How far a trainee pest controller may work from their supervisor.
In these states, a person becomes a pest controller by first working under the supervision of a licensed one, on terms each state sets.
Each state writes supervision in words, not in metres. Your state’s regulator governs who may treat your home.
Source: Victorian Department of Health, operator guidelines; trainee licences; NSW EPA, training permits; SA Health, industry licensing; SA Health, engaging a licensed business; SA.GOV.AU, pest control licence; WA Health (Pesticides) Regulations 2011; Queensland Health, sensitive places; NRE Tasmania, pest management licences; Victorian licence applications.
a licensed technician
BESIDE
WAin the presence of … close and continuous
VICwithin direct sight and hearing … at all times
VICat least four applications per pest, for example ants, before indirect supervision
WITHIN REACH
VICindirect sight or hearing … two-way radio
WAregular and frequent supervision
NSWa more indirect degree of supervision
QLDphone, two-way radio (sensitive places) for a licensed technician, not a trainee
VIC12 months, three times at most
NSWup to 84 days before enrolling
SAsome limited technicians: within sight and/or sound, telephone included
the full licence
trainee
fully qualified
Victorian Department of Health
Each state writes supervision in words, not in metres. Your state’s regulator governs who may treat your home.
Source: Victorian Department of Health, operator guidelines; trainee licences; NSW EPA, training permits; SA Health, industry licensing; SA Health, engaging a licensed business; SA.GOV.AU, pest control licence; WA Health (Pesticides) Regulations 2011; Queensland Health, sensitive places; NRE Tasmania, pest management licences; Victorian licence applications.
Ask at the door
Three checks, each one written by the state that asks for it.
The card’s colourVictoria
In Victoria, trainee photo ID cards are printed on a green background, and red licences are issued only to fully qualified technicians.
A green card at the door is a trainee’s card.
The endorsementWestern Australia and South Australia
In Western Australia the licence carries an endorsement on the front of the card, and the endorsement names the pesticide treatments the holder is qualified for.
South Australian licences carry endorsements recording the training a pest control operator has completed for particular pest problems.
SA Health’s checklist for customers is to check the endorsements and the expiry date when the technician arrives.
A limited technician in South Australia holds no photo ID card, so the paper licence is the one to ask for.
The supervisor’s licence for that workNew South Wales
In New South Wales a trainee works on a training permit: the work may be done without the licence only while the person holds a permit and is studying an approved course.
A supervisor must hold the licence that matches the kind of work the trainee is doing, so the second card to look at belongs to the person in charge.
Source: Victorian Department of Health, licence applications; HealthyWA, how to choose a pest management business; SA Health, engaging a licensed pest control business; NSW EPA, pest management technicians and training permits.
The six guides
Can a trainee treat your home?
Each state’s rule on supervising a trainee, and three checks to make at the door.
From trainee licence to technician licence in Victoria
Enrolment, the trainee licence, four applications per pest, then the technician licence, with the department’s clocks and fees.
Working on a training permit in NSW
The permit, the 84-day exemption, the timber pest training and the fumigator licence, in the order a trainee meets them.
The two supervision terms on a WA technician licence
Western Australia’s two supervision terms set against each other, and the endorsement each licence carries.
South Australia’s limited licence, Tasmania’s certificate
A limited licence with no photo card in South Australia, and a certificate whose training is not available in Tasmania.
The Queensland licences, and the phone line to a school
Three pest management licences, the authorisations they carry, and, at a sensitive place, supervision of a licensed technician by phone or two-way radio.
Source: Victorian Department of Health, trainee licences; Victorian Department of Health, operator guidelines; NSW EPA, pest management technicians and training permits; WA legislation, Health (Pesticides) Regulations 2011; HealthyWA, how to choose a pest management business; SA Health, engaging a licensed pest control business; NRE Tasmania, pest management licences; Queensland Health, licence activities for high-risk and sensitive places; Queensland Health, seeking pest management services fact sheet.
ACT and the Northern Territory
In the ACT, a person carrying out commercial pest and weed control must hold an Environmental Authorisation.
In the ACT, it is also an offence to use certain agvet chemical products without the appropriate training, and the units of competency that count as that training are approved by its EPA.
In the Northern Territory, a schedule 5, 6 or 7 pesticide may not be used for pest control work done for money without a licence.
Source: Access Canberra, pest and weed control operators; NT Government, hire a pest management technician.