News Briefs

This is the first in an occasional series of issues that affect small business owners in California. PCOC is affiliated with the California Chamber of Commerce which acts as the lead lobbying association on many of the general small business issues that affect PCOC members. These include: workers compensation reform, mandated health insurance, meal and rest period issues, family leave and taxation.....to name but a few.

California is one of only three states in the nation that calculates overtime on a daily basis. [Quiz: Do you know the other two? Answer given at Convention!!!] All the other states calculate overtime on a weekly basis instead. Weekly overtime obviously gives much more flexibility to a small business owner by allowing for more flexible scheduling.

PCOC has supported legislation over the last three years to change California's archaic and non business-friendly overtime law. The problem is that the unions oppose any kind of change. You may be wondering why they would oppose such a change since they negotiate collective bargaining agreements for their union members. The reason is that they fear that a move to weekly overtime would undermine their power in negotiating.

Yes, we need overtime reform. No, we are not going to get it until the makeup of the California Legislature is more supportive of a change in the law. The breakdown is usually, but not always, the fact that Democrats vote against overtime reform as the majority of these legislators enjoy union support. Whereas, Republicans support overtime reform.

The strategy of the business community should be to educate legislators on how keeping overtime calculated on a daily basis is very bad for the business climate and job creation. This message should be a drum beat ... mentioned in every conversation with elected officials. This is where you can help. There is power in numbers and PCOC has those numbers. Furthermore, educate your employees about how such a change is beneficial to them as well.

NOTICE

PCOC ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING

The following positions are up for election:

Executive Committee: President President-Elect Treasurer 2^nd Vice President 3^rd Vice President

Peacock Directors: Three positions. All candidates must be insured by PCOC Insurance.

PAPCO Trustees: Two positions

PCOC Scholarship Foundation: Two positions

PCOC Cares Foundation: Two positions

IN MEMORIAM

President Ron Suber

Ron Suber, our beloved president of PCOC, passed away on Monday, May 23, 2011, after an incredibly courageous fight against cancer. He leaves his wife, Betti Jeanne, and his two daughters, Shannon and Lisa. Ron served as committee chair and district chair on many PCOC committees. Ron also sat on the executive committee for five years with this year, his sixth year, as our president. He will be greatly missed. Betti Jeanne, Shannon and Lisa will be attending our PCOC 68^th Annual Convention and Trade Show which begins on June 23.

Dale J. Terry

Past President Dale J. Terry passed away on May 16, 2011.

"As to Disney photos, logos, and properties: ©Disney"

JOIN US AT THE DISNEYLAND® RESORT FOR

PCOC'S 68^TH ANNUAL CONVENTION & TRADESHOW

You can book your rooms and purchase tickets for the theme parks now. Just click on the appropriate link below:

Room Reservations: https://resweb.passkey.com/go/pestcontrol2011

Theme Park Tickets: http://www.disneyconventionear.com/GDPF11A

Exhibitor Registration

Attendee Registration

Please note: These special theme park ticket prices are not available once you arrive at the resort. Our ticket store closes at 9 p.m. PST on 6/19/2011 so don't delay.

NEW PCOC WEBSITE PASSWORD: "npma"

EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2011

MEMBERSHIP CONTEST

The contest ended on May 31, 2011 and the winner is: Tamara Tibbett-Arendt of American Pest Control Company. Tamara brought in seven new members. CONGRATULATIONS!

Tamara will be awarded her prize money of $1,000 at the annual convention in Anaheim. There will also be a drawing for another $1,000 prize in which there are six persons eligible to win the prize money. Thank you to everyone for their participation.

2011 PCOC FUMIGATION BANNER BONANZA CONTEST

This contest also ended on May 31, 2011. All the entries are being judged and the prizes will also be awarded at the annual Convention in Anaheim. Thank you in advance to all of you who participated in the contest and CONGRATULATIONS as well.

