Consumers Urged to Check Badges and Certificates of Pest Control Operators

The Pesticides Control Authority (PCA) is urging the public to check the badges and certificates of pest control operators to ensure that they are valid.
“One of the challenges we [PCA] face is that we have issued certificates to pest control operators and these certificates expire after a particular time, but the consumer might not be sensitive enough to look for the expiration date,” Registrar of the PCA, Hyacinth Chin Sue Walters told JIS News.
Certificates and badges expire every three years, however the Registrar said that due to several reasons, such as the lack of liability insurance, which has become mandatory since 2006, a few pest control operators fail to re-register.
“So what we want consumers to do is to have a look at their badge, which should be presented prior to commencing the work. Specifically ask the pest control operator when their certification expires or call us, to check if their certification has expired,” she advised.
This process should be followed, Mrs. Chin Sue Walters said, even if the operator has been assessed competent in the area, having undergone training organized by the PCA. “The consumer may feel comfortable with this knowledge but we have to enforce the need for the operators to re-register,” the PCA Head said. The registering of pest control operators commenced in 2001 and currently, there are 110 officially registered.
The PCA is the governing body mandated through the Pesticides Act of 1975 to carry out the regulation and control of pesticide usage in Jamaica.