know that pests and rodents can pose seri-ous health threats and risks for property damage. Consider these statistics: • According to the National Pest Management Association (NPMA), sting-ing insects send over 500,000 people to the emergency room every year. • Rodents bring other pests, such as fleas, mites and ticks indoors, which can quickly spread throughout commercial properties. Moreover, rodents can contami-nate food sources with their feces, which can spread Salmonella and hantavirus. • According to the NPMA, termites cause $5 billion in property damage every year. • Recent medical studies have shown that cockroaches carry over 33 kinds of bac-teria and their allergens can trigger asthma attacks. These statistics provide a strong rebuttal to any argument to reduce and/or cut pest management services. Although the current economic condi-tions may lull decision makers into view-ing pest management services as “expend-able” for cost-saving measures, it is important for facility managers to not only be well-versed in the threats posed by pests and rodents but also to be able to articulate how important pest prevention and control is to the overall maintenance of properties. Pest prevention and management should not be viewed as unrelated to the overall safety and cleanliness of a proper-ty, but rather as a key entity to achieving such. Just as sanitation services cannot be scaled back due to economic pressure, nor should pest management services. Investing in a partnership with a pest professional is key Inherent in providing proper pest man-agement for commercial properties is the understanding that cooperation between facility managers and pest professionals can be critically important. For facility managers, it can be quite beneficial to work with a pest profes-sional as it is their expertise and can allow for more efficient inspections, more skilled pest identifications and ultimately more effective treatments of pest problems. This collaboration — between facility managers offering their extensive knowl-edge of the property and pest professionals offering their extensive knowledge of pre-vention and treatment — is a strong rela-tionship in which to consistently invest, especially when protecting health and property are key considerations. The majority of commercial properties have a long-standing relationship with a pest management firm. However, if you do not, selecting a pest professional is an important decision, and one that cannot be made on price alone — even when the economy faces such challenges. The recommendations provided below Concluded on page 35 Circle Product Information no. 204 on page 34 www.cmmonline.com 33
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