Fla. Stat. 482.021
Definitions
(1)
“Agricultural area” means an area:Upon which a ground crop, trees, or plants are grown for commercial purposes;Where a golf course, park, nursery, or cemetery is located; orWhere farming of any type is performed or livestock is raised.(a)
Upon which a ground crop, trees, or plants are grown for commercial purposes;(b)
Where a golf course, park, nursery, or cemetery is located; or(c)
Where farming of any type is performed or livestock is raised.(2)
“Business location” means an advertised permanent location in or from which pest control business is solicited, accepted, or conducted.(3)
“Category” means a distinct branch or phase of pest control for which a pest control operator’s certificate may be issued such as: fumigation, general household pest control, termites and other wood-destroying organisms pest control, lawn and ornamental pest control, and such a combination or division of such branches of pest control as the department may by rule establish.(4)
“Certified operator” means an individual holding a current pest control operator’s certificate issued by the department.(5)
“Certified operator in charge” means a certified operator:Whose primary occupation is the pest control business;Who is employed full time by a licensee; andWhose principal duty is the personal supervision of the licensee’s operation in a category or categories of pest control in which the operator is certified.(a)
Whose primary occupation is the pest control business;(b)
Who is employed full time by a licensee; and(c)
Whose principal duty is the personal supervision of the licensee’s operation in a category or categories of pest control in which the operator is certified.(6)
“Commercial fertilizer application” means the application of fertilizer for payment or other consideration to property not owned by the person or firm applying the fertilizer or the employer of the applicator.(7)
“Department” means the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.(8)
“Employee” means a person who is employed by a licensee that provides that person with necessary training, supervision, pesticides, equipment, and insurance and who receives compensation from and is under the personal supervision and direct control of the licensee’s certified operator in charge and from whose compensation the licensee regularly deducts and matches federal insurance contributions and federal income and Social Security taxes.(9)
“Fumigant” means a chemical which, at a required temperature and pressure, can exist in the gaseous state in sufficient concentration to be lethal to a given organism. This definition implies that a fumigant acts as a gas in the strictest sense of the word. This definition excludes aerosols that are particulate suspensions of liquids or solids dispersed in air.(10)
“Fumigation” means the use, within an enclosed space or in or under a structure or tarpaulins, of a fumigant in concentrations that may be hazardous to human beings.(11)
“General household pest control” means pest control with respect to any structure, not including fumigation or pest control with respect to termites and other wood-destroying organisms.(12)
“Identification cardholder” means an owner or employee to whom a current card has been issued by the department identifying the holder to the public or to any law enforcement officer or any agent of the department charged with, or entitled to exercise any function in connection with, the enforcement of this chapter and any rules made pursuant to this chapter.(13)
“Independent contractor” means an entity separate from the licensee that:Receives moneys from a customer which are deposited in a bank account other than that of the licensee;Owns or supplies its own service vehicle, equipment, and pesticides;Maintains a business operation, office, or support staff independent of the licensee’s direct control;Pays its own operating expenses such as fuel, equipment, pesticides, and materials; orPays its own workers’ compensation as an independent contractor.(a)
Receives moneys from a customer which are deposited in a bank account other than that of the licensee;(b)
Owns or supplies its own service vehicle, equipment, and pesticides;(c)
Maintains a business operation, office, or support staff independent of the licensee’s direct control;(d)
Pays its own operating expenses such as fuel, equipment, pesticides, and materials; or(e)
Pays its own workers’ compensation as an independent contractor.(14)
“Infestation” means the presence of living pests in, on, or under a structure, lawn, or ornamental.(15)
“Integrated pest management” means the selection, integration, and implementation of multiple pest control techniques based on predictable economic, ecological, and sociological consequences, making maximum use of naturally occurring pest controls, such as weather, disease agents, and parasitoids, using various biological, physical, chemical, and habitat modification methods of control, and using artificial controls only as required to keep particular pests from surpassing intolerable population levels predetermined from an accurate assessment of the pest damage potential and the ecological, sociological, and economic cost of other control measures.(16)
“Lawn” means the turf formed from grass or other plants.(17)
“Lawn and ornamental pest control” means pest control with respect to pests of any lawn or ornamental.(18)
“Licensee” means a person, partnership, firm, corporation, or other business entity having a license issued by the department for engaging in the business of pest control at a particular business location.(19)
