Sentence bank for customer communication

Use these sentences as they are written. They are short on purpose: a treated surface is easy to describe accurately and easy to describe wrongly, and the difference between the two is usually one adjective. Anything outside this list that goes in front of a customer in writing needs regulatory approval first.

General, any setting. “We treat surfaces with a repellent coating on a regular cycle.” “It is applied to edges and frames, not to the air.” “Treated areas are released once the surfaces are dry.” “The product is a biocidal repellent; the safety data sheet is available on request.” “It repels insects from the treated surface rather than killing them.” “It is one part of our pest management programme, alongside inspection, monitoring and proofing.”

Hospitality, to a guest. “Rooms are treated on a rotation as part of our housekeeping programme.” “Treatment is carried out while the room is out of service and the room is aired before it is released.” “If you would like details of what we use, our duty manager can show you the product information.”

Care and childcare, to a family. “Rooms are treated while they are empty, outside occupancy hours.” “The room is dried and aired before it is used again.” “We record every treatment: the room, the date, the product and who applied it. You are welcome to see the record.”

Food environments, to a customer or an auditor. “Surface treatment is scheduled inside our cleaning programme and signed off in the cleaning log.” “It is applied to structural surfaces and perimeters, away from food, food contact surfaces, bait points and monitors.” “The record is held in the pest control file and cross-referenced from the chemical file.”

Facilities and pest control, to a client. “The treatment is a preventive routine applied to mapped edges on a cycle.” “It sits alongside monitoring, baiting and proofing; it does not replace them.” “Each visit is recorded with the areas treated and the re-entry time given.”

Do not write, in any setting: that a room, building, vehicle or item is free of insects, protected, or that a result is promised; that the product is non-toxic, harmless, safe for children or safe for pets; that it prevents illness or infection; that it kills anything; any duration other than the approved claim for your market.

Two rules of thumb. Describe the procedure, not the outcome, because you control the procedure. And if a sentence would make a customer relax rather than understand, it is probably the wrong sentence.