Ontario Pesticide Structural Exam cheat sheet

Ontario's Pesticides Act is administered by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks; O. Reg. 63/09 sets the rules for classification, licensing, sale, storage, use and disposal.

Class 1 pesticides are prohibited; Classes 2 to 5 are restricted classes usable only by licensed or certified persons; Class 6 products are domestic pesticides available to the general public.

Structural extermination typically involves Class 3 and Class 4 products, which may be applied only by a licensed exterminator holding the appropriate licence class.

An exterminator licence is issued to an individual, must be carried while performing extermination work, and is renewed annually; a pesticide operator licence is issued separately to the business.

The federal Pest Control Products Act, administered by the PMRA, governs product registration and label approval; provincial law governs sale, use, storage and disposal inside Ontario.

Cosmetic (non-essential) outdoor use of Class 7, 8 and 9 pesticides is prohibited, with narrow exceptions related to human health and safety.

A licensed exterminator and the licensed operator must keep records of each pesticide application and produce them on request to a provincial officer or inspector.

Pesticide spills that may cause an adverse effect must be reported immediately to the Spills Action Centre at 1-800-268-6060, which operates 24 hours a day.

Applying a registered pesticide in a manner inconsistent with its approved label is an offence under both federal and provincial legislation.

The label is the legal document defining permitted use; rate, site, method, PPE and re-entry statements on the label are enforceable conditions, not suggestions.

Every Canadian pesticide label displays a PCP registration number assigned by the PMRA, the registrant's name and address, the net contents, and the guarantee of active ingredient(s).

Signal words rank acute hazard: Danger (frequently accompanied by a skull-and-crossbones and the word Poison) is highest, Warning is intermediate, and Caution is lowest.

Required label elements include precautionary statements, first aid and toxicological information, directions for use, storage and disposal instructions, and restricted-entry intervals (REI).

The restricted-entry interval states how long after an application people may not enter the treated area without the PPE specified for early entry.

WHMIS 2015 Safety Data Sheets have 16 sections: identification, hazard identification, composition, first aid, firefighting, accidental release, handling and storage, exposure controls and PPE, physical properties, stability and reactivity, toxicological, ecological, disposal, transport, regulatory, and other information.

An SDS must be readily available to workers at the worksite; the employer obtains and maintains current sheets and trains workers on the hazards described.

Amount of product required equals the label rate multiplied by the area or volume treated; exceeding the maximum label rate or the stated frequency of application is a label violation.

The IPM sequence is: identify the pest, monitor the population, compare it with the action threshold, select tactics, apply them, then evaluate and record the result.

The action threshold is the pest density at which the cost or risk of damage exceeds the cost of control; below it, no pesticide application is justified.

Tactics are ranked from least to most risk: sanitation and exclusion, physical and mechanical controls, biological controls, then targeted pesticide application.

Monitoring tools include visual inspection, sticky traps, pheromone traps, monitoring boards and rodent stations; counts are recorded over time to reveal trends.

Spot and crack-and-crevice treatment of located harbourage replaces blanket broadcast application where the pest's distribution is known.

Resistance management requires rotating modes of action and avoiding repeated sub-lethal doses that select for resistant individuals.

Where pests are primarily a nuisance, the client's tolerance level substitutes for an economic threshold in the decision to treat.

Written records of inspection findings, treatments and follow-up results provide the evidence used to evaluate whether the program is working.

Cockroaches and bed bugs undergo incomplete metamorphosis (egg, nymph, adult); nymphs resemble adults and share the same harbourage, so treatment must reach both stages.

German cockroach adults measure 13-16 mm, are tan to brown, and have two dark parallel stripes on the pronotum; nymphs show a pale stripe down the back.

American cockroach adults reach 35-40 mm with a pale figure-eight on the pronotum; oriental cockroaches are 20-25 mm, dark, and favour cool, damp basements.

Norway rats are heavy-bodied with a blunt muzzle and a tail shorter than the body, and burrow at ground level; roof rats are slender with a tail longer than the body and are climbers.

House mice measure 15-20 cm including the tail, leave pointed droppings 3-6 mm long, and have a small home range, obtaining most water from food.

Subterranean termite workers are cream-coloured with no constricted waist and straight, bead-like antennae; mud shelter tubes and swarmers with four equal-sized wings confirm activity.

Carpenter ants are 6-12 mm, have a single node and an evenly rounded thorax, and are active at night; frass appears as sawdust mixed with insect fragments.

