Councils are responsible for making sure that houses, streets and public buildings are kept clean and pest free. When pests are discovered in any of these places, pest control officers come to the rescue. They deal with a variety of pests that may pose a danger to health or cause damage to crops and foodstuffs. Pest control officers are usually based in environmental health departments and work alongside staff concerned with refuse and street cleaning, health and safety, food hygiene and pollution control.

Work Environment

Although pest control officers have a council office base, they spend most of their time visiting homes, factories, warehouses, shops, farms and rivers to deal with pests. Sometimes pest control officers may need to venture into unpleasant conditions such as sewers or roof spaces.

They often need to wear protective clothing, including face visor, goggles, respirator, gloves and overalls – to protect against stings and bites and also against poisons, toxic substances and dust.

The working week is usually 37 hours Monday to Friday. However weekend/overtime work may occasionally be required.

Daily Activities

The work is quite varied and involves both office and outdoor work. Tasks can include:

• picking up details from the office in the morning and spending a large proportion of the day making calls and visiting premises;
• dealing with a range of public health pests, for example, rodents (rats and mice), wasps, ants, cockroaches, fleas, earwigs, flies and woodlice;
• trying to identify the pest by looking at droppings, nests, nibbled food, etc.;
• finding out how and where they are getting into a building/grounds by, for example, laying tracking dust and returning at a later date to look at the trail using a UV light, or by looking for their source of food;
• collecting dead insects, animals, samples of food products and animal faeces for scientific analysis;
• carrying out treatments such as laying bait (poison) in cupboards, laying traps, spraying nests in roof spaces and drains, pumping powder into cavity walls, fumigating rooms and spraying carpets with insecticide;
• choosing the most appropriate method of control for the area, for example, not using toxic sprays in kitchens, and placing bait out of the way of children, pets and protected wildlife;
• proofing areas to prevent pests returning, which might include building screens, sealing holes, installing fly killers, putting bristles on doors and fine mesh in air vents, or putting spikes on a building to stop pigeons landing (they are a protected species but their droppings are a health hazard);
• advising the public on the prevention of pests and infestations and treatment of pests;
• maintaining records and writing up reports;
• supporting the work of environmental health officers by collecting and delivering samples and monitoring equipment, drain testing, site gas monitoring, seizing stray dogs, observing situations where complaints have been received, acting as a council witness in legal proceedings, undertaking basic recording and survey work.

Skills & Interests

Pest control officers need to be:

• good communicators,
• responsible and mature, with good common sense,
• physically fit,
• aware of health and safety issues when handling dangerous chemicals,
• practical, with the ability to operate equipment,
• unbothered by working in dirty or cramped conditions,
• unsentimental about killing pests and not squeamish about the sight of blood and dead animals,
• good at investigating and problem solving.

Entry Requirements

Most councils will ask for a good standard of literacy and numeracy, as you need to be able to read and write – to follow instructions for using chemicals and to keep records. You may need GCSEs/S grades in English, maths and science.

You may require some previous practical experience of working outdoors and will normally need to be able to drive and hold a full clean driving licence. Qualifications in pest control are usually preferred, although as a trainee or assistant you will receive full on-the-job training.

The British Pest Control Association and the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health work together to run relevant training courses and qualifications for those working in pest control. You can also study for relevant N/SVQs.

Estimated salary range

£15,000 - £20,000 per year.

Please note that salary information is a guide only and there may be local agreements in place. For further information about salaries for particular positions, please contact your local council directly.

Future prospects & opportunities

There may be opportunities to move to a supervisory post managing a small team. You may also be able to gain training to move into other areas within in environmental health such as pollution control, food safety, animal welfare or work as a dog warden.

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