From an underdelivered contract to complete operational clarity
Context
How one of the world’s leading poultry-breeding and chick-hatchery companies replaced missed visits, fragmented evidence, and uncertain control with a SEPOS-governed programme through Stratton Pulse. The client had been paying for a contracted pest-control programme at a complex, biosecure UK hatchery. When the arrangement was examined properly, it became apparent that the previous contractor had not completed all the visits for which the client had paid. The missed visits were the immediate commercial failure. More significantly, they exposed the absence of a reliable management system behind the contract. The client could not obtain one clear, current view showing what had been delivered, what areas had been inspected, what risks had been identified, which recommendations remained outstanding, and whether the overall programme was under control. Rodent monitoring, flying-insect control, bird activity, building ingress, environmental assessments, and audit records existed as separate concerns. The client needed them brought together into one intelligible and accountable risk-control programme.
The initial risk
Undelivered visits created potential gaps in inspection, monitoring, follow-up, and evidence. Within a biosecure hatchery, those gaps carried consequences beyond ordinary contractor performance. Rodent activity, flying insects, bird access, contamination, or weaknesses in the building fabric could affect biosecurity, chick welfare, operational continuity, and external assurance. Fragmented documentation also made it difficult for technical, hygiene, engineering, and operational teams to work from the same position. The contract described what should have happened, but the available record did not provide sufficient clarity over what had happened, what remained open, and what evidence supported closure.
Approach
Stratton did not replace the previous contract with another attendance schedule.
The site was brought under SEPOS, Stratton’s operating standard, which governs the programme through five connected stages: Research, Consultation, Design, Implementation, and Review.
Research established the true site position through physical inspection, equipment review, monitoring information, building observations, and examination of the existing service record.
Consultation placed those findings within the operational realities of the hatchery, including biosecurity procedures, hygiene controls, access restrictions, maintenance responsibilities, production requirements, and audit timing.
Design converted the findings into an integrated programme covering rodent monitoring, fly control, bird management, environmental risk, reporting, corrective action, and review.
Implementation ensured that every intervention produced a clear record of what had been inspected, what had been found, what the finding meant, and what action was required.
Review kept the programme responsive to activity, completed work, changing site conditions, and emerging evidence.
Stratton Pulse provided the evidence environment behind SEPOS. It brought together monitoring locations, attendance records, findings, recommendations, corrective actions, and supporting evidence into one current operational position.
What Stratton did
Stratton completed a new baseline assessment rather than inheriting the previous contractor’s assumptions.
The monitoring network was reviewed against the actual risks presented by the site. New rodent-monitoring equipment and automated capture units were introduced where they would improve detection, response, or evidence.
Flying-insect control was strengthened through the installation of new fly-killing units. Bird activity, nesting, contamination, and vulnerable building areas were assessed, followed by appropriate cleaning, deterrent, proofing, and remedial work.
An environmental risk assessment was produced to support the installed equipment and strengthen the site’s compliance record.
Monitoring locations, attendance reports, field findings, activity information, recommendations, and corrective actions were then brought into Stratton Pulse. This gave management visibility of both the pest-risk position and the service responsible for controlling it.
What the record showed
The client moved from an underdelivered attendance contract to a governed risk-control programme.
SEPOS created consistency in how risks were investigated, interpreted, acted upon, and reviewed. Stratton Pulse made that process visible.
Management can now see what has been inspected, what has changed, which matters require action, what remains unresolved, and what evidence supports completion. Technical, hygiene, engineering, and operational teams can work from the same current information.
Audit preparation no longer depends upon reconstructing events from disconnected reports shortly before an inspection. Findings, decisions, corrective actions, and closure evidence are created as the work progresses.
The result is not simply more information. It is pure operational clarity: a defensible view of what is controlled, what is not, and what must happen next.
The bounded result
- Stratton attendances documented
- 100%
- Every completed Stratton attendance produces a written service record retained within the client evidence environment.
- One governed SEPOS programme
- 5 stages
- Research, Consultation, Design, Implementation, and Review applied across the site programme.
- Single operational record
- 1 environment
- Monitoring, findings, recommendations, corrective actions, and supporting evidence brought together through Stratton Pulse.
- Environmental risk position documented
- 1 assessment
- A formal environmental risk assessment produced to support the new monitoring and fly-control equipment.
The reason we moved to Stratton was not simply that we wanted a different pest-control contractor. When we examined the previous arrangement, it became apparent that we had not received all the contracted visits for which we had paid. That was serious in itself, but it also exposed a wider lack of visibility. We could not obtain one clear view showing what had been delivered, what remained unresolved, and whether the overall programme was genuinely under control. Stratton approached the site differently. They first established the true position, then designed the programme around our operational and biosecurity requirements. SEPOS has brought discipline and accountability to the work. Stratton Pulse gives us the visibility that was previously missing. We can see what has been inspected, what has been found, why it matters, what requires action, and the evidence supporting completion. Technical, hygiene, engineering, and operational teams can now work from the same information. Audit preparation is more controlled because the evidence is created throughout the programme rather than reconstructed afterwards. Most importantly, we now know where we stand. We are no longer paying for the promise of attendance. We can see the work, the judgement behind it, and the position it has created.
- 01Inspect
- 02Record
- 03Recommend
- 04Assign
- 05Verify
- 06Review
Assessed as appropriate, subject to any outstanding actions, and not a guarantee of pest-free status.
Start with a site review.
A site review brings the same method to your site, and leaves you with a written summary of what we find. Following the review, Stratton will recommend a suitable route, or advise clearly where the site is not the right fit.