Apr 5, 2012 – Can’t We All Just Get Along?
QUESTION:
What will a health inspector do if they were to see glue boards and snap traps set up in the restaurant when they are doing their inspection? I have a customer that trashes my stations when he thinks the inspector may be showing up.
ANSWER:
This sounds like an excellent opportunity to get everyone on the same page. It may be that your real problem is with your customer and his perception that the Health Inspector will disapprove of the traps, when in reality the inspector could be perfectly fine seeing these traps in the appropriate places. We had a similar incident many years ago in California when a county health inspector continually removed aerosol dispensers that he found set up in restaurants and threw them in the trash. The pest control companies demanded and got a joint meeting with the State Health Dept, the County Agricultural Inspectors, the manufacturer of these devices, and themselves, and putting all their heads together came to the conclusion that not only were these devices perfectly legal in restaurants but that the "guidelines" for their placement were arbitrary numbers set up decades earlier with a flip of the coin.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
What will a health inspector do if they were to see glue boards and snap traps set up in the restaurant when they are doing their inspection? I have a customer that trashes my stations when he thinks the inspector may be showing up.
ANSWER:
This sounds like an excellent opportunity to get everyone on the same page. It may be that your real problem is with your customer and his perception that the Health Inspector will disapprove of the traps, when in reality the inspector could be perfectly fine seeing these traps in the appropriate places. We had a similar incident many years ago in California when a county health inspector continually removed aerosol dispensers that he found set up in restaurants and threw them in the trash. The pest control companies demanded and got a joint meeting with the State Health Dept, the County Agricultural Inspectors, the manufacturer of these devices, and themselves, and putting all their heads together came to the conclusion that not only were these devices perfectly legal in restaurants but that the "guidelines" for their placement were arbitrary numbers set up decades earlier with a flip of the coin.
I suggest you arrange a meeting with the County Health Department, a supervisor preferably, and your customer to determine what the middle ground is. Your customer may be surprised to learn that not only does the health department approve of monitoring traps, they may ENCOURAGE them. Having physical traps in place in a food establishment, to me, shows a concern for good pest management by that restaurant owner. The knowledgeable health inspector will certainly know the value and uses of these traps. The best situation to work toward is for everyone to be happy and to work together, and if for some reason the health inspector DOES have concerns regarding traps he can express them, you can offer your reasons for using them, and hopefully a workable compromise will come out of it.
What you should strive for, of course, is to place these kinds of traps where customers of this restaurant will not see them or step on them. Even though a patron at a restaurant may, in the back of his mind, hope that the restaurant is addressing the subject of pest management, no one wants to try to enjoy an omelette while a trapped mouse squirms on the glueboard next to his feet. Good judgment needs to be used in the placement of traps, but they definitely should be used and are an effective part of insect and rodent control.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
