Bed Bug Checklists For Your Workplace
To help protect the health and safety of your staff and guests or patients, as well as the reputation of your business, bed bugs should be monitored consistently in your environment. Our Orkin Pros™ recommend updating your staff’s routine room evaluation and cleaning protocol to include checking for bed bugs and other pest introductions. You can find bed bugs in nursing homes, hotels and hospitals since they can travel long distances unnoticed on bags and clothing. Read on to learn how to check for bed bugs in your business, what to do about bed bugs if you find them and how to prep your facility for bed bug treatment with our helpful tips.
Where to Check for Bed Bugs in Hotels and Healthcare Facilities
Here’s a list of the most frequent hot spots to check for bed bugs in hotel guestrooms, hospital patient rooms and nursing home residences:
❑ Bed: Bed bugs are most likely to be located in or around the bed. When removing the sheets, pillows and blankets, inspect the mattress and box spring to check for signs of bed bugs, such as black or rust-like stains.
❑ Headboard and Bed Frame: Since it is closest to the mattress, the headboard and bed frame are the second most frequented areas for bed bugs. They can be found hiding within cracks, screw housings or edges.
❑ Furniture: Desks, tables, dressers, luggage racks, sofas, chairs and nightstands are all areas where bed bugs can hide. When cleaning up trash or dusting these areas, keep an eye out for any bed bug or pest sightings.
❑ Bathroom: Bed bugs can travel around the room undetected and hide under dirty towels or corners of the bathroom.
What To Do About Bed Bugs If You Find Them
If you see bed bugs or signs of a bed bug introduction in your workplace, the next steps are critical to help contain the issue and avoid an infestation for your property or facility:
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Pull the room out of service immediately. Isolate the room and do not allow any guests or patients to occupy the room until a deeper inspection is performed.
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Have a supervisor do a more detailed inspection of the room. This allows a housekeeper or cleaning staff to move on at the first sight of bed bugs and not risk spreading them to another room or interrupting their service. In addition to the hot spot locations above, a supervisor may want to do a more in-depth inspection of the following areas:
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Mirror or Artwork: While wall hangings may not be the first place you would think to find bed bugs, be sure to check artwork or mirrors around the room — especially anything in close proximity to the bed.
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Wall Outlets: Check all electrical outlets around the bed area for signs of bed bugs.
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Closets: Bed bugs can often be found in items left for storage, like bags, suitcases or even clothing. Be sure to inspect the corners and surrounding areas for signs of bed bugs.
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Curtains or Draperies: Check for brown stains or bed bugs between the folds of window coverings.
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Contact your pest control provider right away. If more evidence of bed bug introductions or a possible infestation is found, contact your pest control provider right away for inspection and treatment.
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Prepare the infested room for inspection and treatment with your pest control provider. Use the pre-treatment checklist below to prep the infested room for your pest control provider.
Pre-Treatment Checklist for Commercial Bed Bug Services
If you have found bed bugs in your workplace, your pest control provider will need to conduct a full inspection of all rooms in your building to find all currently active infestations. Before they arrive, complete the items on the following checklist to prepare your property or facility for your bed bug inspection and treatment service:
❑ Do not remove anything from the room until after the items have been treated, so you don’t continue to spread the bed bug infestation. This applies to all items within the room, from books, phones, artwork and decorative accessories to furniture, mattresses and linens.
❑ Clean up clutter and put away belongings to ensure your pest control provider can easily move throughout the room(s) during the service.
❑ Remove all pictures, wall hangings and window treatments from the walls and move them to the center of the room.
❑ Pull all headboards and bed frames away from the walls, giving two feet of clearance from the walls.
❑ Remove cushions from sofas and recliners and move all furniture into the center of the room, or at least two feet away from wall.
❑ Unscrew and remove electrical outlet plates from the wall and place them in the center of the room.
❑ Strip mattress(es) and box spring(s) of comforters, sheets, bedspreads, bed skirts and dust covers, as well as empty all closets, dressers and nightstands of clothing, bedding and other soft goods. Leave all linens and soft goods in the center of the room.
❑ Vacuum floors, cracks and crevices in walls, wall baseboard, seams/surface area of mattress(es) and box spring(s), sofas and chair cushions, as well as any pullout sofa beds. Remove vacuum cleaner bag and discard outside of the building immediately so any bed bugs aren’t carried and spread to other interior spaces.
❑ Be prepared to provide any bed bug history on each of the rooms being inspected, and any supporting documentation of the incident(s).
Bed bug infestations are one of the worst things that can happen in the hospitality business, and they’re a complication you just don’t want in healthcare environments, either. With over a century of experience dealing with this resilient pest, Orkin has a variety of commercial bed bug services to fit the needs for your business, including ongoing visual inspections, canine inspections and additional protective measures, like staff training. And with Orkin Bed Bug ProAct® for Hospitality, our well trained Orkin Pros put a defense in place before bed bugs have a chance to check in.
Orkin understands just how crucial response time is when you suspect you have a bed bug problem and are here to help guide you through your routine inspection and pre-service checklists to help protect your guests, patients and reputation from this pest threat. Still have questions or concerns on how to check for bed bugs in your workplace? Click here to schedule a free bed bug or pest control inspection at your business.
