The requirements for a pest management programme

The requirements

Programme

An effective and preventive pest management programme must be in place. The aim of the programme is to:

• Prevent pest ingress through proactive proofing and preventive controls.
• Detect pests through regular inspections.
• The treatment of pests to eradicate pest ingress and infestation.

The scope of the programme must cover:

• All areas of the site’s responsibility.
• All pests identified through risk assessment.

 

System management

Pest management must be applied through either, or a combination of:

• A competent pest management contractor.
• In-house management using appropriately trained on-site personnel.

Specific pest control training should be formally carried out by nationally or locally recognised scheme, for both contracted personnel and in-house personnel.

Where the services of a pest control contractor are employed:

• There must be a service scope which clearly defines the contracted activities;
• the contract must include details of the procedures to be applied for pest ingress and infestation follow ups;
• responsibilities must be documented for the contractor and the site;
• the service must meet all applicable legislation;
• the contractor must be able to demonstrate competence and this evidence must be kept up-to-date and retained;
• there must be agreed methods of communication, including contact details for the nominated site and contractor personnel;
• set dates for when review meetings will take place, which must be at least annually;
• after each visit, the site representative and the pest control contractor must review the results of the inspection;
• the contractor must leave a report detailing any evidence of pest activity, actions taken and recommendations.

Where part of all of the pest management is conducted in-house, personnel must be appropriately trained, this includes personnel:

• Carrying out inspections.
• Determining and applying suitable treatments.
• With responsibility for management of the system.

In-house management systems must ensure:

• Responsibilities for relevant personnel are documented and understood.
• That sufficient resources of labour, consumables and equipment are available.
• That specialist knowledge is available when needed.
• That the system is compliant to all applicable legislation.
• Chemicals are controlled and facilities are provided for their safe storage.

 

Management system

Pest management system must be in place, which includes:

• Risk assessment to define the scope and inspection schedule.
• A site plan.
• Inspection protocol, including follow up procedures.
• Safety data sheets, H&S information and instructions for the effective use of pest control chemicals.
• Records.
• Trending of results for continuous improvement.
• Reviews.

The site plan must detail all the pest monitoring devices, their identification codes, the locations and the type of monitoring. The plan must be reviewed at least annually and signed by the person responsible on site and also the pest controller.

 

Risk assessment

A risk assessment must:

• Define the areas of the site’s responsibility.
• Establish which pests are a hazard.
• the likelihood of those pest groups; causing a pest ingress or infestation issue, taking into consideration the age, design and location of buildings and equipment
• seasonal variation of pests
• pest history on site

The output from the risk assessment must determine:

• the number and type of monitoring points required
• the optimum monitoring locations
• the frequency of inspections based on risk
• the time required for inspections must be reflective of the work required and the size of the site
• the frequency and best timing of the pest survey

 

Monitoring

There must be regular inspections to monitor for pest activity.

Monitoring and treatment equipment must:

• Be located for optimum effectiveness, and where they will not pose a risk to the product;
• not contain toxic bait in open product areas, unless specifically controlled and applied for pest ingress of infestation treatment;
• be secured in place or located where they will not move;
• be tamper resistant;
• not contain formulations which will spill and become a risk to product;
• be inspected frequently based on risk assessment or legislation where live traps are used.”

 

Frequency

The frequency of such inspections, will be determined through the pest management risk assessment.

Typically, inspections should be every 6 weeks as a minimum, but a greater or lesser frequency may be determined through the risk assessment.

A 12-month schedule of inspections must be in place.

 

Inspections

There are three main forms of inspection:

• manual
• automated
• partially automated

Manual

Manual inspections require trained personnel to check the monitoring point for activity. Personnel checking monitoring points manually, need specific pest control training.

Automated

Automated inspections are where the monitoring equipment will identify pest activity and transmit a signal to site personnel or the contractor. Where automated monitoring is in place, this can reduce the frequency of inspections.  Manual inspections are still required at a lesser frequency (by personnel with specific pest control training), to ensure that monitoring equipment is working and to carry out a more detailed inspection for signs of pests.

