Goldenberg Reflects on Pest Management’s Past

In the late 1970s and early ’80s, our industry was under a siege of sorts: The domestic insurance industry brought forth high premiums and/or no general liability insurance coverage, leaving pest management professionals (PMPs) without coverage or under severe financial strain to pay for coverage that was available. As a result, the then-National Pest Control Association (now National Pest Management Association or NPMA) formed an insurance task force that led to the creation of a captive, Bermuda-based insurance company for association members. I served as part of the leadership before my term as the 1979-80 NPCA president and thereafter. I became our captive insurance company president.

PESTCO, as it was then known, became the salvation for the return to lower premiums and wonderful liability protection. This program continued into the early ’80s, and through these efforts, PESTCO stabilized the liability insurance market for pest management companies and led to an influx of member growth. Our NPMA membership grew at a fantastic rate and provided colleagues with an opportunity to continue to run their businesses without being held hostage by the domestic insurance industry. Those domestic companies based premiums on the risks of the chemicals we used — not on actual claims created, which were small.

Shortly after our successes were realized, by providing opportunities for insurance liability placement outside of the domestic insurance industry for pest management companies, the marketplace softened and pest management companies matriculated back to the domestic carriers. PESTCO closed, and its purpose for being created was no longer needed.
It’s interesting to consider how, more than three decades ago, the national association, its leaders and its membership seriously thought outside of the box and made an investment to protect their future by creating this association-owned, captive general liability insurance company. This history leads to the fact we can do whatever it takes to maintain the quality of our businesses, and our national trade association continues to have the fortitude to rise to the occasion to protect its members’ interests. pmp

You can reach Goldenberg, a past NPMA president, at norman.goldenberg@servicemaster.com