Chris Reardon
PCOC Executive Vice President
chris@pcoc.org
(916) 372-4363

 (un)Leashed Leadership Program — STARTING January 2022!!

Sign up today! Click here for the Progam information registration form.

  Termite Academy - VIRTUAL

February 8-9, 2022

The Pest Control Operators of California, in association with University of California Berkeley, are hosting a two-day virtual workshop on termite control. You won’t want to miss this unique training opportunity!

CLICK HERE to view the Termite Academy schedule and access the registration form. 

INTERESTED IN SPONSORING? To view sponsorship opprotinites CLICK HERE. 

**This will be a virtual event. 

April BOD Meeting & Legislative

March 7-9, 2022
Hyatt Regency — Sacramento
Golf — Course TBD — Mar. 7
Committees & BOD — Mar. 8
Leg Day Event — Mar. 9

2022 Expo 2022

Registration is Now Open!

June 8-10, 2022
Disneyland Hotel — Anaheim

VIEW THE SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE

Attendee Registration Form

As we start the new year, it means that there is a new Legislative session. With this comes the potential for an exciting (good or bad?) or a quiet year for us on the legislative front. At this point, the only piece of legislation that we are watching is a piece that we are sponsoring requiring Workman’s Comp to register a Pest Management Company License (PR) with the state. There is already a requirement for a bond, so this is not foreign to the state. We are currently working to find a legislator to carry this bill for us. We will keep you posted on this.  However, when it comes to anything else that may pass through the Capitol, we haven’t heard anything but are keeping our ears open as the deadline is mid-February.

In regard to our Legislative Day in March, we are still working out the details as to what that will look like.  The Capitol is currently closed to most staff and visitors. But March is a long time away in relation to the COVID restrictions and situation so we are still hoping for things to open up, but we are still not sure. Either way, the association is looking to still have an in-person meeting in Sacramento as there will be a lot to discuss, including the outreach campaign to local regulators and elected officials!

Speaking of the outreach campaign, we are working with Grassroots and Arc Strategies. We are excited to see where this is going!  Right now, the big ask is for videos of rodent activity. Anything you have would be great. We can edit the video to hide distinguishing marks, logos, phone numbers, whatever could show a customer’s location that you would not want to show. Our PR committee will be reaching out with more details. 

Darren Van Steenwyk, M.S., BCE
Director of Learning and Technical Services
Clark Pest Control
Office: (209) 368-7152 ext. 235
Mobile: (209) 224-4629
Fax: (209) 334-5040
darrenv@clarkpest.co

It is Open Enrollment for Medical Insurance Programs. Watch the video below to hear from one of our insurance affiliate companies, Ames Grenz Insurance Services.

If you have any questions, please contact Chris Vlautin at 310-804-0342.

8 Exceptions to the Course of Employment Rule

To better understand course of employment rules it helps to look at the exceptions.

When someone gets injured on the job, the connection — or nexus — between the job and the injury is usually clear and indisputable. But sometimes, it’s not. For instance, say you work at home, and you tripped over your dog on your way to pull some fabric samples down from a shelf to take with you to a customer? Just such a claim was at first denied by the workers’ compensation judge, then paid on appeal.

Exactly what does course of employment mean? We can probably understand the concept better by looking at the exceptions. 

The following rules relating to course of employment should help clarify things a bit:

 1.  Idiopathic Injuries
Idiopathic refers to an injury of unknown origin. When someone has a stroke or heart attack while at work, for example. Unless there is some sort of connection to a job function, such an injury would be considered idiopathic. Injuries like these are not compensable.

 2.  The Going and Coming Rule
With some exceptions, an injury incurred while driving back and forth to work is not covered. Unless driving is part of the job.

3.  Dual Purpose and Special Errand Exceptions
On the other hand, if an employee is on an errand on behalf of the employer while going to or leaving work, this would be an exception of the going and coming rule.

4.  Premises Exception
Even if the employee is not yet officially on the clock, if an injury occurs on premises owned or provided by the employer, there would be coverage.

5.  Proximity or Special Hazard Exception
This exception would apply if a hazard existed such that if not for the hazard an employee would not have been injured. For instance, if employees are required to drive down an unsafe road to get to work. This is often a contentious and difficult exception to interpret.

 6.  Off-Duty Injuries
Injuries that occur when employees are on a break may be compensable. It depends on when, how often such breaks are taken and if they are permitted. Also, injuries that occur when someone is attending a seminar away from the office or on a business trip may be covered even while on break.

 7.  Horseplay
Injuries from horseplay can be barred from compensation. The facts need to be examined but in general the person initiating the horseplay would be denied benefits.

 8. Injuries by Third Persons
Accidents or injuries caused by the intentional or negligent actions of third parties are compensable.  

For more information or help, contact the Insurance professionals of EPIC’s CRA ProPest™ Insurance Program. Call us at: 888-877-PEST

Laura Coy
Vice President
EPIC Insurance Brokers & Consultants
Mobile (916) 390-1017 Direct (916) 576-1544
laura.coy@epicbrokers.com 

Frequently Asked For Websites

3 Quick-Fix Tips to Improve Your Website Today

As technology grows each day and industry design trends fluctuate, the opportunity to improve your Website is always there. To help narrow down where you should be placing your attention, focus on these key items:

Trim the Fat from Your Homepage

A bounce rate is the percentage of visitors that leave or “bounce” from your site after viewing one page. Keeping that bounce rate in mind, many companies are often guilty of overloading their homepages with their mission, services, and specials. Long paragraphs of essay-style text can overwhelm Website visitors, prompting them to visit another Pest Control site.

The average attention span of someone online averages 6-8 seconds. At a glance, does your homepage clearly indicate what your company does, how to contact you, and why you are the trusted experts in your service area?

Ask someone who isn’t familiar with your Website to try this. If they are having trouble answering the above questions, review your content for ways to refine your message.

Highlight the Next Step

You can certainly capture the attention of your site’s visitors with photos of your work, details of your offerings, and lots of good reviews. But this won’t mean much if they aren’t aware of the next step to hiring your pest control services.

Do you do business over the phone? Is there an online booking system they need to use to schedule an appointment? Should they identify the type of insect or rodent they are having problems with?

Ask yourself these questions and update your site accordingly. Businesses that do most of their scheduling over the phone should have a “Call Now” button on most of their pages and their phone number in the header, which will appear no matter the page one is on.

Callouts, otherwise known as a Call to Action, eliminate uncertainty for your prospects and help to guide them to becoming a paying customer.

Keep Things Updated

Keeping your content fresh and updated – even in small ways – can be an excellent strategy for your site’s appeal to prospects AND to Google. This can be adding new testimonials to your Reviews page, adding information on the new type of solution you have for rodent problems, or updating content across the site seasonally.

Pests in California tend to be more active during certain times of the year. By adding a blogpost, for example, about the increase in cockroaches being found around the home due to the hotter weather, Google will take notice. One tip is to update your content based on the current pest trends happening in your area. By placing current information on your Website, Google will identify it has relevant information during a user’s search into that pest.

No matter how small the change, you are letting Google know that your site is up-to-date and is representative of your business today.

Take some time today to look at your pest control Website and identify the areas for growth. When you take your Website seriously, search engines and prospects do the same. If you need any help in taking your Website to the next level, contact Market Hardware, and we’d be happy to discuss the layout of your site.