognise the efforts of those organisations striving to achieve this. The awards also provide a framework for sustainable improvement through quality management.

The now notorious Workpac decision has opened up a can of worms about the true nature of the “casual” employment category and what the casual loading covers, or can cover in case of a dispute. 

Workpac essentially ruled that there was nothing casual, in the sense of ad hoc, lacking regularity or predictability, about the employment of the worker concerned. So, despite the higher wage paid and all the evidence in the employment documents of the use of the word “casual”, the worker was in fact a ’non-casual’ employee. 

It followed then, that as a non-casual worker, he was entitled to annual leave. But the court decided that since there was no specific amount in the hourly rate paid to the so-called casual which could be attributed to annual leave compensation, then no amount of his hourly rate could be off-set towards the annual leave liability. So he will effectively get paid twice. 

Click here to read the full article or visit First IR for more employment and industrial relations news.

The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has launched a campaign to inform the community that pest controllers in NSW must hold a licence issued by the EPA. 

• Carry your licence with you on the job
• Ensure that all your licence holder’s appear on the EPA public register
• Be aware of the EPA Fact Sheet content and watch the You Tube video (see links below)
• Carry your Safety Data Sheets (SDS)
• Make sure you are aware of what your obligations are regarding Record Keeping, Mandatory Notification of treatment near sensitive sites and multiple occupancy dwellings and watch the spray drift

• Visit the EPA’s website: https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/your-environment/pesticides/pesticide-use-nsw/engaging-a-pest-management-technician  
• Download the EPA’s fact sheet on pest control around the home here 
• Watch the EPA’s video on engaging a pest controller here (available in English, Chinese - Simplified, Arabic and Vietnamese) 

After spending a decade as the general manager of a specialist underwriter to the entertainment, security and fire protection sectors, Paul Howard has joined the team at Rapid Solutions.

Paul grew up in the Hunter region and moved to Sydney where he pursued a career in accounting with KPMG before working with NZI. An opportunity to move into the underwriting team provided him with a unique skillset that has supported a specialist insurance career for the past two decades. It was this career shift and the desire to raise a family in his home town that led him back to Newcastle.

On joining the Rapid Solutions team, Paul said that he was not looking for a change of roles when he was asked if he knew anyone from the sector that might be interested.

“I was impressed with Rapid Solutions’ approach to providing insurance into the specific fields of pest management and building inspection. But it was the organisation’s modern approach to its business and the way in which it worked to meet the changing needs of its customers that really appealed,” Paul said.

“In coming months and as part of its growth strategies, Rapid will integrate a new software system that will provide even greater customer service and access. It was this, together with the opportunity to work with a team of highly professional people who are experts in field of insurance, technical and training that enticed me to work with Rapid,” he said.

Click here to learn more about Paul's appointment.

Lord Howe Island is home to endangered Australian native animals like the Lord Howe Island Woodhen and plants only found on the island.

Its rare ecosystem includes cloud forests, sea-cliffs, volcanic mountains and the world’s most southerly coral reef.

CSIRO Researcher and exotic ant specialist, Dr Ben Hoffmann, was part of the team responsible for the eradication and said the program was one of the most significant invasive ant eradications in the world, comparable to ant eradications on Marchena Island in the Galapagos and in Kakadu National Park.

“Invasive ants pose a huge threat to Australia’s diverse plant and animal life, our agriculture and our economy and it’s estimated that governments will spend around $500 million over the next 10 years attempting to control or eradicate them,” Dr Hoffmann said.

“Ants are among the most abundant and diverse fauna in the world, and play an important role in ecosystem health. However, invasive ants cause harm to local ant species which can have devastating impacts to local ecosystems.”

The African big-headed ant is listed as one of the 100 worst pests in the world, known for creating super colonies that outcompete and prey on native animals, reducing animal abundance by up to 85 per cent.

On Hawaii, the ant is thought to have caused the extinction of several species.

A ground team from the Lord Howe Island Board used a special protocol developed by CSIRO to map and bait the invasive ant colonies.

Click here to read more.

Christmas and the New Year is upon us once again!

On behalf of the Board and staff at AEPMA, we wish you and yours, a safe and peaceful Christmas and a successful start to 2019!

Please note that the AEPMA office will close on Friday 21 December and reopen on Monday 14 January 2019. 

If you have an urgent matter, please contact Executive Director, Stephen Ware on 0418 976 643.

AEPMA welcomes any contributions or suggestions for articles that you feel are relevant to the industry. Simply forward to info@aepma.com.au.

Or do you have something to say about an article you’ve read in the Newsletter? Why not leave your feedback on our Facebook page.

• AEPMA Office Closure 21 December 2018 – 14 January 2019
• SAVE THE DATE! Rapid Solutions Conference (RACV Royal Pines, Gold Coast) – 8-11 August 2019
• FAOPMA Pest Summit 2019 (Daejeon, Korea) – 24-27 September 2019