Field Notes
Insights for your business
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Insights for your business
The year 2020 brought us many surprises, including an influx of rodent headlines. Throughout the year, rodents made an appearance across the U.S. in alarming ways, demonstrating aggressive behavior due to a lack of food sources during the coronavirus pandemic and transmitting rat Hepatitis E to …
Many businesses adapted to unusual circumstances during the global COVID-19 pandemic, including altered operating hours, unpredictable customer traffic and general uncertainty about the future. Even as things change all around us, pest threats remain a constant—which means your business is …
If your business is designated as an essential service provider and is operating during the COVID-19 pandemic, you’re probably already facing a lot of pressure. Between maintaining a hygienic environment, making a profit and providing good service, pest management may not be top of mind. But …
With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing your business and customers to adapt to shelter-in-place and social distancing orders, pest control may be tough for you to manage right now, alongside all your other concerns. But with the reduction of human activity at your business, a larger number of pests are …
At Orkin, we know that customers are the lifeblood of any business. With increased health concerns taking a toll on how many companies around the country and the world serve their customers, it’s crucial that we all step up to help in ways both large and small. Just as proper handwashing is a basic …
Blood-sucking pests like ticks and mosquitoes are more than a nuisance — they can be a health risk. And they don’t just wreak havoc in your backyard; they can also affect your business. The truth of the matter is that mosquitoes and ticks can actually spread diseases to your employees and …
The potential costs of just one extreme weather or climate event in the U.S. can exceed $1 billion. With nearly 13 of these extreme, costly events happening annually, many people—and businesses—are left to deal with the aftermath of Mother Nature’s damaging behavior. This threatening weather can …
From tornadoes and tropical storms to floods and droughts, all of these extreme weather events could have a lasting impact once they hit your property. And it can be hard for any facility to battle the potential destruction that could follow. While most facility managers are more worried about how …
Pests are always better out than in. And as spring sets in, so does your potential for pest problems ; these months bring pests out of dormancy, and they’ll soon try to wiggle their way into your building, stored products and supply chain. How can you help stop spring pests from paying your …
Spring pests are racing to invade your space get prepared. From spiders to sow bugs, which seasonal pests are most likely to make a pit stop at your facility? Read up on three of your pest opponents (and even more in our Spring Pest Guide) to help keep your facility from becoming the finish …
As the orchestrator of how goods get from point A to point B, the logistics industry faces unique challenges coordinating inbound and outbound materials from dozens of different sources. All of those sources can be a source of supply chain hitchhikers. Because large inventories are often stored …
The transportation leg of the supply chain can be one of the most susceptible to pest activity because transportation vehicles offer prime pest conditions – an abundant supply of food and warm, dark shelter. With supply chains spanning the globe, knowing the signs of pest activity is crucial …
Due to the connectedness of the supply chain, one pest problem can quickly become everyone’s problem. This is why you must consider pest control with a holistic lens – and not just within your warehouses and transportation vehicles. Your suppliers, their shipments and your …
No plant or operations manager wants to find pests in the warehouse portion of their operation. The notion that there’s reduced pest pressure because the product is safely packaged may lead some to take a DIY approach, like applying widely available commercial products to spray pest problems …
With supply chains spanning the globe, the shipping and warehousing industries face many challenges — especially when it comes to pest control. Their multiple locations and large inventories mean a pest infestation can affect all legs of the supply chain process. If product and supplies become …
Along with bugging you, nuisance pests like rodents, cockroaches and flying and stinging pests have the potential to grow into a more serious problem. For some businesses, it only takes a sighting by the wrong person—an auditor, an inspector, a customer or even a patient—to have a financial impact …
The fast pace of your day-to-day responsibilities requires you to handle many things at once. And no matter what kind of facility you’re overseeing, a strong sanitation program is critical—if overlooked, it can have a domino effect on other areas of your business. While it may seem obvious that …
Do you smell a rat? Don’t let these sneaky pests fool you. From stock rooms and break rooms to suspended ceilings and wall voids, rodents have no trouble finding sources of food, water and shelter at your business, property or school. And though they know how to keep to the shadows, just one …
If you see flies in your facility, don’t turn a blind eye. These filthy pests not only disgust customers but can also contaminate food and other surfaces and cause illness. Our free, comprehensive guide to Flies & Fly Control Strategy breaks down the top concerns for the flies that are …
One rotten banana in an employee locker is all it takes for your facility to develop a fly infestation. Flies are stubborn pests that can undermine your business’s image and cost you money if you end up losing customers because of their activity. Even if you don’t prepare, sell or package food, …
Third-party food safety audits are a serious matter for food processing facilities. Just one low score can drive companies that purchase your products to lose trust in your business. With so much riding on a good score, it’s important to understand how to be audit-ready. (To learn more about the …
Proper sanitation and storage practices are crucial to food safety and effective pest management. These are preventive controls that are essential to your food safety plan – learn more about what should be included by downloading our free Food Safety Modernization Act Special Report. Failing …
Your audit is quickly approaching, and you’ve made sure your documentation is in order, plus checked all the pest control hot spots around your facility. The third piece of the pre-audit puzzle is pesticide storage. While pesticide should not be stored on site if the company has a contracted pest …
As essential as your ingredients are to your business, they’re also important to the stored product pests for which they’re a primary food source. These pests are capable of causing major damage to stored goods resulting in lost product and profits. These pests are fast breeders, so it’s important …
The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) created in 2011 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is old news to the food processing industry. However, because the required compliance dates were years away from the time FSMA was created in 2011, the implementation of FSMA has seemed like a distant …
Staying on top of maintenance and sanitation is a constant challenge — especially when it comes to food safety. So we’ve teamed up with NSF International to provide a series of free tips that can help ensure your facility is protected from head to toe against pests and the diseases they can …
In food safety, the margin for error is wafer-thin. And with the number of factors—both internal and external—that can ultimately make or break your success, it can be difficult to stay on top of things. But pest control is not something you should let slip through the cracks. From failed audits …