RODENTICIDE UPDATE

In 2008 the EPA announced measures to reduce risks associated with 10 rodenticides. On June 4, 2011, the new measures took effect. The new measures are intended to protect children from accidental exposure to rodent control products and reduce the risk of accidental poisonings of pets and non-target wildlife.

• The use of rodenticides/bait stations is prohibited more than 50 feet from any structure.
• Some labels will limit the use of rodenticides to only commensal rodents (Norway and roof rats and house mice).
• The packing size has changed (check with your suppliers).
• The over-the-counter sales to the public have been restricted.

These new rules took effect on June 4, 2011, and manufacturers will no longer be allowed to ship non-compliant products. However, distributors will be allowed to sell the existing stock of any pre-mitigation products until their inventories are depleted. Pest control operators will be allowed to work through and use until gone any pre-mitigation products beyond the June 2011 date without restrictions.

THE IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER IS TO READ YOUR LABELS.

Africanized Honeybee Certification Renewal

Attention: All PCOs Certified to Control Africanized Honeybees

The board of directors of the Pest Control Operators of California has approved a program for the renewal of the Africanized Honeybee Certification program/course.

Effective immediately all persons who have previously completed the AHB course must comply with the following conditions:

(1) All certified licensees must perform a check in with PCOC to update their status, ie: employer, mailing address and license status with either or both the SPCB and DPR. This check-in process will be done through the PCOC website online and will begin May 1, 2010, and must be completed by June 30, 2011. Anyone who does not complete the check-in process will be dropped from the AHB database maintained by PCOC. Staff will have the flexibility to accommodate licensees who fail to check in during this time period because of extenuating circumstances, such as active duty overseas or other similar situations.

(2) After the initial check in, certified licensees will be sent an email annually to the email address they have established in the system (the licensee will be able to go online at any time and update their profile and contact information, including their email address) reminding them to check in to confirm their contact information and status as an active (or inactive) certified licensee.

(3) Thereafter every six years certified licensees would be required to retake the full certification course.

(4) Thereafter every three years (in between the six-year renewal) every certified licensee will be required to take a one-hour online class on the PCOC website. The AHB subcommittee will create and post a one-hour class annually, which will be available to all AHB-certified licensees to take each year. Some classes will focus on updates on a particular nuance of AHB management; other classes may focus on updates on the AHB movement, stinging incidents, new technologies and other timely issues.

(5) AHB licensees who last took the full AHB Certification course prior to 2009 will have to take the full AHB Certification class by the end of 2014. This allows a full four years to accommodate these licensees to get into the system of retaking the full AHB Certification course every six years.

(6) AHB-certified licensees who last took the full AHB Certification course in 2009 or later will have to take the full AHB Certification class with six years of when they last completed the class.

CURRENT CHALLENGES WHICH NECESSITATE THE NEED FOR RENEWALS

• Lack of compliance with standards. Hopefully this is due to length of time since some have taken the course rather than a desire to purposefully violate the standards.
• Desire to maintain highest levels of integrity and professionalism within this industry/statutory certification.
• No system by which to maintain an up-to-date database of certified licensees. Counties, state agencies and the public have all complained that our database is all but useless because it contains licensees who are no longer in the industry, or who are certified, but longer desire to control honeybees.

CHECK-IN PROCEDURE

All AHB licensees (PCOC members and all non-members) must contact PCOC staff for login and password information. The AHB licensee then must go to the PCOC website; http://www.pcoc.org/. Click on the Find/Hire a Pest Control Company button, then click on the add/update your listing line. Click on the update your listing box.

ALL AHB LICENSEES MUST UPDATE THEIR LISTING TO INCLUDE CURRENT EMPLOYER, ADDRESS AND CONTACT INFORMATION.

The update will be automatically forwarded to the PCOC staff.

It is the responsibility of the AHB licensee to complete the update before June 30, 2011 or you will be dropped from the AHB database.

