16.3 Structural, Household, Termite, and Fumigation

Quick Answer: N.J.A.C. 7:30-6.3(a)7 splits industrial, institutional, and structural work into 7A household pests (roaches, ants, bees, ticks in/out, fleas in/out, rodents, other vertebrates, birds, including retail food), 7B termites and other wood-destroying pests, 7C true fumigants, 7D food-manufacturing composite, 7E restricted-use wood preservatives, and 7F restricted-use antifoulants. 7:30-10.4 puts a licensed 7B applicator on site and in line of sight for termite applications. 7:30-9.12 requires a Consumer Information Notice before 7A–7E commercial jobs. 40 CFR 171.103(d)(7) is the federal structural competency; fumigants still need extra certification under 171.103(c)(7)(ii).

Core will not replace the 7B termite manual. It will ask which card you need, whether a licensed 7B applicator must stand there, and which notice attaches. N.J.A.C. 7:30-6.1(a) still forbids applying in an uncertified subcategory. A 7A roach route is not a 7B termite license, and a 7C fumigation card is not a 7A gel-bait card.

OJT minima (7:30-6.2(b)2ii): 7A 15, 7B 6, 7C 2, 7D 5, 7E 2, 7F 2 applications inside each category's 40 hours.

Category 7A General and household

Category 7A – General and household pest control: This subcategory includes commercial pesticide applicators using or supervising the use of pesticides to control general household pests including, but not limited to, roaches, ants, bees, ticks (inside and outside the structure), fleas (inside and outside the structure), rodents, other vertebrates and birds. Control for these pests may take place at residential, commercial, industrial and institutional sites including retail sales outlets where food is prepared, served, or stored.

Burn the parentheticals. Ticks and fleas inside and outside the structure are 7A, not 3A brush and not 3B turf. Birds, rodents, and other vertebrates on those sites are 7A. Retail grocery, restaurant, and deli pest control is 7A. That last clause is how Core separates 7A from 7D: 7D is manufacturing, packaging, and processing plants, not including retail sales outlets.

Ants in 7A means general household ants. Termites or other wood-destroying pests — including typical wood-destroying insects such as carpenter ants when the job is wood-destroying control — are 7B. Do not stretch 7A's “ants” into a termite pretreat.

Bees in and around structures are listed in 7A. That does not waive N.J.A.C. 7:30-9.11 beekeeper notice when an outdoor product is labeled toxic to bees.

40 CFR 171.103(d)(7) requires practical knowledge of industrial, institutional, and structural pests (recognition, signs, habitats, life cycles, biology, behavior), formulations appropriate to those pests, and methods that avoid contamination of food, minimize damage to treated areas, minimize acute and chronic exposure of people and pets, and minimize environmental impacts of outdoor applications. That federal paragraph is why a 7A restaurant account is still a food-protection problem even though the New Jersey retail site is not 7D.

Category 7B Termites and N.J.A.C. 7:30-10.4

Category 7B – Termites and other wood destroying pests: This subcategory includes commercial pesticide applicators using or supervising the use of pesticides to control termites or other wood destroying pests.

N.J.A.C. 7:30-10.4(a) is the Core presence rule:

No person shall make a commercial application of a pesticide for control of termites unless at least one applicator certified and licensed in the termite subcategory (7:30-6.3(a)7ii) is present at the application location for the duration of the application and within line of sight of the person making the application.

The exception: this requirement shall not apply to monitoring and maintenance of termite baiting stations or the placement of pesticide active ingredient therein by a properly trained and licensed commercial pesticide operator, working under the direct supervision of a responsible commercial applicator certified in the termite subcategory. Liquid soil treatment, drilling, and rodding are not bait-station maintenance. An operator may not run a conventional termiticide job while the 7B applicator is “at the shop.” Direct supervision of operators generally does not require physical presence (N.J.A.C. 7:30-5), which is exactly why 10.4(a) is written as a stricter, category-specific overlay.

Other 10.4 facts that show up on Core even though the injection details live in the 7B manual:

• Pressurize equipment and inspect for leaks (tank, pump, hose, fittings, injection apparatus) before applying; stop and repair if a leak starts (10.4(b)). Spill rules in 7:30-9.17 still apply.
• Pressurized equipment needs a pressure gauge accurate to ±5 psi, except hand-held tank sprayers used for swarmers (10.4(c)).
• Adding water requires backflow prevention under 7:30-10.2(h) (10.4(d)).
• Route hoses to minimize indoor contamination if a hose ruptures; keep hoses outside when possible (10.4(e)).
• Retreatments with termiticides (except baits) are allowed only after five years have elapsed, or when there is evidence of reinfestation, or if construction, excavation, or landscaping disrupted the soil barrier (treat only the disrupted locations). Previously reported damage is not reinfestation (10.4(n)–(o)).
• Before contracting, give the contracting party a copy of 7:30-10.4 or an NJDEP-approved summary, packed with the 7:30-9.12 Consumer Information Notice. Bait-only jobs need not include that 10.4 packet (10.4(p)).
• A diagram of the lower level, infestation/damage, treated areas, and significant items such as wells, drainage, streams, and ponds is part of the termite record and is kept five years (10.4(q); commercial termiticide records also 5 years under 7:30-6.8, versus 3 years for other commercial applications).

