Credit: Ventura Pest Control

With a team of 43 employees and a fleet of 35 service vehicles, safety on the road is a top priority for Ventura Pest Control. The company has long emphasized a work-life balance for its technicians, with a residential focus that allows employees to be home in time for dinner, and to get there safely.

Ventura Pest Control, a locally owned pest management company based in Southern California, has been serving residential and commercial clients in Los Angeles, Ventura, and Santa Barbara counties since 1993.

The Challenge: Distracted Driving and No-Fault Accidents

Several years ago, Scott Moberly, co-owner of Ventura Pest Control, recognized a troubling trend: an increasing number of no-fault accidents, many caused by distracted driving. These included incidents like backing into poles or hitting fire hydrants - minor but costly mistakes that added up. The company had a no-cell phone policy in place, but it wasn’t robust enough to make a lasting impact.

"Before we really dove into this, we were purely reactionary,” said Moberly. “We disciplined people for poor driving, but we didn’t have a clear system to measure performance or reward good behavior.”

April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, a time to spotlight the risks of unsafe driving behaviors. For pest control service professionals who spend countless hours on the road, staying focused behind the wheel is critical. Recent data from PestSure highlights the top causes of auto crashes in the industry, reinforcing the need for fleet safety policies and driver awareness training.

According to PestSure’s latest analysis, the most frequent type of accident occurs when a driver rear-ends another vehicle, accounting for 38% of reported incidents. Other common causes include:

• Failure to Yield - 18%
• Backing into another vehicle – 14%
• Lane changes – 4%
• Ran a stop sign or signal – 3%

“These statistics highlight a clear need for continued driver education and proactive safety measures,” said Linda Midyett, vice president/loss control director at PestSure. “Rear-end collisions, which account for over a third of industry accidents, are largely preventable. By eliminating distractions and maintaining proper following distances, service professionals can significantly reduce their risk on the road.”

Distracted driving significantly increases the likelihood of rear-end collisions because it reduces a driver's situational awareness, reaction time, and ability to maintain safe following distances. Here’s why:

Cognitive Distraction – Even hands-free phone conversations can cause mental distraction, making drivers slower to recognize hazards and fail to react appropriately.

Ladders are a necessary tool in pest control, but they can also pose significant safety risks if not used properly. Every year, thousands of ladder-related injuries occur due to improper usage, lack of inspection, or failure to follow basic safety guidelines. By following these six essential rules, you can minimize the risk of falls and injuries while working with ladders.

1. Assess Your Readiness for Ladder Use

Before stepping onto a ladder, evaluate your physical condition to ensure safe use. Consider your strength, balance, and vision, and avoid using a ladder if you feel dizzy or unsteady.

Additionally, wear appropriate footwear with non-slip soles and securely tied laces. Avoid loose clothing or secure it to prevent it from catching on the ladder while climbing.

2. Choose the Right Ladder for the Job

Photo credit: Cook’s Pest Control

Those scratches and scurrying sounds pest control customers hear could be unwelcome pests making themselves at home. While attics may serve as just a storage space for homeowners, to rodents, bats, raccoons, insects, and spiders, it offers shelter, warmth, and a safe place to nest.

As such, pest control technicians must access attics to conduct inspections, cleanout and treatments for the pests. There are, however, risks for technicians working in attics. Inadequate lighting, poor ventilation, unstable footing, limited means of access and egress, and overhead hazards all combine to make an attic a difficult and sometimes hazardous place for pest control technicians to work.

Assess the Access Point

For technicians, safety while working in attics begins when they access an attic. Before entering an attic, evaluate the condition of the access point. Many attics are accessed via pulldown stairs, scuttle holes, or crawl spaces—each with potential safety hazards.

• Pulldown Stairs - Check for signs of wear, damage, or loose screws. If the stairs feel unstable or appear weak, use a secure ladder instead.
• Ladders - Ensure the ladder is the proper height, placed on a stable surface and fully extended before climbing. If needed, have a colleague secure it while you ascend.
• Scuttle Holes - If accessing an attic through a ceiling opening, test the strength of the frame before applying full weight.

