Working with health inspectors

Last week I had the privilege of providing IPM training to a group of state and local health inspectors from south Texas.  It was the first time I've had the chance to train health inspectors and it was an interesting experience. 

I learned that being a health inspector is likely to permanently dull your enjoyment of going out to eat.  After all, health inspectors see the (sometimes) scary underbelly of the food services industry.  Even in the restaurants with good records, if an inspector eats out, he or she is wondering how long the salad's been out, if the preparer was wearing clean gloves,  whether the refrigerators are cold enough, and if the dishwashers have been properly trained to disinfect the silverware.  Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

Unlike Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector (I've not seen the movie, but the subtitle is "They'll give anyone a badge"), these folks were professionals, very dedicated to their work and making sure the public health is protected.

The other thing I learned was how hungry these health inspectors are for IPM information.  Relatively few inspectors in our group seemed to have a strong understanding of pest management principles, or how the pest control business works. 

One of the more interesting discussions we had concerned the use of sticky cards as monitoring devices in restaurants.  As a PMP, you may have encountered restaurant owners who are unwilling to allow insect sticky cards in their establishment because they are afraid that any insects on the cards might alert the inspector to an insect problem that they might not otherwise know about.  After our training and discussion, everyone in the class agreed that having sticky cards in an establishment was a positive thing, as it showed that the owner cared, and was serious about monitoring the condition of the business.  [Of course sticky cards can be a two-edged sword.  Sticky cards that are not maintained and changed regularly can reflect conditions that no longer exist in the restaurant, and are likely a sign of lack of attention to detail on the part of the technician.] 

I learned that health inspectors try to look at the bigger picture when they score an eating establishment, school or day care.  An inspector will not necessarily consider a single cockroach on a trap or on the floor an "unacceptable" infestation.  It takes more infractions than just cockroaches or rodents to shut down a restaurant.  The inspector considers the overall condition of the facility, if the owners are making an effort to solve pest problems and whether they're employing the expertise of a professional. 

A good PMP can make the job of a health inspector easier.  Sticky cards and bait stations should be signed and dated every inspection.  Detailed documentation of what species of pests were observed, what conducive conditions for pests you've noted, pesticide types and amounts used, along with non-chemical controls employed, and the progress of the pest control program can be very helpful to an inspector. 

Health inspectors can be, and should be, the allies of pest control professionals.  After all, the goal of both kinds of professionals should be the same, namely: clean, pest-free and sanitary eating and living places.  I wish for our industry a better and closer relationship with health inspectors.  If you have the chance to meet an inspector don't neglect to ask them questions about how your customer's restaurants are scoring, what their perspectives are on pest control, and maybe provide some information about how your company approaches IPM.  You might gain a referral or two; and you might help them understand your perspective a little better.  

For my part, I hope to do more trainings with these public health professionals.  Wouldn't it be nice to know that your health inspector feels comfortable eating at any of the restaurants your company services?  That would be worth celebrating with a nice dinner out. 

IPM Thresholds: More than meets the eye

I've heard several pest management professionals say that they felt thresholds were not practical for their business. "We have a zero tolerance for pests," they typically say, "so thresholds just don't work for us." Health department standards are often cited as a justification for a zero threshold, as many health departments have no tolerance for cockroaches in a food handling establishment.

Developed originally for agriculture, pest thresholds originally meant the level of pest presence on a crop where the damage caused by the pest equaled the cost of treatment (usually the cost of a pesticide application). This concept works well in situations where the cost of a single pest is relatively easily determined. It's much more difficult to establish thresholds where pests are simply a nuisance or where the exact health cost of an individual pest is difficult to define.

The problem of assessing pest damage in indoor environments is especially challenging. What is the cost to a restaurant of a single cockroach in a kitchen? Contrary to the myth that a single cockroach is sufficient to shut down a kitchen, health inspectors, in Texas at least, are charged to "[control pests] to minimize their presence within the physical facility and its contents, and on the contiguous land or property under the control of the permit holder..." Nevertheless, we all know that there are levels of pests that are clearly unacceptable.

Most people would agree that a single cockroach, or one mouse, entering a facility from a recently delivered box of food does not necessarily constitute an "infestation". And one or two cockroaches on a sticky card would likely justify a much different (and less costly) response than, say, 30 cockroaches found on several sticky cards. This is where thresholds can help both the pest control technician and the food establishment manager.

I believe the most useful kind of threshold for these settings is what I call the multiple response threshold, where thresholds are used to guide the appropriate response to escalating pest densities. A good technician understands this concept intuitively, whether he or she realizes it or not.

This week I helped conduct a class on IPM for school maintenance personnel. As part of the class we conducted a pest inspection of a school kitchen. The technician who serviced the school told me he had recently found two cockroaches in a particular area of the kitchen we were inspecting. I asked him what he did, and he said that he conducted a thorough inspection of the area and found no other signs of cockroaches. He did not apply a pesticide, but planned to keep a close eye on this area in the next few visits. When asked what he would have done had he found more cockroaches, he answered that he would have increased sanitation, brought in a vacuum and perhaps placed out some cockroach bait stations.

This is, in my opinion, the proper use of the IPM threshold concept for buildings.

But if a good technician knows this intuitively, then why is it necessary to have written thresholds? There are several reasons I can think of for written thresholds, especially for institutional accounts such schools, restaurants or hospitals: (1) Not all technicians are equally experienced, or understand what to do when they encounter different levels of pest problem; (2) not all institutions or businesses have the same tolerances for pests. If they have been previously reviewed and approved by the customer, written thresholds provide a way to ensure that the technician is familiar with the expectations of each account; (3) technicians rarely keep the same accounts for extended periods of time, so having written thresholds is an excellent training tool and way to standardize service among technicians; (4) the process of developing thresholds is a useful exercise in thinking through your IPM service strategy; and (5) thresholds can save time and expense, especially for institutions where pest control service is based on a work order system. It can be expensive to send technicians out on trivial pest control service calls, when more important calls await. In this case, thresholds can help a manager decide which work order requests deserve immediate response, and which are given lower priority.

If your company does not include written thresholds as part of its commercial IPM program, it may be time to reconsider. Besides being a good idea, having thoughtful and reasonable thresholds might just distinguish your company from competitors who also claim to be doing IPM.