With the end of financial year we reflect on the year we have had, the wins and losses, the challenges and opportunities. Our market is changing from a company point of view, with acquisitions of the small, medium and large, and from a customer point of view with their ever-increasing intelligence, driven by a modern world where information is at their fingertips. 

It's my belief that the pest control industry, both AEPMA members and non-members alike, have never been better represented than the way we are now, through our National Office, working parties and volunteer external committee representatives. The opportunities that exist in our businesses, for career development and for the association have never been better.

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The first World Pest Day, a milestone in the global pest management industry, was launched in Beijing on Tuesday June 6, aiming for the eventual reduction and elimination of pest-borne diseases.

AEPMA was represented by Stephen Ware (Executive Director), Vasili Tsoutouras (President) and David Gay (National Director – Victoria)

The inaugural World Pest Day, initiated by the Chinese Pest Control Association (CPCA), international organizations and associations, was proposed to increase awareness of pest-borne diseases and safeguard public health through scientific and professional pest control methods.

More than 30 national and international organizations signed to support the initiative.

CPCA President Xu Jianguo said the launching of World Pest Day came at the right time as the number of mosquito, tick, and rodent-borne diseases, such as Zika virus, yellow fever, dengue fever and malaria, were on the rise in recent years.

The severity of invasion had also increased due to a rapidly warming planet, accelerating urbanization and booming trade and tourism, according to Xu.

Statistics from the World Health Organization show that more than one billion people worldwide are exposed to vector-borne diseases, and every year one million people lose their lives as a result. The economic costs of these diseases amount to more than 17 percent of the total costs of infectious diseases.

CPCA Vice President Huang Xiaoyun said that more people were expected to participate in the fight against the threat posed to public health worldwide.

Bayer’s Environmental Science Division (ES) has just launched a new Home Page on its website www.environmentalscience.bayer.com.au

Check it out now!

Martin Ball, General Manager of the Environmental Science Division said “The decision to renew and revigorate the Home Page on the ES website was made to improve our customer’s on-line experience and to create a more engaging and interesting space.

“ES Australia was chosen as the pilot country by Bayer’s global digital marketing team, and we’re very pleased with the result.  This new-look Home Page will now be rolled-out to all other ES countries around the world, so we’re delighted to be leading the way”, Martin said.

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The Rapid Solutions conference continues to grow in size and reputation and will be the largest in Australia this year. Attendees flock in from all around Australia and South-East Asia and in 2015 more than 380 business owners, technicians and support staff from the pest management and building inspection industries checked in. This was in addition to the 150 or so presenters, sponsors and exhibitors. 

The 2017 conference is being held on 11-12 August at RACV Royal Pines on the spectacular Australian Gold Coast and is regarded as a “must do” for anyone in the industry.

Marketing Manager Chris Murphy says the conference team has been hard at work to ensure the event provides the best-possible value. 

“Time is money, and Rapid Solutions understands any period away from your business has to be not only justified, but worthwhile,” Chris said.

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Conventional wisdom has it that to have a chance of winning an unfair dismissal case, employers need to have every single issue, discussion, HR meeting and counselling session documented within an inch of its life. But that isn’t necessarily so. 

A large employer recently won a case after it demonstrated to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) that it had chosen an informal method to an employee’s performance management. Rather than adopt the standard approach of constantly threatening the employee with the sack if he failed to improve, and documenting each session for posterity, his managers frequently showed him the way to do things and, at a personal level, told him what the company’s expectations were. 

Only after a period of nearly a year of this did management lose patience, formally documenting a performance improvement process. At this juncture the employee’s response was to act as if everything that had been done informally beforehand, hadn’t occurred.  

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From Dr Don Ewart, Chairman of AS3660 Standards Committee

• If your builder wants compliance with AS 3660.1--2014 make sure your work actually complies.
• If you are spraying the ground, and it will be covered with a slab or paving or whatever, put in reticulation for the reapplications.
• If you are using a sheet plastic system, make sure you know whether the details you are using meet the standard (some don’t) and most importantly, if they don’t, then either use only their Codemark compliance wording or use the stuff so it does comply. That’s simple. 

Ensystex have just launched the Soft Bait version of, MUSKIL. Based on an Italian soft pasta recipe this is highly palatable. MUSKIL uniquely blends two actives together, difenacoum and bromadiolone, to create a rodenticide that outperforms other products in the market in terms of speed of kill, palatability, and reduced risk to pets. The small 10 g sachets help reduce the costs of your management programs, allowing up to twice as many bait placements as other products. And, since a 10 g sachet is enough to kill up to 5 rats, MUSKIL really drives your dollar further. Each 9 kg pail contain 900 bait sachets. 

