The gauge · Reading 3
Before and after a pest treatment: the two notices Queensland requires
In Queensland, a licensed technician must give you a notice before starting a pest control activity, and another after it: before leaving if the place is occupied, or within 24 hours of leaving if it is not. The second notice must be dated and signed by the technician, and Queensland Health says that, among other things, it states the name and active constituent of each pesticide used.
General information about Queensland’s rules, not legal advice. The Medicines and Poisons (Pest Management Activities) Regulation 2021 on Queensland’s legislation site is the official text, and Queensland Health’s fact sheet for people hiring a pest management service is the plain-language companion to it.
The notice before, and the notice after
The regulation calls them the pre-treatment pest control advice and the post-treatment pest control advice. Set side by side, they bracket the visit.
Pre-treatment pest control advice
When: before the technician starts the pest control activity.
To whom: the customer.
Passed on: where a place has a manager, the manager must tell the people who attend it what the advice says, as soon as practicable.
Post-treatment pest control advice
When: before the technician leaves, if the place is occupied; within 24 hours after leaving, if it is not.
To whom: the customer.
Form: dated and signed by the licensed technician. Queensland Health says it names, among other things, each pesticide used and its active constituent.
What the law says, quoted
Three short sections carry the duty. They are quoted here as Queensland’s legislation site publishes them.
“Before starting a pest control activity at a place for a customer, a licensed technician must give the customer a notice (a pre-treatment pest control advice) for the activity.”
Section 13, giving pre-treatment pest control advice
“A licensed technician must give a customer for a pest control activity carried out at a place another notice (a post-treatment pest control advice) for the activity”, and the section then sets the time: “prior to leaving the place after carrying out the activity” if the place is occupied, or “within 24 hours after leaving the place” if it is not.
Section 15, giving post-treatment pest control advice
“The post-treatment pest control advice must be dated and signed by the licensed technician.”
Section 16, contents of post-treatment pest control advice
In the regulation, a “licensed technician” means the holder of a pest management licence. The regulation itself, linked at the foot of this page, sets out what else the post-treatment advice must contain.
Keep the second notice where you can find it
The post-treatment advice is the one paper in the house that says what was used. The label and its ingredients come up in the Queensland Poisons Information Centre’s first aid, and a notice naming each pesticide and its active constituent is that information, written down at the time.
The Centre’s first aid itself, copied whole for a poison swallowed, in the eye, on the skin or breathed in, is on pesticide poisoning first aid.
Before anything is sprayed
Queensland Health’s fact sheet for people hiring a pest management service starts from the risk: technicians use pesticides that can be hazardous to people and pets, which is why anyone doing pest control for a fee must be licensed. When the technician arrives, it suggests checking the safety precautions you need to take during and after the treatment.
The same fact sheet notes that sometimes a pesticide is not needed at all. A thorough first inspection helps decide whether a pesticide is the best choice and, if so, where to apply it so it works best and is least hazardous to you, your family and the environment.
Children are worth a thought here: healthdirect says children absorb more chemicals through their skin than adults do.
After the technician has gone
- Baits. The Poisons Information Centre suggests rat, ant and cockroach baits that come enclosed in plastic bait stations, which children find harder to get into than loose pellets or gels.
- Products of your own. The national regulator, the APVMA, says some of the instructions on a pesticide label are legally binding, and that you should not use a product if you do not understand its label. It also warns that using a farm or veterinary chemical the wrong way can lead to fines, legal action and, in some circumstances, criminal prosecution.
- Storage. The Centre says many poisonings happen when poisons are out of their usual secure place: just after they are bought, while they are being used, during a move, or on a visit to someone else’s home.
When the treatment is a fumigation
Fumigation has papers of its own. The regulation provides for a fumigation notice, which must be dated and signed by the licensed technician, and once the technician is satisfied the exposure area is safe to enter, the customer gets a clearance certificate. The barricades, signs and risk areas in between are on the fumigation reading; the drywood termite, which can call for a tent, is on West Indian drywood termites.
Two notices, one before and one after, both from the person holding the licence. The second, with the pesticide’s name on it, is worth keeping with the house’s other papers.