Pests have no place in business premises and every business owner needs to be taking proactive pest control precautions to ensure their reputations and livelihoods stay intact.
Pests, including rodents, birds and insects, are more than just an annoyance. They are a health hazard, can cause untold damage to property and food supplies and their presence, if left uncontrolled, can lead to serious repercussions from the local authorities.
It’s imperative that business owners take care of pest infestations as soon as a problem arises. In fact, the very best practice is to act even sooner than this – for the best pest control measures are preventative as opposed to reactive. The last thing you want is for a customer or other member of the public to report a pest sighting at your premises. The reason is that they won’t necessarily be discreet about the matter and will likely tell other people about it and may even report you to the authorities. Before you know it, your business’ reputation can become seriously damaged, which is precisely why hiring in pest control professionals to put a preventative plan of action in place is so important.
Pest sightings can cause businesses to lose customers, sales and profits. To prevent this, business owners need a professional pest control strategy in place.
Let’s consider the top five benefits of having a pest control plan for your business.
1. Prevention
This is the first benefit. The only thing better than getting rid of a pest problem is avoiding one entirely in the first place.
With a professional pest control company, your business site will be surveyed for potential risks or entry points and dealt with accordingly. This will ensure that the risks of infestation are kept to an absolute minimum and with ongoing visits and check-ups, the goal is that pest problems never arise and are dealt with in good time if they do.
2. Customised Pest Control Solutions
Since no two businesses are the same, it’s essential that a comprehensive and professional pest control plan be put in place that is customised to your business’ unique needs and situation.
It may be birds, such as sparrows, starlings, pigeons, gulls, or crows, that pose the greatest risk to your business, or it may be rats, mice, cockroaches, or a combination of some or all of them. The likelihood is that you won’t know precisely what the risks are and it can be very easy to miss something if you’re not trained to know what to look for.
By hiring in a professional pest control company, a full site survey will ensue. This survey will identify all the possible pest control issues that might arise in your premises and a bespoke plan will be put in place to deal with all of them.
3. Reducing Health Risks
Pests of all nature are carriers of disease-causing organisms, including bacteria and viruses, which can spread to humans. Their presence, therefore, poses a serious health hazard to your customers and your staff.
Urine and droppings from rodents, birds and insects such as cockroaches, all present health risks, some of which – such as hantavirus and salmonella – can be very serious indeed. In the case of bird droppings, not only is a build-up unsightly and smelly, when fresh or when wet, they can also cause a slipping hazard for passers-by, customers and staff.
There are many disease-carrying pest insects in the UK too, including fleas, ticks, houseflies and cockroaches. The concerns range from typhus and “cat scratch fever”, to bartonellosis, Lyme disease, babesiosis and many more besides.
By controlling pest infestations, you will be controlling the public health risks that are associated with them and that can only be beneficial to your business.
4. Maintaining Your Reputation
It only takes the sighting of one small pest to have customers scurrying out of the door. And in the age of social media, should this happen, then it won’t be long before the whole community knows about it and that can do lasting and even irreparable damage to your business reputation.
Nobody wants to stay in a hotel or B&B that has a reputation for bed bugs and no-one wants to eat in a restaurant that has flies and cockroaches in the kitchen and store room. Similarly, nobody wants to shop at a store that has mice and rats skipping around their feet and no-one wants to visit an office building infested with carpet beetles or ants.
The fact of the matter is, when it comes to businesses and pests, customers do not want to visit or spend their hard-earned money in a place with a reputation for pest problems. A professional pest control solution will ensure that this never happens.
5. Peace of Mind
Life as a business owner is too busy for you to be worried about potential pest problems. With an ongoing professional pest control plan in place, you can rest assured that all potential pest issues are in the safe hands of the experts.
A professional pest control company will set up and install all the necessary equipment and monitor your business premises regularly. It will take into consideration the precise needs of your business and implement a long-term pest control solution accordingly.
DIY methods of pest control are rarely effective and can even be unsafe. But when you call in the professionals you will have peace of mind that all threats are being dealt with, leaving you to concentrate on doing what you do best – running your business.
Safeguard Pest Control
The benefits of having a professional pest control plan in place for your business are many – from protecting against reputation damage to minimising public health risks. Only by enlisting the services of pest control experts can you enjoy the peace of mind of knowing that your business premises are a pest-free zone.
At Safeguard Pest Control, we have over 30 years’ experience designing and executing bespoke pest control strategies for commercial clients. Get in touch today to arrange a free site survey.