Mr Steve Broadbent, Regional Director for Ensystex explains, “The two actives combine together to create a synergistic effect with each dynamically intensifying the effects of the other, to create a more potent solution than either alone; yet at the same time achieving reduced risk to people and pets. Thus, by combining these two actives, we have created a unique product that kills the toughest rodents, including those resistant to anti-coagulant rodenticides.

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Agserv’s annual Pestech series kicks off in July and 2017 is shaping up to be the best yet. Covering 9 city and regional centres across the East Coast, Pestech has proven to be a must attend event on the pest control calendar for many years

Pestech 2017 city series commences on July 24th in Melbourne and we are excited to announce Dr Theo Evans as our Key note speaker. Theo is an associate professor at the University of Western Australia and has conducted scientific research on termites for 22 years, including at the National University of Singapore and CSIRO. Theo’s presentation, “Coptotermes: the curious case of how it became Australia's worst pest - and how this may change”, is not to missed.

Along with Theo, we will have plenty of new product information, industry updates and technical presentations from all major industry suppliers. As always, there will be plenty of special deals and giveaways, a great trade show and plenty of opportunities to catch up with old friends and industry associates. For further information on venues and dates or to register, please contact your local Agserv branch on 1800 554 445 or go online to www.agserv.com.au and click on the register now banner.

Click here to download Pestech City Series Flyer

Click here to download the Pestech Regional Series Flyer

Don’t miss Pestech 2017, We look forward to seeing you there.

Regards,

Jason Green | General Manager
Agserv Pty Ltd

PelGar International is delighted to announce that it is winner of the ‘Export Excellence in Asia Award’ for its export business to Asia in the UK Excellence Awards programme. The awards ceremony, held at the Grange Hotel, Tower Bridge London was attended by some 250 senior managers and directors and provided an excellent networking opportunity. .

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Termite Register recently joined AEPMA as a new Associate member.

Termite Register is an app that alerts homeowners of nearby termite activity within 500 meters when registered licensed pest technicians log active Termite reports on the system. The data that pest control companies are collaboratively entering into the Termite Register is also crucial to Councils (especially in Victoria) so they can declare their regions.

Termite Register’s latest hotspot maps were featured on Channel 7 news across the country showcasing the latest Termite danger zones. This first of its kind mobile APP is proving a success with thousands of homeowners joining the register to alarm their properties.

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AEPMA member, Mark O’Brien from Termitedoc Pest Control, based on the NSW Central Coast is a termite specialist.  His business centres on providing termite inspections, pre-purchase timber inspections, treatments of active termites, installation and monitoring of termite baiting systems, perimeter treatments and reticulation systems.  He has trialled Sentricon AlwaysActive in numerous situations since its release, and has had numerous successes:

“When we find active termites, we tend to knock them out with Sentricon Above Ground (AG) baits and at the same time install the AlwaysActive system around the structure.

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Dear Colleagues, you have all probably pondered the following question:

What is the link between Nero (Roman emperor who burnt Rome), Dmitri Shostakovich (famous Russian composer), Peter Ustinov (British Actor), the Andrew Sisters (famous singing group), and Red Symonds (of Skyhooks and Hey, Hey its Saturday!)?

Well if you can spare 45mins of your time then you can find out in the following podcast, which features a "real weirdo":

https://player.fm/series/float-your-boat/podcast-014-stephen-doggett-entomologist-bed-bug-porn

(skip the first two minutes)

P.S. the book mentioned in the beginning is a new text on bed bugs, the first academic text in the field for over 50 years, titled Advances in the Biology and Management of Modern Bed Bugs, due for release in 2018 (I am the senior editor and contributed to 13 chapters).

Click here to download book abstract.

Enjoy!

Stephen

Stephen L. Doggett | Senior Hospital Scientist | Department of Medical Entomology

The board, executive management team and all the staff at the Invasive Animals CRC (IA CRC) would like to say thank you to all those who have been involved and led its research program over the past decade.

On June 30, the IA CRC will come to an end but it is certainly not goodbye, and we look forward to new beginnings through the new Centre for Invasive Species Solutions, with many of the same faces being involved.

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

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• Pestech 2017 - July - September 2017
• AEPMA VIC Branch Meeting - 13th July 2017
• ​Rapid Solutions Conference - 11-12 August 2017
• AEPMA NSW/ACT State Council Meeting – 28 August 2017
• SAVE THE DATE!  AEPMA 2018 National Conference on the Gold Coast - 19-21 September 2018