Pandemic pest control
Safeguard Pest Control, Principle Cleaning Services’ pest control partner, explains how COVID-19 has impacted the pest control world.
Pennie Gadd, Managing Director at Safeguard Pest Control, said: “Pest controllers were given key worker status by George Eustice, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, allowing us to work throughout the pandemic without falling foul of government rules.
“This pandemic, however, has had no effect on the populations of rodents, insects or pest birds – in fact their activity has increased throughout these past few months. In the field we have found that pest activity has increased dramatically in ways that would not have happened during the normal working environment.”
The company recently visited a very prestigious office building in central London after reports that they were finding small beetles on people’s desks, and some flying insects on two floors. The staff had been working from home for over three months.
Upon investigation, it was found that staff had left all types of food in their desks and lockers during the lockdown. The beetles turned out to be stored product beetle (biscuit beetle) and originated out of an open packet of muesli, with the flying insects being Indian meal moth, which originated from a box of porridge. The source of the infestations were eliminated and after carrying out a residual insecticidal spray, the areas were once again pest free.
As a result of the pandemic and subsequent lockdown, Safeguard has had 15% of its contracts suspended – against its recommendations, but the company understands the financial situation that many businesses find themselves in.
Suspending pest control is never a good idea as it may cause major issues further down the line, even though the company left its baits in situ to provide some degree of protection.
Gadd added: “Rodent activity is being reported constantly in major cities as some local councils cut back on their waste collections and recycling services. These pests are very destructive and contact prevention is necessary.
46 | PEST CONTROL
“As a company, we fly birds of prey regularly on buildings to deter gulls and pigeons, which is extremely effective. One client asked us to suspend the three flights a week service only to find that when they tried to carry out essential maintenance, gulls had young chicks and the adult herring gulls attacked them as soon as they went onto the roof. They called us to see if we can get rid of them, but the birds are protected by law. Therefore, the birds must remain in situ undisturbed.”
This has resulted in an increased risk to the maintenance staff and as these birds can live over 20 years, a continual increased risk of nesting. This particular situation means that the bird of prey flights will need to be upgraded to daily flights next year to deter these pests, incurring further costs for the client.
As well as providing pest control services as Principle’s partner for their London commercial office clients, Safeguard works for some of the country’s pub chains, which have seen decreased rodent activity. This is because technicians can get into properties and carry out intensive treatments and proofing because no staff are present, no customers and no spilt food sources.
Gadd concluded: “I hope that the UK economy recovers quickly from this dramatic event so that we can all get back to some sort of normality. Pest control is vital to all businesses to stop pests spreading diseases such as E. coli, Salmonella and many more.”
Safeguard Pest Control is the fourth largest commercial pest control company in the UK carrying out preventative and reactive work against all pest types to every type of commercial business, from office blocks, restaurants and warehousing to hospitals, laboratories and many more.
www.safeguardpestcontrol.co.uk www.principlecleaning.com
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