Pest Control

[2nd Semester Accommodation Operations | UNIT 5 BHM154 | IHM Notes]

Pests: Under ordinary conditions of nature, any creature, it may be animal, insect or plant, can only exist in such numbers as can succeed in evading natural enemies, in finding adequate food supply and in securing shelter and suitable conditions for breeding. If these conditions are disturbed, there is an immediate response in the survival rate-up or down. As the case may be, and in general it is only when the favourable factors-sometimes quite obscure and therefore, difficult to counter act-become excessive that the creature develops into a pest.

These considerations lead to an obvious deduction that if favourable factors can be traced and either removed or counterbalanced with unfavourable conditions introduced by human agency, a fair amount of control over the pest would soon be obtained, and this is exactly what is aimed in scientific pest destruction.

A Pest is an organism that competes with human, animals for food and water, damages structure, transmit diseases to humans’ wildlife and annoys humans.

Types of Pests

• INSECTS-COCKROACH, TERMITE, BEETLE, FLEAS

• ANTHROPODS-SPIDER, ANTS. TICKS

• RODENTS-RAT, MICE

• MICROBIAL ORGANISMS – BACTERIA

NOTE – A Species may be a pest in some situations and not in others.

Categories of Pests

• CONTINUOUS - Always present and require regular control

• CYCLICAL/ Sporadic – Which require control occasionally

• POTENTIAL - Do not require control under normal conditions but may require control in certain circumstances.

Importance of Pest Control

Pest control is made up of all the methods and practices of keeping pests away. Its application goes beyond what we usually know of it in homes. It is used in agriculture and in other vital industries.

Beyond its use in homes, pest management is very important for us for a number of reasons.

Here are some of those reasons:

• One of the most important reasons why pest control is needed is because of health. Pests can bring diseases that can be quite serious. One of the most serious epidemics, the bubonic plague which caused millions of death in the World in Medieval times came from rats and other rodent pests. Cockroaches and other pests can also carry germs into their body. That should be your main concern when it comes to having pests in your home.

• Pests can have an impact on production and resources. This is the main reason why pest control is vital to in agriculture and other industries. Sometimes pests can be such a huge problem that they will seriously affect the production of one industry. They can wipe out production and bring it down to zero if they are not controlled.

• Aside from the damage that they can do to resources and production, they can also cause some serious damage to the existing structure and things. Sometimes the damage can be so severe that a whole structure would be rendered useless because of it, like in cases where termites have eaten away at a wooden structure.

• Then there is also the fact that pest control is needed in order to keep appearances. Whether it is a home or an office, having pests running around is never going to be a good thing. It would have to be taken care of.

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Areas of Infestation

Public Areas

All public areas, corridors, loading bay all toilets, general store, male and female changing rooms, rubbish rooms, lobby and front desk, floor terracing areas, driveway, workshop and engineering areas.

Treatment – Spray plus laying and checking of rat bait

Frequency – Monthly during overnight

Kitchen and Restaurants Areas

All F&B outlets i.e. All kitchens, staff canteen and restaurants.

Treatment – Spray plus laying and checking of rat bait, fumigation

Frequency – Monthly during overnight.

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Preventive measures and Control measure for Pest Control

PEST CONTROL GOALS/methods –

• Prevention – keeping a pest from becoming a problem.

• Suppression – reducing pest numbers or damage to an acceptable level.

• Eradication – destroying an entire pest population.

Threshold Level: These are the levels of pest population beyond which pest control action should be taken to prevent the pest in an area from causing unacceptable injury or harm. These are also known as “Action Threshold”.

General Preventive Measures

• A clean well-ventilated environment cuts down the possibility of pests.

• Remove waste as early as possible.

• Periodic and spring cleaning.

• Good building maintenance.

• Eliminating potential breeding sites

• Pest control

• Self

• On contract-Usually hotels hire professional pest control companies on the service contract. These companies visit the premises on a regular basis and check for any problem areas and take preventive measures.

• Frequency of pest control

• Alternate days – spraying of insecticides – open areas

• Fortnightly –spraying of insecticide –  In front of the house, back of the house and floors

• Once in six months/ year – Fumigation – entire areas including rooms and kitchens

• If at any time there are signs of infestation special treatment is done in the specified area to prevent its spread.

• Flies, mosquitoes, ants and moths can be killed with spray insecticides. This can be done when the guest is not there in the room and well before service in bars and restaurants. Entry to these is also prevented by double doors at all entrances and exits. Also, use of air curtains.

• Spray of special insecticides against flying and crashing insects.

• Fumigation at regular intervals eliminate the pest

• Against mosquitoes there are small electric machines which heat up; a special tablet placed on it gives off a vapour that kills them.

• On terraces, one can use mosquito coils.

• Curtain open-air restaurants supply a spray which one can spray on legs or arms to deter mosquitoes.

• Hotels with large gardens usually spray the garden areas against flies in the morning and against the mosquitoes in the evening.