Carry Essential Gear

We’ve all heard the warnings: “Don’t drive distracted.” “Keep your eyes on the road.” “Stay focused behind the wheel.”

Bill Welsh, ACE, executive vice president of operations and strategic initiatives, of Rose Pest Solutions in Michigan thought he had it under control. He wasn’t scrolling through social media or texting, just talking on the phone to a colleague. Harmless, right? Or so he thought, until one day he found himself 20 miles past his exit, completely oblivious to how far he’d gone.

The Day It Happened

It started like any other drive. Welsh thought he’d put his “windshield time” time to good use and catch up on a few calls. Both hands were on the wheel (his phone was on speaker), and eyes were technically on the road, but where was his mind? His mind was somewhere else entirely.

He dove into his conversation and before he knew it, Welsh had missed his exit – not by a mile or two, but by 20 miles. That was when Welsh had his “a ha” moment: He hadn’t been paying attention to the road ahead of him at all.

Winter can bring unique challenges for pest control technicians, from icy surfaces to cold temperatures and unpredictable weather conditions. While pests don't take the season off, it’s essential for technicians to prioritize safety while delivering top-notch service.

To maintain good safety protocols during the winter, PestSure offers the following best practices to add to your winter training sessions.

Dress for the Weather

Wearing the right clothing is the first step to staying safe and comfortable in cold conditions.

• Layer Up - Use moisture-wicking base layers, insulating mid-layers, and waterproof outer layers. This combination helps regulate body temperature while keeping you dry.
• Insulated Gloves - Protect your hands with gloves that provide warmth without sacrificing dexterity for handling tools and equipment.
• Non-Slip Boots - Invest in insulated, waterproof boots with slip-resistant soles to navigate icy or wet surfaces safely.
• Hats and Neck Protection - A beanie or thermal hat and a scarf or gaiter help retain body heat, which is crucial when working outdoors.

Stay Alert to Weather Conditions

Since pest control technicians enter homes and businesses daily, they can be at risk because they have little control over the environments in which they work. The risks can include potential for accidents and injuries, health risks from pest-related, structural dangers and aggressive animals and people.

The following is a list of potential hazards that technicians face when working alone. It is important to review these situations during your regular safety training meetings and establish response protocols to make sure safety is priority one.

Accidents and Injuries

Pest control work often requires technicians to enter tight spaces not designed for regular access, climb ladders, or handle equipment in awkward positions, increasing the risk of slips, trips, and falls. When working alone, any injury can be particularly dangerous, as immediate help may not be available.

PestSure Safety Tip - Proper training on ladder safety and confined space entry/exit is crucial. Technicians should also be equipped with communication devices and check-in systems to alert others if an accident occurs.

PestSure announces that Mike Rottler, chairman and chief executive officer of Rottler Pest Solutions in St. Louis, has been named Board Chairman. Rottler takes over the seat from retiring chair Russ Ives of Rose Pest Solutions/Bio-Serv.

“It is my honor and privilege to succeed Russ Ives as the PestSure Board Chairman,” said Rottler. “He has led our organization through some challenging times with courage and strength and is one of the finest examples of a servant leader that I have ever witnessed.”

Rottler said he has always relished opportunities to work with his peers to not only grow his company, but also to raise the bar for the industry. Serving on the PestSure board has afforded him a unique opportunity to do both.

“PestSure is more than just an insurance provider; it’s a partner dedicated to your success in the pest management industry,” said Rottler. “As the only captive insurance company owned by its insured, PestSure delivers unparalleled risk management solutions tailored to our unique challenges. If you’re committed to long-term growth and industry excellence, PestSure is a critical asset in protecting your business and ensuring its future.”

PestSure – Your Partner in Safety

Designing and implementing an effective safety program is much like putting together a puzzle, you need to have the right pieces in place for a perfect fit. That was the theme – Solving Your Safety Program Puzzle - of the 2024 PestSure Safety and Loss Prevention Conference held September 10-11, in Scottsdale, Arizona.