Partially automated

Monitoring devices which are partially automated, will detect pest activity and will trigger a visual device on the outside of the equipment.  A manual check is then required, to visually check the monitoring device to see if it has been triggered. This can be carried out by personnel who have been trained to complete this task, however they do not need specific pest control training.

 

Records

The records must kept for:

• Inspections, recording clear inspections, any observed pest activity and any monitoring points that are missing or inaccessible;
• pest sightings;
• maintenance such as replacing bulbs or lures;
• the application of pest control treatments and the products used;
• corrective and preventive actions;
• trending of results for continuous improvement.

The management system may be in hard copy on paper, or digital, as long as they are accessible by the site. Personnel responsible for accessing online systems to retrieve digital paperwork must be trained sufficiently, so that they can find what they’re looking for.

 

Pest management survey

An in-depth, documented pest management survey must be carried out:

• at a frequency based on risk, and at least annually,
• by a pest control expert
• to review the effectiveness of pest management system
• during scheduled down time to allow for equipment to be opened and inspected
• when there is the greatest risk of pests, for example at seasonal highs
• to provide any recommendations for improvement.

 

Pest awareness

Personnel on site must understand:

• The signs of pest activity;
• potential points of ingress;
• the impact of hygiene on pest control;
• be aware of the need to report any evidence of pest activity to a designated manager.

 

Reporting pest activity

There must be a procedure for reporting of pest activity, which includes who activity must be reported to and relevant responsibilities.

Infestation and ingress

If a pest infestation is identified:

• A risk assessment must be documented, and mitigations implemented to ensure that the infestation does not pose a risk of contamination to materials or products;
• an investigation must be completed to establish if product or materials have been effected and where this is the case the non-conforming product procedure must be applied;
• where product is released following investigation, the release must be authorised by a competent person (Decision Maker);
• the presence of pest activity on site and any subsequent actions must be recorded;
• a programme of treatment must be implemented in a timely manner to eliminate the infestation;
• root cause analysis must be completed to establish why there was a loss of control within the pest management system and preventive actions applied;
• where the pest management system is contracted, a review meetings must be held with the pest contractor to ensure that the root cause analysis can be completed effectively, any learnings are shared and also preventive actions are applied and closed out thoroughly.

Where pest ingress is highlighted, immediate corrective action must be put in place. A risk assessment be carried out to asses the safety of the materials and product that may have been affected. The incident must be recorded along with the corrective action and any follow up required.

Corrective and preventive actions

It is be the responsibility of the site to ensure that all the relevant recommendations made by the contractor or in-house pest controller are implemented in a timely manner and closed out effectively.

Missing monitoring points must be investigated and action taken.

Where inspections are prevented due to access issues, these must be investigated and action taken.

 

Proofing

There must be sufficient proofing in place to ensure that pest ingress is minimised, including:

• Prevention so that birds cannot enter buildings or roost above loading or unloading areas;
• sufficient proofing of doors, windows, ducts and cable entry points to prevent access to rodents.

 

Access

Storage must allow access to walls for cleaning, inspection and treatment. Products must be stored to minimise the risk of infestation.

Any stock held for a prolonged periods must be inspected at a set frequency and at least quarterly to detect any signs of pest activity. Records of inspections shall be maintained.

 

Electric fly killing units (EFK)

EFKs must be fully operational and not located near open product. Where there is a risk of insects being expelled from a device and contaminating the product, alternative controls must be used.

Lures     Lures such as pheromone, must be replaced following the manufacturers guidelines. Replacement must be documented.

 

Trending

Trending must be carried out on catch trays and activity identified at monitoring points. At a minimum, trending must be analysed:

• annually or
• in the event of an infestation.

The aim of the trending and analysis is to establish if there are any problem areas on site, so that action can be taken.

 

Review

Management meetings must review:

• The overall results and trends of inspections;
• the effective close out of recommendations, corrective and preventive actions;
• the results of the pest survey.

At a minimum, this review must be conducted annually (or sooner in the event of an infestation). The dates for when the review meetings will take place must be scheduled. A review of the risk assessment must also take place:

• When there are changes to the buildings or processes which could have an impact on the pest management programme;
• if there has been a pest infestation;
• at least annually for continuous improvement purposes.