Feature promoting standards | PPC88 September 2017

With the first wave of independent audits to the British Standard have been completed. We ask Dee Ward-Thompson, BPCA Technical Manager, “What comes next?"

Speed view

• Proudly say you’re part of a trade association that audits all of it's full Servicing Members
• We are the only association independently auditing to the BS EN16636 standard
• The staff team is out and about, spreading the word
• Flyer released encourages clients to ‘Be protected.Professionally.’

So, here we are 18 months on, and what an incredible achievement – BPCA Servicing Members can proudly say that, together, they have been independently audited to the first European standard for pest management BS EN16636.

When the process started it seemed like we had a mountain to climb but, not only have we achieved this but we’ve raced to the top, put a flag in it, and we’re leading the way in Europe, showing just how seriously the UK pest control market takes its profession.

Let’s talk numbers to put this in perspective:

• 402 BPCA Servicing Members have been audited against BS EN16636 as of January 2016. Since Members have 12 months in which to be audited this figure will be higher since publication.
• 102 BPCA Members have opted for CEPA Certification.

On the flip side, only one non-BPCA member has been CEPA Certified®, and we are the only association independently auditing to the BS EN16636 standard as a membership criteria.

What milestones have we hit? Well, the answer is many, but the most important is that we’re the first country in Europe to get 100 CEPA Certified® Members – an achievement to be extremely proud of.

Looking forward

The numbers say it all. So what’s next? Well in the words of Hayden Panettiere (Nashville cast) we need to be “yelling from the rooftop and screaming from the mountain” and, OK, now you know I am a massive Nashville addict.

This is the next mountain to climb, and it makes the first one look like a hill. To achieve this, we all need to work together and get the message out to as many people as possible. Quite rightfully, you might be asking yourself: “how are we going to do this? ”, “what have we done so far?” and, more importantly, “how can I help?” – all good questions.

How we’re going to do this…

Simply put, we’re going to tell people.

In person and through our marketing campaigns, we intend to spread the word far and wide. On behalf of the membership, Natalie, Kevin and I are working closely with specifiers and food retailers. We are delivering a BRC workshop on pest control issues and best practice. Several Members will be attending, to share their experiences and talk about specific pest control challenges in their regions.

We’ll be talking about why it’s so important to choose a BPCA Member to ensure clients get a professional service.

Lauren’s been all over the place too. She’s been supporting Members in events nationwide (you can read more about this on page 37). We’re always looking for opportunities to talk to your potential clients at events, so if you see something you think we should have a presence at – let us know.

What we’ve done so far...

We have produced a ‘Be protected. Professionally.’ flyer explaining all of the values of choosing a BPCA Member and what working to the EN16636 standard means in practice. We have distributed the flyer to end-user communities aggressively and will continue to do so over the next 12 to 18 months in client trade industries and influencer networks.

To help spread the word, we’ve made a new flyer that really gets to the heart of why a client should choose a BPCA Member.

The aim of the flyer is to show your clients that the only way you can be sure your pest management company is ‘fit for the fight’ is to look out for our member logo. On the back, we’ve detailed exactly what a member has to comply with to display the logo, we’ve called it ‘BPCA Member Values’. We’ve also included plenty of information about the EN16636 audit and what it means for professional pest management in the UK.

Now, over to you...

Well, I will not quote any more song lyrics but it really is that simple, you need to shout about it to everyone, tell them what it means to be a professional, show them your qualifications, explain to them the criteria you have to meet to be a BPCA Member, and most importantly, tell them why they need to choose you for their pest control services.

Dee Ward-Thompson
Technical Manager

15 September 2017  |  PPC88

Source: PPC88