PMPs Staying Safe While Working in Extreme Heat

CLEVELAND – Pest management professionals throughout the West Coast are used to working in heat, but conditions throughout much of the region the last two weeks have been extreme even by their standards. Some areas have experienced multiple days of triple-digit weather that has turned deadly.

“In our service area we have had temperatures between 103 and 114 degrees [Fahrenheit] for almost two weeks,” said Jim Steed, owner of Neighborly Pest Management, Sacramento, Calif. “It’s finally starting to cool off.”

Efrain Velasco, technical director of Lloyd Pest Control, said the company’s Palm Springs, Calif., branch has been dealing with temperatures ranging from 113 to 119 degrees Fahrenheit. “I joke with our Palm Springs manager all the time that I'll see him in October,” he said.

Velasco, Steed and others are among the 82 percent who responded to PCT’s recent reader poll question that they do provide training about the dangers of heat stress. As California companies, Neighborly and Lloyd Pest Control must abide by Cal OSHA’s California's Heat Illness Prevention Standard, which requires employers to provide training, water, shade, and planning when temperatures rise above 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

“Additionally, every Lloyd branch that we have has ice machines, every manager buys water bottles for drinking water in the trucks, electrolyte mixed drinks (or powders) and make available those large straw hats that landscapers use,” Velasco said.

© credit | Michael Keith

Michael Keith, CEO and owner of Cal Coast Pest Management, National City, Calif., said each of his technicians has what's called a “rinse kit,” which is a pressurized water system that can be used to wash their hands, face and hair – as well as a cooling towel for the heavy heat. “They also receive messages in the morning as a reminder to always stay hydrated. We also have a heat illness prevention handout and [heat safety] is discussed during our weekly meetings which is approved by OSHA.”

PCOs contacted by PCT all stressed the importance of training. Prior to summer months, Neighborly holds two heat illness training sessions. “Training employees is by far the most important step we can take to protect them from heat illness,” Steed said. “They need to be able to quickly recognize the symptoms of heat illness so they can take immediate action. The training covers three areas: (1) avoiding heat illness; (2) recognizing heat illness and (3) reacting correctly if symptoms appear.

Two of the biggest PMP challenges with heat are working on roofs and ibn attics. Preventive Pest Control, Albuquerque, N.M., provides wildlife and bird exclusion work, meaning its service technicians spend extensive time on roofs. “On a hot flat roof, those surfaces are up to 180 degrees [Fahrenheit],” said Alan Feuer, technical and leadership consultant, Preventive Pest Control. “I tell our guys that if they are going to be up on roofs doing exclusion in the summer, they report to that job no later 7 a.m., and they are off those roofs not later than 11 a.m.”

Attics are one of the biggest areas of heat concern for Lloyd Pest Control, which does a tremendous amount of roof rat work. “We have to get into attics – it’s part of our service. So we will do that work in the morning rather than the afternoon, if at all possible," Velasco said. "Sometimes we will have to retrieve a dead rat in the afternoon and those situations we tell our people to get the rat and leave right after. When it's 119 degrees outside it's going to be 142 in that attic.”

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