Visit http://www.naylornetwork.com/cpc-nwl/assets/endorsed%20programs2.pdf to view the full article online.

In April, three air traffic controllers in Knoxville, Miami and Seattle were fired for sleeping while working. Although your workers might not have the level of safety responsibility of an air traffic controller, fatigue can cause accidents at any workplace. Here are some suggestions to reduce fatigue and improve safety.

Fatigue results from physical or mental exertion and can impair performance. A study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that nearly 40 percent of U.S. workers experience fatigue. Of the nearly 29,000 employed adults interviewed, 38 percent said they had experienced "low levels of energy, poor sleep or a feeling of fatigue" during the previous two weeks. Total lost productive time averaged 5.6 hours per week for fatigued workers, compared to 3.3 hours for their counterparts without fatigue.

According to Clockwork Consultants, a UK-based company that helps enterprises manage fatigue risk, fatigued employees are also three times more likely to have an accident at work.

HOW FATIGUE AFFECTS SAFETY

Why are fatigued employees more likely to be involved in accidents? A recent article in the New York Times described a study of subjects' response to sleeplessness while performing a psychomotor vigilance task, or PVT. This repetitive task measures attentiveness and allows researchers to accurately measure response to different levels of sleep deprivation.

Subjects who had eight hours of sleep nightly over the 14-day study performed well, with hardly any attention lapses or cognitive declines. In subjects who had four or six hours of sleep nightly, performance declined steadily over the course of the study. Members of both groups did steadily worse on memory tests as the study progressed, and a significant number of even those who had gotten six hours of sleep nightly were falling asleep on task.

In sum, individuals vary in their tolerance to sleeplessness, but workers who are consistently getting less than eight hours of sound sleep per night could be working at less than peak attention and become more accident-prone.

FIGHTING THE FATIGUE FACTOR

Many safety-critical occupations have strict rules governing working hours and breaks. Productivity experts recommend similar guidelines for most jobs. If extended hours/overtime are common, managers should calculate the time required for commuting, meal preparation, eating and socializing with family when setting work shifts. For night shift and rotating shift workers, employers may also provide prepared meals and facilities where employees can nap when they are tired.

Proper working conditions can also reduce fatigue risk. Fatigue is increased by dim lighting or other limited visual conditions, high temperatures, high noise, high comfort, tasks that must be sustained for long periods, and monotonous tasks. Eliminating such conditions and providing environments with good lighting, comfortable temperatures and reasonable noise levels reduce risk, according to a study by the Canadian Centre of Occupational Health and Safety (COHS). If possible, work tasks should also provide a variety of interest and change throughout the shift, the COHS recommends.

A variety of methods can help make your workplace "fatigue safe." The most common include:

· Training workers to understand their personal levels of fatigue

· Developing "fatigue safe" work schedules, complying with any applicable regulations

· Developing fatigue risk management policies and procedures

· Investigating fatigue-related accidents

· Creating committees to oversee fatigue management programs

For more suggestions on reducing fatigue in the workplace, please call the PCOC Insurance Program department at Jenkins Insurance Services at (877) 860-7378.

TEMPORARY NPMA LOGIN FOR JOINT MEMBERSHIP

LOGIN: 313501

PASSWORD: PCOC

PCOC Website password for 2010–2011: "termite" - changing soon!

New password for 2011-2012 beginning July 1, 2011: "npma"

Department of Fish & Game
www.dfg.ca.gov

Department of Food & Agriculture
www.cdfa.ca.gov

Department of Pesticide Regulation
www.cdpr.ca.gov

Find Your Legislator
www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html

Healthy Schools Act
www.schoolipm.info

Structural Pest Control Board
www.pestboard.ca.gov

For an additional charge, you may access a 24-hour hotline providing consultation by qualified medical doctors on pesticide-related medical emergencies. This service is provided free of charge to Peacock Group insureds.