“New construction” means the erection of a new building or the construction of an addition to an existing building, which encloses a space and requires a building permit under applicable building codes.(20)
“Ornamental” means any shrub, bush, tree or other plant used or intended for use:In connection with the occupation or use of any structure; orBy human beings for purposes other than in an agricultural area.(a)
In connection with the occupation or use of any structure; or(b)
By human beings for purposes other than in an agricultural area.(21)
“Pest” means an arthropod, wood-destroying organism, rodent, or other obnoxious or undesirable living plant or animal organism.(22)
“Pest control” includes:The use of any method or device or the application of any substance to prevent, destroy, repel, mitigate, curb, control, or eradicate any pest in, on, or under a structure, lawn, or ornamental;The identification of or inspection for infestations or infections in, on, or under a structure, lawn, or ornamental;The use of any pesticide, economic poison, or mechanical device for preventing, controlling, eradicating, identifying, inspecting for, mitigating, diminishing, or curtailing insects, vermin, rodents, pest birds, bats, or other pests in, on, or under a structure, lawn, or ornamental;All phases of fumigation, including:The treatment of products by vault fumigation; and
The fumigation of boxcars, trucks, ships, airplanes, docks, warehouses, and common carriers; and
The advertisement of, the solicitation of, or the acceptance of remuneration for any work described in this subsection, but does not include the solicitation of a bid from a licensee to be incorporated in an overall bid by an unlicensed primary contractor to supply services to another.(a)
The use of any method or device or the application of any substance to prevent, destroy, repel, mitigate, curb, control, or eradicate any pest in, on, or under a structure, lawn, or ornamental;(b)
The identification of or inspection for infestations or infections in, on, or under a structure, lawn, or ornamental;(c)
The use of any pesticide, economic poison, or mechanical device for preventing, controlling, eradicating, identifying, inspecting for, mitigating, diminishing, or curtailing insects, vermin, rodents, pest birds, bats, or other pests in, on, or under a structure, lawn, or ornamental;(d)
All phases of fumigation, including:The treatment of products by vault fumigation; andThe fumigation of boxcars, trucks, ships, airplanes, docks, warehouses, and common carriers; and(e)
The advertisement of, the solicitation of, or the acceptance of remuneration for any work described in this subsection, but does not include the solicitation of a bid from a licensee to be incorporated in an overall bid by an unlicensed primary contractor to supply services to another.(23)
“Pesticide or economic poison” means any substance or mixture of substances intended for:Preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any insects, rodents, nematodes, fungi, weeds, or other forms of plant or animal life or viruses, except viruses or fungi on or in living human beings or other animals; orUse as a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant.(a)
Preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any insects, rodents, nematodes, fungi, weeds, or other forms of plant or animal life or viruses, except viruses or fungi on or in living human beings or other animals; or(b)
Use as a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant.(24)
“Rodent” means a rat, mouse, squirrel, or flying squirrel or other animal of the order Rodentia, including a bat, which may become a pest in, on, or under a structure.(25)
“Rodent control” means application of remedial measures for the purpose of controlling rodents.(26)
“Special identification cardholder” means a person to whom an identification card has been issued by the department showing that the holder is authorized to perform fumigation.(27)
“Structure” means:Any type of edifice or building, together with the land thereunder, the contents thereof, and any patio or terrace thereof;That portion of land upon which work has commenced for the erection of an edifice or building; orA railway car, motor vehicle, trailer, barge, boat, ship, aircraft, wharf, dock, warehouse, or common carrier.(a)
Any type of edifice or building, together with the land thereunder, the contents thereof, and any patio or terrace thereof;(b)
That portion of land upon which work has commenced for the erection of an edifice or building; or(c)
A railway car, motor vehicle, trailer, barge, boat, ship, aircraft, wharf, dock, warehouse, or common carrier.(28)
“Termites and other wood-destroying organisms pest control” means pest control with respect to any termite or other wood-destroying organisms, including fungi, by the use of any chemical or mechanical methods, including moisture control for the prevention or control of fungus in existing structures, but not including fumigation or general household pest control.(29)
“Urban landscape” means pervious areas on residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, highway rights-of-way, or other nonagricultural lands that are planted with turf or horticultural plants. For the purposes of this section, agriculture has the same meaning as in s. 570.02.(30)
“Wood-destroying organism” means arthropod or plant life which damages and can reinfest seasoned wood in a structure, namely termites, powder-post beetles, oldhouse borers, and wood-decaying fungi.
Source:
Section 482.021 — Definitions, https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2024/0482.021 (accessed Aug. 7, 2025).