[Annual Rodent Control] Ranking Perimeter Walls of Commercial Buildings for Pest Vulnerability

When you arrive at a large commercial facility, how do you plan to service the building? Do all "four walls" receive the same amount of time and attention? Or, do you consider that perhaps for certain sides and areas, more attention, equipment and time is needed?

From a technical perspective, the better choice is obviously the latter. But in reality, many of the commercial facilities we service (see list on page 53) are routinely priced and serviced both inside and outside without much regard to the either the diversity among the exterior environments nor the different operations associated with each side.

This should be of greater interest to us as pest management professionals because rarely do pests distribute themselves evenly around large commercial properties. And if this is true, how can a pest management service achieve maximum effectiveness (including keeping callbacks to a minimum) unless the service is tailored to fit the differences of each building's unique environment and operations?

This article proposes how we as pest professionals should examine and analyze the surrounding exterior walls and zones of commercial facilities, and fit the results of those examinations into the pest management plan for a particular client.
 

Varying Pest Pressures. You may not see it, but nearly all structures in the built environment are under some level of "pest pressure." The pest pressure on a building includes nearby pest populations (e.g., the number of mice, ant colonies, midges, sparrows, etc.) in the nearby exterior areas. The pressures can vary from low to high according to geographic region, specific area, season, pest species, the specific environment (the nearby pest's habitat) and the operations of each portion of a building.

Let's consider a shopping mall as an example. It's likely that a certain side or sides of the mall are more pest vulnerable than the other sides. The easiest example for most of us is to think about is the side of the mall containing the refuse loading dock with the Dumpsters. Or, consider the area to which the exhaust fans of the mall's bakeries and pizzerias drift toward the bordering undeveloped field. Many urban pest species are adept at using their antennae or their sophisticated senses of smell to lock on and trace back these streaming food currents in the air.

Or, suppose you service a food plant where there is a rail line 100 yards off on the west side of the plant. On the other side of the rail embankment, there is a 4-acre retaining pond surrounded by (as they usually are) brushy vegetation, weeds and grassy ground cover. Don't you suppose this particular side of the plant/warehouse might be particularly vulnerable and should be of concern to the parties that proactively manage pest threats?
 

Ranking a Commercial Facility. For purposes of the ranking method highlighted here, four criteria are used: 1) environmental; 2) operational; 3) pest infiltration; and 4) previous pest history. These are listed in the scorecard on page 55 and assigned value points.

If a value is assigned to each factor within the four criteria, we can calculate a relative pest vulnerability score that ranks the different sides and/or zones of a building. This, in turn, helps guide us as to where we can tailor-fit inspections, treatments, monitoring tools and long-term analysis of the account.

Looking at the provided Pest Vulnerability Scorecard on page 55 (which is a real-world example with the name changed), we can see that the east side of the building scored the highest ranking among the four sides of this building followed by the west side. So what does this mean relative to attention, time and equipment allocation to the east side vs. north side? What discussion should be had with the client regarding this score as per your professional assessment and services?

The descriptions of the values are provided on page 55. As you can see, numbers ("scores") are assigned to the condition that best fits the situation. For example, within the environmental factors, if a building has some type of natural water source (e.g., pond, stream, lake, etc.) on or nearby the property, a score of "5" is assigned to that side of the building. Similarly, within the operational criteria, 5 points are assigned if there is a side of the building with a poorly maintained Dumpster. The accumulation of a "high score" can be a helpful indicator that that side of the building, or that area of a building, may be vulnerable to pests or has conditions conducive to pest issues.

The values as provided in this ranking system are not necessarily set in stone. They can be modified up and down, or, more values and situations can be added to custom fit a particular client and/or a particular pest. The important thing is to have a system to assist you in "reading" the sides or areas of complex commercial structures relative to their pest vulnerability.
 

The Whole or just Parts. A hospital physician's bed-side chart is a good example of what our scorecard here in pest management should look like (since we also are always making "diagnoses" and "prescribing" treatments).

The scorecard provides us with a bit of a profile of the big picture (i.e., which side of the structure is subjected to most pest pressure). Or, in some cases, it may be that only certain items on the scorecard are of most importance regardless of the ranking of the building sides. For example, Item No. 13 on our scorecard tells us that on the west side, the majority of the utility penetrations into the walls are in need of pest proofing (per the values). This may explain why the mouse traps along the interior of the west wall have been highest the past six months.

Among the millions of commercial facilities that exist, or among perhaps the hundreds that your company or branch may service, the rankings will vary from those with striking differences and a clear ranking of pest vulnerability among the four walls, to those with only subtle or virtually no difference at all.

Recently, for example, I worked on a large office building complex surrounded on all four sides by parking lots. Nevertheless, the scorecard facilitates that we actually pause to at least consider where the delivery dock is located, or what walls face the prevailing winds and so on. Thus, even for the "all sides seem equal buildings," just one line in the scorecard can very well be the road map needed for managing a particular pest for an account.
 

Using a Ranking Scorecard. Why should your pest management company use a ranking scorecard?

1.  In most cases, pest populations do not distribute themselves evenly around building sides. So, why should we as pest professionals spray, bait or service all four sides of a facility in the same manner?
    
2. PV scorecards can be completed on a quarterly or semi-annual basis depending on the account and the need. The process of completing a scorecard on a scheduled routine allows for both parties to perform real IPM (i.e., monitoring and analysis).
    
3. In cases of callbacks, technician turnover and/or alternating technicians servicing the facility at different times, a history and profile of the facility is maintained to facilitate concentrating and proportioning time and materials along those building sides and ground areas where the most attention is needed.
    
4. Facilitates the pest management professional providing a detailed look at the building, as compared to simply arriving and "working around" the building foundations and wall perimeters servicing installed equipment month after month. It also enables strategic strike treatments based on analysis when necessary.
    
5. Both the pest management professional and the client can better understand which sides of the building are in need of attention for repairs, sanitation, or greater or lesser amounts of pest control equipment and the specific application rates of pesticides (i.e., bait stations applied at different spacings, bait amounts per station per wall, etc.).
    
6. Justification can be provided to third-party auditors regarding pest control practices and equipment and pesticide application rates.
    

Summary. As most of us recognize, our industry is becoming both more sophisticated and thus more challenging for those offering commercial IPM services. Consider the current emphasis on food safety and the associated recent legislation (e.g., The Food Safety Enhancement Act). All the major power brokers of food manufacturing, warehousing, hospitality, health care, child car, etc., are all increasingly more in tune (from their own conventions and from going online) with what preventive and pro-active pest management actually means. These clients have greater expectations and they are asking for more analysis and prevention and fewer "treatments."

The pest management professionals who will excel in the sophisticated commercial arenas are not those who are best at using traps, baits or sprays, but rather those who are best at making keen observations, finding the source of pest problems, analyzing each (unique) pest situation and understanding the relationship between pest populations, pest habitats, the specific building and the specific area of a building.

The author is president of RMC Consulting, Richmond, Ind. He can be contacted via e-mail at rcorrigan@giemedia.com. To view past articles by Corrigan, visit www.pctonline.com and search using the keyword "Corrigan."