Training your staff to fight bed bugs Since its inception, bed bugs have been a persistent problem not only for the households but hospitality businesses too.
Training your staff to fight bed bugs Since its inception, bed bugs have been a persistent problem not only for the households but hospitality businesses too. Except for businesses, the damage extends a little further than just the wallets. Their reputation takes a beating too. These little pests have the power to bring down an empire. And all it would take is just the gossips. Hence it is eminent that the business and their staff always be alert and on a lookout for even the slightest sign of breach.
Bed Bugs Prevention Protocol
1) Inspection
The common misconception is that the bed bugs infestation is limited to the beds or mattresses. Wrong! Check the cupboards, cabinets, shelves, sofas (along the seams, inside the covers through the zips), in fact, as rule of thumb, check all the furniture in the room for any sign or clue. Next the staff should pull their focus to the carpets, lamps (plus the shades), curtains, seals of doors and even along the wall.
2) Investigation
Pay close attention to customer feedback. Sometimes it is the customers who drop the hints of a possible infestation without knowing themselves. Any complaint about a rash or insect bite or skin allergy should be a cause for alarm. Though every complaint may not point towards bed bugs and sometimes it may be difficult to identify the cause for discomfort, because everyone reacts differently to each of those problems. Still, every complaint must be thoroughly investigated, because guess what, mosquitoes and fleas can bring down your online ratings too.
3) Egg Hunt
When inspecting your premises for bed bugs, make sure to be on a look out for the eggs too. They lay their eggs in batches of 1-5 everyday, usually laid singly or in clusters. They are approximately 1 mm in length with a grain like texture. They are milky white in colour and are often found between the sofa covers, furniture joints, cervices and cracks on the floors and walls.
4) Identify stains
Once fed, bed bugs tend to defecate and their excrements leave a dark stain on the surface of the mattress. Staff when inspecting mattresses should look for any signs of the said stains. Identifying the stains could be very helpful in identifying the early signs of infestation.
5) Trust your senses
Bed bugs aren’t particularly discreet when it comes to odor. They leave behind their feces, pheromones to cast an unpleasant sickly smell. The staff should be able to identify this strange scent and once detected should alert the authorities about a full blown infestation in the room. Or possibly rooms. Bed bugs have never been an easy pest to defeat, and once detected should be treated with utmost seriousness and severity. It is a task that is best left in the hands of the professionals, equipped to identify and eliminate human kind’s oldest enemies.
But one can never be too careful in taking the preventive measures to avoid going through this trouble in the first place.
- Vacuum clean the premises regularly.
- Seal all cracks, holes and entry points for the bugs.
- Use encasements to cover your mattresses. read your premises with fumigation & pest controls at regular intervals.
- And above all, maintain a standard of hygiene. Always maintain a standard of hygiene.
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