Back to Basics: pest control

There nasties that creep, crawl and buzz. There are critters that will torment your customers and hover around their food or drink. And there are creatures that hide from the light and lurk in the dark recesses of your pub.

One thing is certain about any kind of pest: they represent, at best, a reputation-damaging inconvenience to your drinkers or diners and, at worst, the danger of closure by an environmental health officer.

The height of summer is here, when wasps, other flying insects and all kinds of creepy-crawlies will be drawn to pub beer gardens.

Recent research by the National Pest Technicians Association reveals that rat infestations are running at record high levels, with a 13 per cent year-on-year increase in reports of infestations by brown rats.

Pressure has also been placed on pubs and other small businesses to recycle more rubbish more frequently, thereby reducing the possibility of pest control problems, by a report released earlier this month by the government.

Environment secretary David Miliband called on small businesses to take greater responsibility for managing their waste. All in all, there has never been a better time to act on pest control.

Two ways for pubs to crack down on pests are through waste management or traps. Experts in either field say that vigilance and best practice will get rid of the attractions that draw pests ­ the overflowing dustbins or danger-free environments that effectively roll out a welcoming red carpet for rats, cockroaches or wasps.

There are also many more principles that need to be applied to eliminate pests, as Tony Sheath, operations manager at environmental consultant Perry Scott Nash knows. Most obviously, a comprehensive pest control policy will mean taking care not to leave anything accessible that will attract pests in the first place. Food should be cleared off work surfaces, spills cleaned up immediately, your beer garden kept clean and food and glasses collected regularly. Never allow your bins to overflow.

Tony recommends having additional lighting to switch on during after-hours cleaning. This allows you to detect pests which may otherwise be able to hide in dark corners.

"Your cleaning regime will be what saves your business. If your premises is clean and brightly-lit, pests will go elsewhere," he says.

Pests get into buildings through any access points. You can reduce this possibility by filling in gaps under doors or elsewhere. Doorways should be fitted with bristle strips. Gaps can be stuffed with dense wire wool and polyurethane foam should be sprayed through.

A good test to measure whether a rat can fit through a hole, suggests Tony, is to try pushing through a biro. If one of Bic¹s finest can make it through, it¹s likely a rodent will also be able to.

Placing poison or bait needs to be done with the utmost care. "If they are placed poorly in the first place or if staff relocate them to an area to which members of the public have access, you have a risk of your customers coming into contact with dangerous substances," Tony says.

"There are also risks where people in-house, as opposed to trained pest controllers, try to treat problems themselves and contaminate food." It is often assumed that pubs with beer gardens, which are closer to many of these creepy-crawlies¹ natural habitats, would be more at risk from pests.

This is not necessarily so, however, according to Tony.

Those near water or railway sidings, notorious breeding grounds for rodents, tend to be most at risk. Pubs near to these habitats should be especially aware of the potential problem.

A cautionary tale from Tony illustrates the importance of pest control. He was recently called to a pub where cockroaches had been spotted. Removing a servery¹s panelling, which was heated by nearby lights, revealed "tens of thousands of cockroaches at different stages in their life cycles".

It took six weeks to eradicate them by pumping poison through holes drilled in the unit's tiling.

Traps

Children won¹t be the only sugar-addicted consumers in your beer garden this summer, according to the makers of wasp trap Wasp Bane.

Wasps are repaid for returning to their young with protein-filled grubs via a sugary substance secreted by the youngsters, explains Wasp Bane¹s managing director Karol Pazik. Adult wasps get hooked on this and are forced to be voracious hunters ­ they¹re actually good pest controllers themselves during this period.

However, in late summer, when the last of the wasp grubs mature, the adults have to feed their addiction in other ways. This is when they will compete with humans for their food or drink ­ and that¹s when traps are needed.

Having traps in place in time will prevent a wasp swarm. Effective traps will capture the first scouting wasps, meaning they can¹t return to the nest to say "Hey guys, there's a juicy beer garden right over there".

Where traps are positioned is important. They should be placed, not amid the serving points or beer gardens your customers will be using, but around their perimeters. A good position is above bins, which will attract wasps.

The wind should be gauged, so that bins are situated downwind from the service area. This way, your yellow-and-black-striped enemies are likely to reach the bins and traps before they reach your customers.

The legal requirements

Pubs have a legal responsibility to ensure the premises are free from pests.

This includes taking steps not to harbour them and not encouraging their entry in the first place.

An environmental health officer (EHO) has powers to serve Emergency Hygiene Prohibition orders and close you down if you are found to be in contravention of these responsibilities. The official grounds for closure are if they are confident there is imminent risk to health.

They will assess:

• whether consumables are left out in the open
• management of waste, including bins and factors such as storage of waste oil
• possible entry points through which animals may be able to get into the building, such as gaps under doors or pipes through walls.

The assessment is subjective and the leniency or harshness of local authorities¹ judgements will vary from area to area.

Tony Sheath of Perry Scott Nash says that there is "an element of lottery involved in how different EHOs interpret what constitutes an infestation" and suggests that a useful measure is the number of droppings or cockroaches visible to inspectors.

"More than two or three droppings, or seeing cockroaches during daylight hours may well be grounds for an EHO to close down your pub. Cockroaches will crowd into dark spaces until their numbers swell to such an extent there is no longer sufficient space," he says.

Waste management

"It¹s all about creating an environment which discourages rodents," says Simon Taylor, managing director of waste processing company Mil-tek.

Mil-tek recommends that waste is compacted using a baler before removal.

This means that it is reduced to a fraction of its original volume and you are more likely to be able to safely fit it within bins before removal. The lack of access for rats means the risk of infestation by these furry nemeses is reduced.

Simon says: "The easiest way to stop attracting rats is to reduce the amount of waste that goes into landfill and store it securely. Even a cardboard box with a trace of food in it will attract rodents.

"Waste management is not a difficult thing to sort out. However, once the infestation is there, it becomes much more serious."