More than 150 PestSure members from across the country gathered for two days of interactive sessions, peer networking and information sharing on how to continuously improve their company’s safety programs.

“The Safety and Loss Prevention Conference is part of PestSure’s unique value proposition to our insureds,” said Todd Burke, COO of PestSure. “The program is loaded with timely and relevant topics that are specific to managing risk in the pest control industry. There is no meeting like it in the industry, and our insureds receive tremendous value by attending.”

Highlighting the education programs were a series of keynote sessions focused on timely topics that are significantly impacting the way pest control professionals operate their businesses and manage their risk.

The opening session featured a mock deposition led by attorneys James Foster and Joe Panatera of Chicago-based law firm Cassidy Schade. Foster and Panatera pointed to the sharp rise in ‘nuclear verdicts’ – a verdict in favor of the plaintiff with a damage award surpassing $10 million - in auto liability cases and the importance of thorough deposition preparation.

Like many businesses, pest control companies are not immune to cybersecurity threats. These threats can be particularly damaging due to the limited resources most companies dedicate to security infrastructure and employee training.

These threats can lead to financial loss, data breaches, reputational damage, and legal issues, making it essential for small businesses to invest in cybersecurity training, tools, and practices.

During National Cybersecurity Month in October, PestSure wants to spotlight the leading cybersecurity threats pest control companies typically deal with:

1. Phishing Attacks: Phishing is one of the most common and dangerous threats to small businesses. Attackers send fraudulent emails that appear to come from legitimate sources to trick employees into providing sensitive information like login credentials, financial data, or access to internal systems.
2. Ransomware: Ransomware attacks involve malware that encrypts a business’s data, with the attackers demanding payment (usually in cryptocurrency) to restore access. Small businesses are particularly vulnerable because they may lack the sophisticated backup and recovery systems needed to respond to these attacks.
3. Weak Passwords and Authentication: Many small businesses rely on simple or reused passwords for accessing critical systems, making it easy for attackers to exploit weak authentication. Lack of multi-factor authentication (MFA) adds to the vulnerability.
4. Insider Threats: Whether malicious or accidental, employees or contractors with access to sensitive information can pose a significant cybersecurity risk. Insider threats can include deliberate data theft or unintentional actions that lead to a security breach.
5. Unpatched Software and Vulnerabilities: Small businesses often struggle to keep their software and systems updated, leaving them vulnerable to known security flaws. Cybercriminals exploit these unpatched vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access or plant malware in company networks.

How to Protect Your Company

Small business owners can take several steps to improve their overall cybersecurity protocols. By following these practices, pest control business owners can significantly reduce the risk of weak passwords and phishing attacks compromising their systems and data.

Fall protection violations topped the list – for the 13^th year in a row - of OSHA workplace safety violations nationwide in 2023, according to a National Safety Council (NSC) report.

For pest control technicians slip and fall accidents while working in a residence or commercial property are an all too common occurrence. That is why it is important for technicians to be aware of their surroundings and their impact on the location.

Customers’ homes and commercial properties all harbor challenges with the presence of other people in the work area. When performing a service technicians can encounter employees, children, pets, customers of the business, and other contracted workers.

As visitors to these locations, we often have little control over the conditions in which we work. It is important that we remain very conscious of the impact on the safety of the premises and their other occupants.

Technicians should conduct a thorough inspection of the premises both on arrival and departure to review any hazards present and to assure that we have returned the premises to the same condition in which they were found.

Every year 1.6 million motor vehicle accidents are linked to phone use while driving, according to the National Safety Council. More concerning is that, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 14 percent of fatal crashes are linked to cell phone use.

Texting or talking on the phone, eating, drinking, and smoking are the leading distracted driving behaviors, and they are costing pest control companies higher insurance premiums, lost revenue and productivity, and more expensive and protracted legal actions. They are also leading to injuries to employees and the public.

Nozzle Nolen, a third-generation family-owned company based in West Palm Beach, Florida, experienced first-hand the pain caused by a distracted driving related accident and decided to do something about it.

