Creating a checklist will help you thor-oughly inspect your building and grounds for the presence of pests and conditions that provide them with food, water and shelter. While the items on the list will depend on your type of business, every checklist should include the following. Outdoor areas: Ensure that garbage cans and dumpsters are sealed properly to avoid providing access to food for rodents, birds, flies and other pests, and locate them away from doors. Building exterior: The foundation of your building provides the perfect entrance points for pests. Inspect thoroughly for holes or cracks, check vents or any other large openings for proper covering and make sure exterior doors have weather stripping or a similar barrier. Bathrooms: Ensure all bathrooms are free of mold and that the walls, floors and tiles are in good condition. This is also a good place to check that there are no gaps in vents or between pipes. Additionally, inspect cracks and crevices around cabinets and mirrors for proper sealing. Kitchens: Floors and molding must be kept free of food scraps, grease and other substances. It is important that all who use the kitchen immediately wipe up any crumbs or spills from countertops, tables, floors and shelves. Check that all food is stored in airtight containers and garbage is disposed of regu-larly in sealed receptacles. Cardboard boxes and other packaging should be eliminated as they provide perfect hiding places for pests. Effective pest management requires ex-perience and knowledge of pest habits along with the proper procedures to stay up to speed on methods of control. To ensure that a facility is insect clean — and doing it safely — it is wise to be under the care of a trained professional. That person can be part of your in-house maintenance team, or a contracted pest management professional whose knowl-edge and expertise in these areas can help you see where improvements can be made, and help you integrate an effective pest management program. CM Gene White is technical director at Rentokil, one of the world’s largest pest control companies. J.C. Ehrlich Pest Control (www.JCEhrlich.com), Western Exterminator (www.WesternExterminator.com), and Presto-X Pest Control (www.PrestoX.com) are all part of the Rentokil family of companies in North America. Headquartered in Reading, Pennsylvania, they provide commercial and residential pest control, bioremediation, bird control, vegetation management, deer repellent services, wild-animal trapping and termite control from more than 150 local offices. For more information, visit www.Rentokil.com/us. Maintenance Working With Sanitation Every facility and maintenance manager knows that pest control is an ongoing pro-cess — and not always an easy one. Good building maintenance goes hand-in-hand with sanitation. By performing those two well, a company can reduce the amount of products and ef-fort needed to mitigate pests. FREE INFO: Reader Service 211 or CMMOnline.com/freeinfo www.cmmonline.com 31
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