[Sensitive Accounts] You Can't Be Too Careful

Did you ever hear about the case of the stained wall covering? No? But, I bet you know how much koi cost, don’t you?

Anyone who has spent a considerable time in the pest control business has encountered or heard about situations like these where a service technician providing perfectly reasonable and acceptable pest control services created an incident in which his or her company had to venture into the customer service stratosphere to make the situation "right." Let’s briefly discuss what happened in the situations I just mentioned and see where things went a bit wrong.

On the top floor of a major downtown office building, the regularly scheduled night service was going well. One office had reports of ants in the lobby but the service technician didn’t see any ants so he decided to apply a microencapsulated product to the baseboard area along one wall, as this was the likely area for ant activity. Unfortunately, he didn’t notice the walls were covered in fabric and some of his fan spray dotted a few panels along the bottom. The managing company for the building called the next day to report that the wall coverings were stained and may be impossible to clean as the expensive fabric is also sensitive to spotting by water alone. Each damaged panel was replaced at a cost of around $300 per panel. Ouch! And did I mention this was an attorney’s office space?

On a fairly calm, beautiful summer day, a service technician applied a perimeter treatment to a home foundation. He failed to note that the little garden pond near the house actually contained fish and although the wind was fairly light, enough overspray drifted into the pond to kill the koi living within. The fish were replaced at a cost of several hundred dollars per fish.

What do these cases have in common? Each involved a key, sensitive element to which the servicing technician should have been alert. When dealing with a high rent, lavishly decorated office space, one needs to pay attention to the items and surfaces within. Any body of water near a building should be taken into account even if small or nondescript. Any number of such "sensitive situations" can be encountered on any given day and service and sales professionals should be prepared to deal with them.

This article will discuss the components of dealing with sensitive situations and how cases as those described previously can be avoided by becoming situationally aware. Also, a discussion of "sensitive" case histories is included to help illustrate how such situations can be handled and managed, sometimes in creative ways.

WHAT’S SENSITIVE? What exactly constitutes a sensitive situation? A variety of factors come into play, chief of which are people. When a home, a room or an area of a building requires pest control service, who is present? Generally an empty office in a building would not be considered sensitive. But what if it is occupied by employees? What if one of those employees was visibly pregnant? Might you decide to take even more care than you would otherwise if the office was empty? Or if one of those employees made a point of telling the service professional she had allergies or was "sensitive to chemicals." The presence of people alone in today’s chemically sensitive society should make any professional take notice.

What about animals? Would a pet shop be more sensitive than a dress shop? How about a zoo? Would you consider the hostess stand in a restaurant a sensitive area when servicing for cockroaches at night? What about the lobster tank located three feet from that same stand? An unmarried, childless homeowner has mice in his house. Could you use rodenticides without much concern other than the use of tamper-resistant stations? What if the homeowner has children and dogs? What if pet birds were present and there were fleas in the house? Do these factors change the dynamics of the situation?

Different types of surfaces also need to be considered. For example, a service professional might not think twice when treating a carpet in a home infested with fleas. But what about the home with the expensive-looking oriental rug? Maybe that should be professionally cleaned instead.

Some rooms or areas of facilities are more sensitive than others. The kitchen in a home is considered less sensitive than the room where the customer’s newborn child sleeps. The storeroom in a hospital basement is less sensitive than the kitchen, which is less sensitive than an office which is less sensitive than a patient room which is less sensitive than an operating room which is a bit less sensitive than the ICU. (At least the operating room can be vacated for service if necessary.) The food-processing area is more sensitive in a food plant than the receiving warehouse or the employee locker room. Get the picture?

"Sensitive" simply means one or more factors are present that might preclude the use of a few, many or all types of pesticide applications. What formulations, products or treatment techniques that can be used will vary with the situation. The more sensitive the nature of the situation, the less one should be inclined to apply treatments and the more one should be thinking of other strategies.

THE FOUR Rs. When providing pest management services, service professionals can follow the four Rs: recognition, reflection, reference and remediation.

Recognition. The first step, recognition, is by far the most important in ensuring potentially sensitive situations are identified. The other three Rs come into play in dealing with and resolving the situation. Questions a professional should always be asking himself or herself include:

• Who is present?

• Are animals present?

• Is anything unusual about the room or area where I need to service?

• Should I be concerned about potential odors that are present after I treat?

The first three questions were discussed earlier, but the fourth, odor concerns, is equally important. Recently, a service professional for a well-known company used a small amount of an aerosol product in the break room of a telemarketing firm. The service was completed during the early morning hours when no one was present, yet the odors left behind were detected two hours later, prompting a complete evacuation of the building. Many of the firm’s employees complained of being ill, and a number checked into hospitals. In the end, the service professional involved was found to have done nothing wrong — he applied the product according to the label directions. In the unfortunate times we live in, however, chemical odors can create strong concerns, even fear, so professionals need to be aware of which formulations they use and where these are being applied, especially if the products might leave an odor.

Reflection. Upon recognition that a situation might be sensitive in nature, a professional needs to stop and think. What additional information about this situation might be needed? Where exactly are the pests located? Where is the source? What factors are contributing to the infestation? A more detailed investigation may be warranted so that all angles might be considered.