Wet basement floors, wells inside foundations, plenum crawlspaces, and cardboard air ducts have additional 10.4 injection limits. Those are 7B-manual depth. For Core, know that 10.4 exists, that presence and line of sight are non-negotiable for non-bait termite applications, and that the customer gets the 10.4 summary with the CIN.

Categories 7C through 7F

Category 7C – Fumigation pest control: This subcategory includes commercial pesticide applicators using or supervising the use of pesticides which may be classified as true fumigants.

True fumigants (gases that fill a space) are 7C. Agricultural soil or on-farm product fumigation is mapped to 1A. Turf soil fumigation is mapped to 3B. 40 CFR 171.103(c)(7)(ii) still flags fumigant use as needing extra certification; (d)(14) is the federal non-soil fumigation competency (sealing, air monitoring, posting, fumigant management plans). A 7A firm that wants to tent a building needs 7C, not a larger 7A sprayer. N.J.A.C. 7:30-7.4 insurance: non-fumigation businesses $300,000 combined single limit; businesses that fumigate wholly or in part $500,000.

Category 7D – Food manufacturing and processing: This subcategory includes commercial pesticide applicators using or supervising the use of pesticides in and around food manufacturing, packaging and processing establishments including, but not limited to, meat packing plants, dairy product operations, canning, grain, milling, bottling, and coffee roasting plants, not including retail sales outlets. This is a composite subcategory which covers the types of pest control work found in categories 3A, 3B, 6A, 7A and 7C for food manufacturing plants.

Composite means site-limited bundle, not a statewide master license. Inside a cannery, 7D can cover ornamental, turf, vegetation, household, and fumigation-type work at that plant. The grocery store on the corner remains 7A. A coffee-roasting plant fumigation is inside the 7D composite; a house tenting is still 7C plus 7A if household pests are a separate account.

Category 7E – Wood preserving pest control: This subcategory includes commercial pesticide applicators using or supervising the use of restricted use pesticides to control fungi, insects, bacteria, marine borers and other wood destroying pests.

Category 7F – Antifoulants: This subcategory includes commercial pesticide applicators using or supervising the use of restricted use antifouling paints or other agents on boat hulls and other areas to control barnacles, algae, and other marine pests.

7E and 7F are written around restricted-use products. N.J.A.C. 7:30-9.12(a) covers 7E in structures for household/structural notification; 7F is excluded from 9.12. Do not put a boat-hull antifoulant job on a 7A CIN form and call it done, and do not skip 9.12 on a 7E structural wood-preserve treatment.

N.J.A.C. 7:30-9.12 on structural jobs

7:30-9.12 applies to commercial applications in 7A, 7B, 7C, 7D, 7E (in structures), 8A, 8C, and 12A. It does not apply to 1A–6B, 7F, 8B, 8D, 8F, 9, 11, or 12B. Before a covered household or structural application, give a Consumer Information Notice (writing or e-mail) with enough time for occupants to take label precautions. Termite jobs add the 10.4 copy or approved summary. Multi-family units also get a 15-square-inch kitchen-cabinet decal left 60 days. Waivers are kept three years and do not waive 7:30-10.2 label precautions. Aerosols or fogs in attached or shared-HVAC buildings require adjoining-occupant notice as for a single-family residence; crack-and-crevice and flushing agents are exempt from that adjoining rule.

Chapter 5 of this guide is the full 9.12/9.13/9.10 walkthrough. For category selection, remember: 7A–7E trigger 9.12; 3A–3C and 6A trigger 9.13 signs; 7F does not ride 9.12.

Worked New Jersey scenarios

Scenario A — mixed structural day. A crew baits a restaurant kitchen for roaches (7A, CIN + permanent notice next to the Health Department card), then soil-treats the owner's house for termites (7B, licensed 7B applicator in line of sight for the duration, 10.4 summary with the CIN, five-year diagram). An operator may later service bait stations at that house under the 7B applicator's direct supervision without the 10.4(a) line-of-sight rule.

Scenario B — retail versus plant. German cockroaches in a supermarket bakery case are 7A (retail food outlet). The same pest in a commercial cannery is inside 7D. Tent-fumigating the cannery is still the 7C-type work bundled into 7D for that plant; tent-fumigating a vacant house is 7C and 9.12, plus $500,000 fumigation insurance if the business fumigates.

Scenario C — wood preserve versus termite. Pressure-treating lumber with a restricted-use wood preservative is 7E. Treating a house for subterranean termites is 7B. Antifouling paint on a hull is 7F. None of those three is 7A “ants and roaches.”

Official sources: Rutgers PAT commercial categories, N.J.A.C. 7:30-10.4, N.J.A.C. 7:30-9.12, 40 CFR 171.103(d)(7).