Bed bugs are oval, flattened, 4-6 mm, rusty brown, with three pairs of legs and four-segment antennae; they hide in seams and feed on blood, mostly at night.

Structural application types are crack and crevice, void, spot, broadcast, perimeter barrier, space (ULV) and fumigation; routine structural work relies mainly on crack-and-crevice and spot placement.

Cockroach baiting uses many small placements close to harbourage; contact sprays applied on or near bait deter feeding and reduce control.

Ant control depends on foragers carrying slow-acting bait back to the colony; repellent sprays across trails disrupt that transfer and worsen the problem.

Termite management uses a continuous soil termiticide barrier, termite bait stations, or treated wood; any break or disturbance in the barrier reopens access.

Rodenticide baits are placed in tamper-resistant, secured stations along runways and checked on a schedule; rodent carcasses are located and removed.

Bed bug work combines steam or heat, vacuuming, mattress encasements, and residual or dust products placed in cracks, voids and seams.

Exclusion and sanitation measures such as caulking, door sweeps, screens and waste removal eliminate harbourage and prevent reinvasion.

Fumigation requires a licensed fumigator, sealing of the space, warning signage and monitoring, and is reserved for situations other methods cannot resolve.

LD50 is the single dose in mg/kg body weight that kills 50 percent of a test population; the lower the LD50, the greater the acute toxicity of the product.

Dermal LD50 values are generally much larger than oral values, but skin absorption is still the most common exposure route for pesticide applicators.

Organophosphates and carbamates inhibit cholinesterase, producing salivation, lacrimation, urination, diarrhea, gastrointestinal cramps, emesis, pinpoint pupils and muscle twitching; this is a medical emergency.

Anticoagulant rodenticides interfere with vitamin K-dependent clotting factors, prolonging prothrombin time; vitamin K1 is the specific treatment after significant exposure.

Synthetic pyrethroids can cause skin tingling and paresthesia in applicators and are extremely toxic to fish and aquatic invertebrates.

PPE selection follows the label: chemical-resistant gloves and boots, coveralls, eye protection, and the specified respirator or cartridge type.

No eating, drinking or smoking during application or handling; hands are washed after work and contaminated clothing is laundered separately from family laundry.

Dose received equals the dose in mg/kg multiplied by body weight in kg; this calculated value is compared with the LD50 to estimate the severity of an exposure.

Calibration establishes that the equipment delivers the label rate uniformly; output is measured over a timed interval and matched to the area or volume treated.

Product required equals the desired application rate multiplied by the treated area, divided by the concentration of active ingredient in the formulation.

Nozzle flow varies approximately with the square root of pressure, so doubling pressure does not double output but does reduce droplet size.

Nozzles are replaced when measured output deviates about 10 percent from the rated flow; screens, hoses, seals and the pressure gauge are checked before each use.

Crack-and-crevice work uses low pressure with a pin-stream or narrow fan tip held close to the opening, delivering product into the void rather than onto surfaces.

Space treatment with ULV equipment produces droplets of roughly 5-50 micrometres, small enough to remain airborne long enough to contact flying insects.

Consistent walking speed and nozzle height are required because variation in either changes the dose deposited per unit area.

Measuring jugs, funnels and mixing utensils are dedicated to pesticide use, labelled, and never reused for food or drinking water.

A pesticide spill that may cause an adverse effect is reported immediately to the Spills Action Centre at 1-800-268-6060, available 24 hours a day.

Spill response order: protect people, stop the source if it is safe, contain with dikes or absorbent socks to keep product out of drains and waterways, absorb, containerize and label the waste, report, then clean the site.

A spill is never hosed into a drain; absorbent material and contaminated soil are collected and disposed of according to label directions and municipal requirements.

A spill kit contains absorbent material, PPE, a broom and dustpan, heavy-duty bags, a salvage drum and caution tape.

Empty containers are triple rinsed, the rinsate is added to the spray tank, and the containers are punctured and taken to an appropriate collection depot or event.

An air gap between the filling hose and the tank's water surface, or keeping the hose above the water line, prevents back-siphon into the water supply.

Mixing and loading are carried out on an impervious surface away from wells, drains and surface water; pesticides are stored in original labelled containers in a locked, ventilated area away from food and feed.

Synthetic pyrethroids are extremely toxic to fish and aquatic invertebrates at very low concentrations, so applications adjacent to water and runoff pathways are avoided.