Colin Harrison

Digital Pest Manager

40 years in the field: Colin Harrison on where UK pest control is headed

When Colin Harrison talks about pest control, he doesn’t start with rodenticide or traps. He starts with a torch, a question, and a core principle: “Knees that bend, eyes that see.”

With nearly 40 years in the pest control industry, Colin - currently Training Manager at Anticimex UK - has witnessed every major shift in urban pest management. Today, he is leveraging that vast experience to drive a quiet revolution: shifting the traditional pest industry's approach from a historic “box-checking” mindset toward a culture rooted in deep technical competence, proofing, and non-toxic root-cause resolution.

His career spans every level of the sector:

Rentokil (21 years): rising from frontline technician through sales, branch management, and facility management/cleaning services.
Pelsis (6 years): working on the distribution side, collaborating with virtually every pest control operator across the UK.
Pestokill (4 years): leading technical operations prior to its acquisition by Anticimex.

This 360-degree perspective, spanning field operations, distribution, and corporate leadership, informs everything he does today.

Bringing training in-house: setting the standard for RSPH qualifications

At Anticimex UK, Colin’s primary focus is raising the baseline standard of field expertise by delivering Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) qualification courses directly to internal technicians:

Level 1: a foundational one-day introductory course focused on the safe use of rodenticides.
Level 2: a comprehensive, multi-module qualification covering vertebrates, invertebrates, and UK health and safety legislation.

With the British Pest Control Association (BPCA) requiring all technicians to work toward Level 2 within 18 months of joining, Colin’s initiative to bring training in-house from external suppliers is not only cost efficient but has significantly accelerated onboarding while tailoring learning directly to field realities.

His training schedule spans the entire country, from Bristol, the Midlands, and the Northwest to South Mimms in North London, where he works alongside other colleagues to help train new technicians. Simultaneously, he supports regional branch teams transitioning field audits from simple van-kit checks to advanced root-cause analysis and technical report writing.

Teaching philosophy: engagement, innovation, and "1% better every week"

Colin’s approach to adult education balances rigorous structure with memorable and fun visual metaphors. He builds curriculum using a "start with the end in mind" philosophy, mapping exam agendas directly to module design before building interactive content.

Colin's key teaching principles:

Interactive recall: Prompting technicians to dissect their own recent treatments rather than passively absorbing slides.
Visual metaphors: Using custom, AI-generated images to help technicians remember basic ideas, such as a rat with a knife and fork to remind them that rats primarily look for food sources, or a rat in a swimming cap to remind them that rats are good swimmers.
Continuous exam feedback loop: Continuously adapting session questions based on RSPH exam results to sharpen student delivery.
Strict compliance: Colin is on a personal mission to ensure rodent station labelling compliance. Under UK law, bait boxes must clearly display the active ingredients, a requirement that applies even when non-toxic bait is used. He emphasizes the importance of strict compliance to technicians by explaining the reasoning behind it.

“Rats do not parachute into sites, they are encouraged by poor proofing and hygiene.”

Through his mantra of "1% better every week," Colin is systematically dismantling the historical industry trap of budget pricing and superficial site visits.

The evolving UK pest landscape & regulatory shifts

The UK pest control sector is undergoing its most profound regulatory shift in decades. As environmental frameworks tighten, traditional chemical controls are rapidly being phased out:

Glueboard bans: already enacted in Wales (October 2024), Scotland (July 2026), and England, with Northern Ireland expected to follow.
Impending rodenticide restrictions: UK regulations are tracking toward a Scandinavian-style model, where routine outdoor rodenticide usage could face near-total bans within 5 to 10 years.
The CRRU framework: the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use underpins Colin’s Level 1 training, placing environmental stewardship and non-target wildlife protection at the center of pest management.

Pest Trends on the Ground

Pest species	Operational reality	Anticimex preferred strategy
House mice	Dominant urban pest; frequently established on high floors of high-rise commercial towers.	Precision proofing, structural sealing, and monitoring.
Brown rats	Universal urban/rural pest. Black rats represent less than 0.01% of sightings in 40 years.	Root cause drainage inspection and proofing.
Bed bugs	High insecticide resistance across commercial hospitality settings.	Sniffer dog detection, heat treatments.
Moths	Major threat to high-end textile and hospitality sectors.	Biological controls (Trichogramma), duct cleaning, pheromones.

Recent corporate court rulings demonstrate that the financial and reputational cost of poor pest management is soaring. Two big names in food retail in the country were recently fined £2.2M and £750K, respectively, for pest prevention failures.

Colin is a huge advocate of the Anticimex Methodology: proof, prevention and monitoring to avoid losses and health risks related to pests.

As he puts it: "If you can proof Stonehenge, you can proof anything."

Field case studies: biological & non-chemical field solutions

Colin’s technical expertise is rooted in complex field challenges where standard chemical treatments are ineffective. Recently, he collaborated with Anticimex UK's service teams on two customer cases that demonstrate the effectiveness of the Anticimex Methodology, which always considers biocides as a last resort.

Case 1: chemical-free hotel moth elimination

At a major hotel suffering a 6-floor moth infestation, traditional sprays were ruled out. Colin helped oversee a biological control strategy utilizing parasitic wasps (Trichogramma and ichneumonids).

The technical breakthrough came from identifying the true root cause: lint build-up inside laundry ventilation ducting. By introducing biological controls directly into the ductwork, the infestation was successfully halted without disruption to guests.

Colin continues to advocate for follow-up monitoring visits to prevent secondary resurgences, a lesson echoed in a similar Royal Courts of Justice case, where moth larvae were discovered breeding inside boiler room insulation two floors below active sightings.

Learn more

Case 2: sniffer dogs and heat treatment in hospitality

At a Peterborough nursing home, Colin and his team solved a severe bed bug infestation without using any chemicals:

1. Detection: Deploying a trained canine unit (Milo the sniffer dog) to pinpoint exact bed bug harborage areas down to individual room panels.

2. Eradication: Applying localized heat treatments to instantly kill eggs and adults, completely bypassing chemical resistance.

3. Validation: Re-surveying with canine teams to confirm 100% elimination before re-occupancy.

Thought leadership, innovation, and industry partnerships

Beyond his internal role at Anticimex, Colin remains a prominent voice across the wider UK public health ecosystem:

NPTA & BPCA engagement: a current National Pest Technicians Association director of 8 years, Colin has lobbied on bird management legislation and glue board regulation, while maintaining strong collaborative ties with the British Pest Control Association (BPCA) and industry entomologists like Johnny Binge of Killgerm.
Biological bird control: expanding Anticimex’ approved subcontractor roster for professional falconry (e.g., non-toxic pigeon deterrence at major transit stations).
Testing digital innovation: leading trials forcutting-edge deterrent technologies, including ultrasonic systems, as well as evaluating advanced insect traps.

Through field mentorship, legislative lobbying, and technical innovation, Colin Harrison continues to ensure that as the UK pest control landscape moves away from harmful chemicals, Anticimex remains steps ahead, armed with decades of expertise, better eyes and SMARTer science.