Reference. Once the facts are known, are you, as the professional on site, prepared to decide on the solutions or do you need help? Sometimes, simply talking through the situation with your supervisor or another experienced professional is helpful. What reference books are available in the office? Do you have an experienced colleague or an industry consultant you can call? How about a product manufacturer? Companies like Whitmire Micro-Gen, Bayer ES and others have experienced entomologists that can lend advice. It’s OK to ask for help.

Remediation. Obviously, wherever possible, sensitive situations favor solutions involving non-chemical techniques. Can you physically remove all the pests through vacuuming, trapping or other techniques? Will correcting moisture or sanitary conditions result in resolving an infestation? Can heat or cold be used? Can the amount of potential pest harborage be eliminated to the point the infestation is reduced to a more easily controlled level?

Certain treatment techniques are preferred in sensitive situations. For example, small amounts of insecticide injected directly into cracks and voids is preferable to applications of spot or general treatments to exposed surfaces. Formulation type also should be considered. Can the infestation be resolved using baits? How about inorganic dusts such as boric acid or silica gel?

Timing of the service is also important. If cockroaches, ants or other pests are invading a daycare, it makes more sense to conduct the service after hours. The same can be said about many offices, school classrooms and similar situations.

Additionally, in hospitals, nursing homes and similar facilities, can the people residing in the room be moved temporarily? Or could infested pieces of furniture be removed from the room and taken to another site in the facility to be serviced?

REAL LIFE. Let’s examine some "real world" sensitive situations and see what was done to resolve the following pest problems.

The problem: Yellowjackets at the fair. A fast food chain had a tent set up at a state fair to service fair attendees. The tent had two door-sized openings through which people entered and exited. Yellowjackets, attracted by food odors, could easily enter the tent and were causing concern to workers because they were flying about the beverage dispensers and landing to feed.

The solution? Two large fans were installed at the opposite ends of the serving line to blow across the dispensers. The strong wall of air kept the yellowjackets at bay and cooled the restaurant workers.

The problem: Mice in the medical building. A 12-story medical building was having mouse sightings on multiple floors. The building management did not want any visible rodent control devices as most of the rooms were patient areas.

The solution? The pest control service manager was instructed by the company’s technical manager to obtain fire escape plans for each floor of the building. He conducted both a visual inspection for mouse activity throughout the building and questioned as many of the offices workers as possible. All sites of mouse activity were plotted on the fire plans. In the dozen or so sites of activity, as many as 50 traps of various types were placed out after hours and then retrieved the next morning before the facility opened. The process was repeated over several successive nights until no more mice were captured.

The problem: Crazy ants in the waiting room. Ants were reported in the second story waiting room of a Florida hospital. Upon investigation, crazy ants were noted feeding on chips and food debris behind a table and trailing along the baseboard to another room.

The solution? The ant trail was followed into the next room and to the window where it disappeared outside. In this case, the window opened out onto a flat roof. The trail continued across the roof and over the edge. Going back to ground level, the trail was found to travel more than 150 feet down the ledge and across a sidewalk into a crack in a brick retaining wall. The ant trail in the waiting room and adjoining room was removed using a soapy rag and sponge all the way back to the window. Outside on the roof and down at ground level, the entire length of the crazy ant trail was treated with a residual water-based product. The nest within the retaining wall was treated with a residual dust.

The problem: Fleas in the bedroom. A homeowner was experiencing a small flea infestation centered in her child’s bedroom where the child’s pet dog usually slept. She was concerned about her child’s asthma and any treatments that might be applied.

The solution? The homeowner was instructed to have her dog treated by the veterinarian and to have the carpets steam cleaned. An insect growth regulator was then applied in the room and to other carpets in the house as a preventive measure.

The problem: Fire ants at the zoo. Fire ants were discovered in the outdoor paddock of the giant panda exhibit. These ants present a very real threat to such rare animals.

The solution? The fire ant mounds were dug out individually using a shovel and large trash can. Thin layers of petroleum jelly around the inside of the container and the handle of the shovel helped minimize potential for ant stings. The ants in the trash container was taken elsewhere to be treated.

Remaining ants on the soil and in the area were "treated" with a spray of very soapy water. The landscaped areas outside the animal exhibits in that area of the zoo were treated using the IGR fire ant bait Extinguish (from Wellmark International) to help minimize new influxes of fire ants. Individual mounds were removed in the same manner as they were discovered.

The problem: Yellowjackets at the daycare. A yellowjacket nest was discovered in the play area at a day-care center.

The solution? Visiting the day-care center after dark, the wasps were removed from their nests by vacuuming with a shop vac. The pest control technician then dug up the nest and it was completely removed from the site. The resulting hole was filled in with fresh soil.

SUMMARY. Potentially sensitive situations can be encountered at any time during a service professional’s typical day. Practicing situational awareness is helpful in recognizing potential issues.

Creativity is sometimes necessary for pest professionals to resolve pest problems when they exist in these cases and the advice of coworkers, managers, consultants and manufacturers should be sought when doubts exist as to a solution. Conducting services when the affected areas are unoccupied is ideal but not always feasible (e.g., a hospital). Gathering facts about the situation, the source of the infestation and conditions contributing to the problem is helpful.

The author is a board certified entomologist, a registered sanitarian and manager, technical services, Terminix International, Memphis, Tenn. He can be reached via e-mail at shedges@giemedia.com.