Jason Miller, project manager for Nozzle Nolen who oversees safety training, said three years ago a former service manager was involved in an at-fault accident with extensive damage and injuries in a company vehicle. The vehicle was equipped with an older drive cam system and the manager removed the camera’s SD card before the police and his supervisor arrived.

“The accident and ensuing fall out opened the eyes of management as to the risks involved with distracted driving,” said Miller. “Driving with a cell phone is no different than driving with a blindfold.”

Summer may have just arrived, but it’s felt like summer for a good portion of the United States for some time now and service industry professionals, like those in the pest management industry, are feeling the heat.

The trusted Farmer’s Almanac call for a warm, hot, and muggy summer for most of the country and that means technicians need to be aware of the signs of heat-related illnesses and know how to reduce their exposure.

Heat Related Illnesses

Problems develop when the body’s cooling mechanisms do not work properly and the risk from heat-related illness increases. Heat rash occurs when sweat ducts become clogged and heat cramps are painful muscle spasms caused by the loss of electrolytes from heavy sweating. If you develop these conditions, immediately get out of the heat so you can rest.

When the body loses too much water and salt, heat exhaustion sets in. Signs include weakness, dizziness, nausea, headache, heavy sweating, and clammy skin. A heatstroke victim will present with a rapid pulse, hot red skin, and has stopped sweating due to lack of body fluids. The victim may show mental confusion, a decrease in alertness, and blurred judgment.

The number of deadly vehicle accidents is increasing nationally as are the monetary judgements being awarded by juries. As a result, it is incumbent for pest management company owners and managers responsible for driver safety training, to explain the importance of collecting relevant evidence in the aftermath of an employee-involved vehicle accident.

Evidence collection is essential for understanding the circumstances surrounding an accident, identifying causes, preventing future incidents, and ensuring that appropriate actions are taken to improve safety.

Determining the Cause - Evidence helps investigators understand what happened leading up to, during, and after an accident. This information is crucial in determining the root cause of the accident.

Establishing Liability - Evidence can help determine who or what was responsible for the accident. This is important for legal purposes, such as determining liability for damages or injuries.

Distracted-driving crashes accounted for 8 percent of all fatal crashes, 14 percent of injury crashes and 13 percent of all police-reported motor vehicle traffic crashes, according to the National Safety Council.

Texting or talking on the phone, eating, drinking, and smoking, are the leading distracted driving behaviors and PestSure, a leader in driver safety training for pest management professionals, is fully committed to reducing the frequency of distracted driving accidents and assisting companies create a safe driving culture.

“In our PestSure insurance program, rear-end collisions account for 48 percent of our losses,” said Linda Midyett, vice president and loss control director for PestSure. “These crashes are expensive because our driver caused the crash and resultant damage. They are hard to defend because our driver controls the speed and proximity of their vehicle to the vehicle in front of them.”

The pest management industry has thousands of employees behind the wheel day and night to service customers. With every turn, stop or backing out of a driveway, there is a risk for an accident to occur. Therefore, it is vital for companies to develop and follow protocols for safe driving practices, especially when it comes to distracted driving.

Reducing distracted driving accidents is crucial for pest control businesses to protect their employees and assets. PestSure offers the following tips for business owners:

The average American takes approximately 4,774 steps a day. In the pest control industry, we know technicians, inspectors and sales representatives take a lot more than that during the workday.

Inspecting a 1 million sq. ft. warehouse, applying multiple perimeter treatments for mosquitoes in one residential neighborhood or climbing stairs in an apartment building, can rack up the steps, increasing the likelihood of a slip, and fall incident. That is why pest control professionals need to pay attention to the shoes they wear.

Footwear safety is not only an important part of building a culture of safety, but it can impact your company’s bottom line. Research shows that 85 percent of workers’ comp claims can be traced to employees falling on slick surfaces and that slips and falls account for 65 percent of all workdays lost due to injury. And the average cost of a slip or fall accident is more than $20,000. Those are numbers that get your attention.

