Clearwell Pest Control Services based in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, became the 50th member of the British Pest Control Association (BPCA) to be successfully measured against it. It completes a unique double for the county as Premier Pest Control based in Bradford, was the first company in the UK to achieve the standard in December.

Joint Managing Directors Richard Bakes and Alan Lowry are confident the new certification can help Clearwell to stand out from the crowd.

They agreed that the new EN16636 Standard is a mark of quality and are proud to be one of only a handful of companies in the UK with this accreditation.

They commented that "It's very important for us to demonstrate our professional status and achieving this accreditation provides independent proof of that. The vast majority of our systems were already in place and the audit process was both comprehensive and thorough."

"As members of the BPCA we sought their advice prior to the audit and they guided us in the right direction for some areas where we felt we needed to improve."

Chief executive Simon Forrester described the milestone as a notable achievement for the BPCA - just 18 months after the launch of the accreditation.

"It's fantastic to see the number members achieving the standard reach the 50 mark in such a short period of time. For the Association, this demonstrates the professional standards our members adhere to in all areas of their work."

All of our servicing members are now at least working towards the Standard and we're aiming to help everyone pass the audit by June 2017."

"I would encourage all interested members to speak to our technical team to discuss how CEPA will benefit them."

The scheme was first released by the Confederation of European Pest Management Associations (CEPA) in March, 2015.

It defines quality and best practice and acts as an assurance that member companies are fully qualified to deal with all species of both rodents and insects and experts on integrated pest management, the use of chemicals and health and safety issues.

The standard is the cornerstone of BPCA's strategy to portray a positive image of the pest control industry in terms of public health, food safety, environmental sustainability and economic significance.

As part of further supporting the positive impact of the pest control industry, BPCA are working with key stakeholders such as the British Retail Consortium (BRC), major clients and other specifier’s to recognise the EN1636 standard.

John Figgins, BRC Global Standards Food Safety Technical Specialist, said,

“Food manufacturers need to be confident of the competency of their pest control contractors. BRC Global Standards, therefore, welcomes the development of the independent certification scheme and the benefits CEPA Certified® can bring to the industry.”

BPCA Technical Manager Dee Ward Thompson insists certification is far from a simple box-ticking exercise. 

She said: “Internal audits can be weakened by pressure to allow companies to pass, which we know happens in other associations. 

“So each member is being independently assessed by Bureau Veritas, the global certification body and we’re the only UK organisation to impose that.”

“By using third party verification, clients can be sure our audits are legitimate and that every BPCA member company is held to the same high standard.”

Trade Association Services (TAS) who work with Bureau Veritas to deliver UK CEPA Certification has recently been forced to increase its auditing resource such has been the demand for EN16636 CEPA Certification, with the recruitment of Andy Burton. 

Andy joins the team from Rentokil and takes up responsibility for auditing pest control companies in more northern regions of the UK. Andy’s thorough working knowledge of pest control and excellent interpersonal skills, mean the TAS team believe he is going to be a great asset to the CEPA process.

Talking about what he values about CEPA, Andy said, 

“The audit involves the entire structure of a company and makes sure everything from its working practices and training to its ethos and values are correctly aligned."

“For clients CEPA sends out a strong message. It gives them peace of mind that the job will be delivered professionally and to a quality standard."

In order to explain what CEPA means to current and prospective clients, Bureau Veritas has produced an information booklet detailing the benefits, process and impact of becoming CEPA certified.

CEPA Product Manager Jess Morgan said, 

“The leaflet has been developed for CEPA certificated companies to bolster their tender applications, inform new and existing clients and for associations like BPCA to demonstrate the benefits of the process to their membership communities.”

“BPCA continues to remain the mark of professionalism in UK pest management and they have played a significant role in driving the successes we have experienced with 50 successful CEPA certifications issued so far.”

Links

Clearwell Pest Control Servicies
CEPA Certification
British Retail Consortiuum

Source: BPCA.org.uk