Subject: Terminix Records Altered------ To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov> Dear Mr. Helliker, I thought you might like to read an
article entitled: Terminix Records Altered - By DANIEL P. JONES - The Hartford
Courant - October 27, 2000. A former supervisor for pest-control giant Terminix
International says he was instructed by a regional officer of the company in
April 1998 to alter records of pesticide treatments at customers' homes. The testimony Wednesday and Thursday by former employee
Anthony Coviello was part of the state's ongoing effort to strip one of the
nation's largest pest-control firms of its licenses to operate three of its four
offices in Connecticut. "I felt it was wrong because I never saw the [records]
before they were produced," Coviello testified during a hearing Thursday at
the Department of Environmental Protection. "I didn't see the work, so I
didn't know if it was correct." Coviello said he altered the records, but resigned from
Terminix in August 1998, partly because of his feeling that he had been
pressured to do something wrong. A Terminix official at the company's Memphis headquarters
disputed Coviello's allegations, and said the company officer who dealt with
Coviello about the records was conducting an audit to ensure compliance with
pesticide rules. That officer no
longer works for Terminix, and could not be reached for comment. "It is 100 percent against our company policy to alter
any [pesticide-application record]. It is absolutely forbidden, and results in
immediate termination," said Steve Good, a Terminix vice president and
spokesman. Good said the company plans to present testimony to refute
Coviello. The DEP and the state attorney general's office have been
trying since March 1998 to take away the licenses. The state alleges hundreds of
violations of pesticide-safety laws. Terminix continues to operate its Trumbull,
Waterbury and North Haven offices under its old licenses while it appeals the
state's license denials. The office in South Windsor is not part of the case. Coviello, of Waterbury, was a supervisor in the company's
Trumbull office in early 1998. He testified that he was pressured by the officer
to alter information on a stack of pesticide-application records 12 to 18 inches
high. "I was pretty sure there was a lot of pressure to get
it done right away," Coviello
testified. "She told me what to do, how to correct them," he said of
the officer. Under state law it is illegal for pest control companies to
mislead state inspectors or falsify records of pesticide treatments. The law
also requires that a supervisor, a person certified to determine how a home
should be treated, must provide line-level operators with written instructions
before properties can be treated with chemicals. The records, which must be kept by a pest-control firm for
five years, specify the type and amount of pesticide used, locations treated and
the pests targeted, such as termites, ants or rats. The records also must
include the name of the supervisor who wrote the instructions. According to testimony Thursday by DEP inspector Debra
Catuccio, some of the records of pesticide treatments done by the Trumbull
Terminix office in early 1998 originally had the printed name of a supervisor
who had been assigned to another state and no longer worked at the Trumbull
office when the treatments were done. She alleged that was a violation of
pesticide rules. Coviello said that, in some cases, he crossed out the other
supervisor's name and added his own to the records, and in other cases changed
the type of chemical used or the type of pest that had been the target of the
treatment. Accurate records can be useful if problems arise after
pesticides are applied. For example, if a homeowner complains of a suspected
health problem, or damage to well water or vegetation, experts can consult the
records. The records also can serve to protect the pest-control company if a
customer complains unfairly. The hearing at the DEP is scheduled to continue Wednesday. Well Mr. Helliker, if you never bother to routinely
inspect the work of the applicators of your "registered" POISONS, how
will you ever know if what is written, is actually what happened?
This is the only "industry" that I know of that is not properly
inspected - the work of carpenters. electricians, plumbers, etc. is always
inspected and approved or rejected --- and these people use safe products!
Only the work of the POISON applicators is not inspected - until someone
complains - and then you "regulators" depend on the
"records"!!!!!! |
