As the UK slowly starts to emerge from lockdown, this week we look at the potential pest problems faced by businesses as they start to think about re-opening to the public.
Pests generally prefer to keep away from humans but with restaurants, pubs, cafes, schools, hotels and other public attractions closed or being used significantly less frequently, pests are finding easy places to set up home.
When owners, employees and the public are on site infestations can be spotted more easily and dealt with quickly. With many small businesses shut for weeks on end pest infestations can easily take hold and go unnoticed.
With access to water and food sources, populations can quickly and significantly increase. Where businesses had pest management in place previously, their pest control may have been put on hold or their pest controller may not have been able to gain access to the premises to carry out routine visits.
Animals, like humans, are quick to adapt and pests are thriving during the Covid-19 pandemic.
What pest issues are emerging as businesses look forward to re-opening?
Rodents - the industry has seen a rise in rat and mice activity both on domestic and residential premises in recent weeks.
Birds – many businesses and property owners have experienced birds nesting in empty properties and causing damage and significant amounts of mess. Pigeon guano, in particular, is causing a problem.
Crawling insects – we’ve seen a rise in crawling particularly in food businesses, for example ants and cockroaches.
Bed bugs and carpet moth – as people are being more vigilant moving furniture and cleaning more often, they are finding these pests. Bed bugs become active as human hosts take up residence – this is an issue as rental properties, hotels and B&Bs start to open up again.
As lockdown measures ease and businesses start to re-open, they should consider calling in pest control in advance to carry out an inspection of their site and to give them a clean bill of pest health.
Consider the situation where you’re ready to open your business again only to find you have a significant pest infestation that keeps the business closed for another few weeks!
At PGM & Son Pest Control we carry out health checks all the time so we’ll come into your business and check your premises for any signs of pests and, if we find any activity, we’ll deal with it for you so that you can re-open in the knowledge that your business, employees and customers are safely protected from pests.
Unlike humans, the spread of pests cannot be controlled through social distancing measures and so pest controllers must balance public health against safeguarding of their employees, families and customers.
At PGM & Son Pest Control we are employing additional measures to ensure the safety of our team and customers during the pandemic. Please check out our Covid-19 page on our website for more information: https://www.pgmpestcontrol.co.uk/coronavirus-covid19
Call PGM & Son Pest Control Hereford for all your pest needs on 01981 241334 / 07964 370480. Or, email us at contact@pgmpestcontrol.co.uk
Check out our website at www.pgmpestcontrol.co.uk for more information about our services.
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