Fall

Fall can be a dangerous time of year for businesses facing pests

With the cooler weather of fall upon us, it’s important we don’t forget we’re not the only ones seeking indoor shelter for the coming months.

A whole range of destructive pests are looking for food, water, and warmth – and your business might just be the ideal location for them to find it.

Rodents, cockroaches, flies, and beetles commonly try to move indoors during the fall season. Businesses are perfect nesting and hibernating places for them, unless you take the time to stop them from getting in.

Read on for some advice on the top fall pests and how you can tackle them.

Rodents

At a commercial property, rodents can certainly disrupt business. In addition to harbouring and transmitting diseases that can potentially harm employees and guests, rodents can deal a blow to your bottom line.

These pests can even cause property damage when they gnaw on materials, burrow through walls and chew through electrical wiring (which can even start a fire). If that’s not enough, their presence itself could damage your reputation if spotted by customers or reported in an audit or posted online.

To stop these small pests from adding up to a big problem for your business:

• Regularly conduct checks to identify if you have a problem. Gnaw marks on electrical wiring, rub marks along the base of walls and tiny holes in the wall near the floor are all signs of rodent activity.
• Inspect for small, pellet-like droppings around your facility.
• Conduct regular maintenance to ensure there are no openings for the rodents to get in.
• If you are worried about rodents call in the experts. It’s much easier to prevent them from setting up shop in your business than deal with the fallout if they do.

Cockroaches

As the weather cools, cockroaches head indoors seeking warm, damp shelter close to food and water. Once they are there they can be bad news for businesses where these unsightly pests can cause all manner of problems.

Not only are they unsightly and likely to harm your operation, they can also carry disease and spoil stock – including glue, leather, fabric, soap, toothpaste, common pantry items, and any other products you may have at your facility.

To stop cockroaches invading your operation this fall:

• Follow a strict daily sanitation routine.
• Seal entry points around your facility.
• Inspect incoming supplies, especially any corrugated boxes.
• Regularly inspect your premises for signs of activity.
• Periodically inspect and clean employee lockers.
• Use organic cleaners to help eliminate the grease and grime pests feed on and breed in.

Beetles

Warehouse beetles, drugstore beetles, and grain beetles are some of the most common pests businesses are faced with at this time of year.

Warehouse beetles like large-scale grain production facilities,  drugstore beetles prefer pet food manufacturing facilities, storage warehouses and flour mills, and grain beetles are often found in grain elevators.

These pests can chew through most protective wrappings, including plastics and aluminum foil, and make food products unsafe for consumption, putting your customers and employees at risk. The sight of the beetles themselves can also alarm people.

To help protect your business from exposure to these pests:

• Carefully monitor and inspect all potential food sources regularly.
• Keep food storage areas clean and properly sanitized.
• Thoroughly vacuum cabinets, shelving and hard-to-reach places where insects tend to collect.

Flies

Flies are looking for somewhere moist and warm to breed and feed. Drain flies and phorid flies like to live in or around drains, leakages in slab floors, and under kitchen equipment. Fruit flies like fermented materials in trash cans and floor drains.

As many as 33 million microorganisms may flourish in a single fly’s gut, while a half billion more swarm over its body and legs. Flies can easily spread disease, putting your employees and customers at risk, and rendering food products inedible.

To prevent a mass invasion of flies this fall:

• Identify any and all breeding sites.
• Inspect bars, mop drains, floor drains, dish area, dry stockroom, and inside trash cans and trash carts for decaying organic matter.
• Thoroughly clean and dry out any areas with decaying matter to help prevent problems with small flies.
• Implement a deep-cleaning schedule and assign staff specific roles to ensure cleanliness is a constant priority.
• Power wash areas likely to attract flies such as trash cans.