Editor’s note: More than 450 conference delegates packed the stylish Auditorium Antonianum in Rome for two full days of presentations March 21-22, at the biennial conference organized by the Italian trade association – Associazione Nazionale della Imprese di Disinfestestazione (ANID). Frances McKim, editor of Pest magazine, filed the following report.
Professionalism within the pest control industry was one of the main themes at the recent Associazione Nazionale della Imprese di Disinfestestazione (ANID). This included presentations from five invited international speakers, one of whom was from the U.S. – Kevin Lemasters, president of EnviroPest, Loveland, Colo., and also an at-large member of the National Pest Management Association (NPMA).
Lemasters gave an impassioned talk on creating a company culture. Using his own company as an example, he explained how vital it is to create a feeling of family. As so much time is spent at work, employees must feel comfortable within the organization, to be familiar with its identity, to understand its purpose and appreciate its values. By focusing on this, staff can concentrate on customers. “Your customers will notice the culture and care. This will differentiate you from your competitors,” he said.
Representing the Association of Pest Control Companies in Catalonia – Spain (ADEPAP), its president, Quim Sendra, advocated ‘thinking outside the box’ – to be creative, to come up with original solutions, to be innovative and so create novel business idea. “All of us can compete with other companies on price. But by being different we differentiate ourselves from our competitors;” Quim explained.
Extending the theme of corporate culture more directly to pest control, Henry Mott, president of the Confederation of European Pest Management Associations (CEPA) – the umbrella trade body for urban pest control in Europe, gave a heartfelt presentation declaring: “By referring to ourselves as ‘killers’ with such company names as Rentokil, Pest Exterminators etc people view us as eliminators – our image should be much more positive – one of protectors of the environment. As an industry we must advocate professionalism.”
Rune Bratland representing the Norwegian Pest Control Association (SkaBra), illustrated what can be achieved within a country. Since 2004 when the association was formed, it has worked with government to a position now where all pest controllers have to be licensed to practice. This involves two weeks of course work, followed by in-company training and an exam. “On average it takes 20 weeks to educate a pest controller to a position of being certified. And then, after ten years, recertification is required,” said Rune.
Drawing this session to a close was Paloma Castro, the new director general of CEPA. Coming to the industry with a ‘fresh eye’ she exclaimed: “Our industry consists of hidden heroes. People do not know enough about us. We should be proud to be pest control professionals. The industry now has EN 167636 and CEPA Certified – the benchmark of quality and uniformity of service. Our aim is to take this to the next level – to transform this into ‘soft law’ by means of a Memorandum of Understanding.” If by doing this CEPA Certified can achieve a critical mass whereby only ‘trained professionals’ can access the full range of biocides.
Designed for a home Italian audience, the emphasis was, understandably, very much on sessions relevant to the Italian market. Opening the conference, ANID president Marco Benedetti, got the event off on a very positive note by highlighting the growing opportunities for professional pest controllers in Italy.
Looking to the future, the presentations then given by Luciano Toma from the Istituto Superiore di Sanità in Rome and Romeo Bellini, area entomologist from the Centro Agricoltura Ambiente (CAA) highlighted the growing threats posed by the increased number of disease carrying invasive insects in Italy, in particular from Aedes albopictus (the Asian tiger mosquito) – the known vector of the chikungunya and dengue virus.
