Whether you're the maintenance manager for a hospital, college, apartment complex, or hospitality business, bed bugs are serious business. It seems that for years, these disgusting parasitic insects had been eradicated, or at least they weren't heard of other than something you were told as a child to watch out for as in, “Don't let the bed bugs bite.”
However in recent years, the bed bug population has returned and this is partly because of the fact that chemicals that killed them, also weren't good for us.
Some scientists state that the bed bugs haven't really gone anywhere, it's just that the media started focusing more on them back in 2010. With the rise of social media and access to news stories at the press of a button, you hear about bed bugs being found much more often even if the actual findings aren't more often than usual.
Professionals know that having bed bugs is not an indication of being dirty but no one is going to want to come anywhere near a place that has a problem with these insects so it is imperative to be proactive since it is easy to have them brought into places by unknowing visitors. As a maintenance manager, it is imperative to ensure that you use preventative steps to keep your dorm rooms, hospital rooms, or hotel beds from being infested.
According to the Department of Public Health, County of Los Angeles:
A routine inspection of all seams of mattresses and upholstered furniture, the joints of bed frames, and other furniture
Check the area at the top and bottom of baseboards, door frames, and window sills
Cracks or crevices in the room
Walls behind the picture frames, headboards, and furniture
While this won't be all that needs to be done in case of an infestation, it can certainly catch the bed bugs before the infestation gets out of control and we all know it is easier to take preventative measures than it is to get rid of bed bugs once they have overrun an area.
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Add a preventative maintenance software to help manage your schedule and make sure that your guests, tenants, or students don't bring an unwanted guest to your facility.