What Causes Slips and Falls

Slips, trips, and falls in outdoor environments can be caused by uneven surfaces, hidden trip hazards, and weather conditions that create poor traction or that cause pest control technicians to lose their balance. While technicians cannot control environmental conditions that decrease the safety of outdoor walkway surfaces, they can certainly reduce the likelihood of falls through increased awareness and eliminating hazardous situations.

Ladder safety is crucial for pest control professionals because falls from ladders can result in serious injuries or even fatalities. Using ladders improperly or without following safety guidelines can lead to accidents resulting in injury.

According to data collected from PestSure insureds, ladder accidents are the result of these two behaviors:

• Using too short a ladder to reach too high an access point causing the ladder to tip over.
• Placing ladders on unstable or slippery surfaces and not paying close attention to ladder angle.

Accidents like these can cause fractures, sprains, strains, head injuries, and death. Proper ladder safety practices help prevent such accidents, ensuring a safer work environment for employees and customers.

Ladders accidents can also be costly. According to PestSure, the average claim cost for a ladder fall in 2023 was $13,000 per claim. In some instances that number reached upwards of $80,000.

Ladder Basics

Pesticide safety education plays a crucial role in promoting responsible pesticide use and mitigating potential risks to human and non-target animal health, the environment, and sustainability efforts.

February is National Pesticide Safety Education month and PestSure wants pest control industry professionals to be aware of the significant value of ongoing pesticide safety training. Offering and participating in pesticide safety training provides applicators with the knowledge and skills necessary to handle pesticides safely. By understanding proper handling, storage, application, and disposal procedures, technicians can minimize the risk of accidental exposure, poisoning, or environmental contamination.

Continuous education and training opportunities in pesticide safety enhance the competency and professionalism of technicians. By staying informed about emerging trends, best practices, and advancements in pesticide technology, technicians can improve their effectiveness, efficiency, and job performance.

Pesticide safety education also promotes environmentally responsible practices that minimize accidental pesticide spills and drift, reducing the risk of contamination to soil, water, and non-target organisms.

Avoiding Pesticide Exposure

Occupational slip and fall injuries cost employers and employees $70 billion annually, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. In the pest control industry, workplace slip and fall injuries from stairs, decks, retaining walls, not ladders, made up 30 percent of total work injury claims in ’23 for PestSure insureds.

Slips, trips, and falls in outdoor environments can be caused by uneven surfaces, hidden trip hazards, and weather conditions that create poor traction or that cause pest control technicians to lose their balance. While technicians cannot control environmental conditions that decrease the safety of outdoor walkway surfaces, they can certainly reduce the likelihood of falls through increased awareness and eliminating hazardous situations.

Uneven ground, debris, tools, and wet grass are all potential causes of slips, trips, and falls for pest control personnel. These types of accidents are especially dangerous since technicians often risk falling with a tool in hand or while wearing a backpack.

Although many slip, trip, and fall injuries are minor (for example, sprained ankles and wrists), they can be very costly from a personal perspective because they limit mobility. Some falls result in serious knee and shoulder injuries.

Common Slip and Fall Hazards

The structural pest control industry is no stranger to subcontractors. From termite pre-treatments and fumigations to lawn care and construction repairs, PMPs rely on subcontractors to fill in the service gaps and allow them to provide more services to clients.

Working with subcontractors is not without risk, however, and many pest management professionals are not fully aware of the perils as it relates to insurance.

Kristina Phillips, CIC, CRM, vice president and director of client services for PestSure says pest management professionals need to carefully review the details in their subcontractor agreements and contracts, and make sure they are indemnified.

“PMPs must ensure the subcontractor can comply with all the requirements included in the contract,” says Phillips. “If something goes wrong and there is a claim, the pest management professional is responsible. Many PMPs do not realize that and assume the subcontractor will take care of it.”

Phillips says workers’ compensation claims and fumigations – a service PMPs routinely subcontract for - is a good example of the importance of carefully reviewing your agreements.