Executive Housekeeping Today - July 2008 - (Page 11)

The Environmental Protection Agency standards state that “quality drinking water” can contain arsenic in any amount up to ten parts per billion. This disturbing fact begs the question, “What other contaminants are we being exposed to in supposedly ‘quality’ products?” How many parts per billion of fecal matter, for instance, can your workplace contain before your customers are dissatisfied? To ensure the highest level of quality, all areas and products in your facility should be clean and like new. Unfortunately, maintaining this can be extremely difficult due to the presence of pesky birds and other critter pests. A main concern is that these animals and the droppings they leave behind will lower the level of quality you are able to provide. In warehouses, for example, you are not giving the appearance of a high quality product if the boxes are marked with bird or mouse droppings. Facility Manager, Wendell Murphy, of Lexington, KY, describes the bird problems he had: “Droppings hit the freight and the floor and got on packages and equipment,” he says. Birds that nested in the rafters also caused ceiling insulation to sag. Similarly, in Wheaton, IL, shipping manager Fletcher Kerns says his bird situation was problematic enough that the company was starting to lose customers: “Birds would fly in the bay shipping doors and leave droppings on the customers’ cartons and the customers didn’t like it.” Some sectors are obviously more sensitive to this issue than others. If health or body products are being sent out, which is typical in the healthcare industry, droppings on boxes contaminate products to the point that they are then unusable. Exposure to bird droppings is especially dangerous—there are over 60 diseases that can be contracted t How Eliminating Nuisance Animals Can Increase Quality by F. Kathleen Oprian by humans from birds, and they extra attention in preventing the can be fatal. presence of nuisance animals in A hospital in Sweetwater, TX, order to maintain a high level of knows this risk all too well, as quality. Often, people will come to they battled a grackle infestation tour these types of facilities before in their courtyard. Howard Bryant, sending their child or loved one Plant Operations Manager at Roll- there. Having birds roosting and/or ing Plains Memorial Hospital for nesting around the building can be 20 years, was aghast. He had never very unsightly as they are bound to seen anything like it, he says, and leave droppings behind. Moreover, the smell was intolerable. Even it is not advisable to treat a nuithough a groundskeeper was as- sance animal problem with traps signed to clean up the grackle or poison, as this will result in dead droppings early each morning, the animals in your facility. The health odor remained intractable, day risk and smell associated with after day. And, says Bryant, the that are equally hazardous. The bird droppings were a health and filth associated with pest animals safety hazard. implies and conveys an image of Bryant says that patients often low quality. came out in slippers, and these soft What many people also do not sole shoes made it easier to track consider is that nuisance birds SPK_3.5 x 4.875_4C 3/4/08 9:43 AM the 1 bird waste inside, and that is not can directly affect Page quality of a (continued on next page) acceptable in a hospital environment. The hospital was well aware that bird droppings are known to harbor bacteria that can lead to debilitating diseases. In addition, bird feathers threatened to clog the hospital’s air conditioning system. TH WI Persons with comproWorld’s most complete line of bird control mised immune products - an effective solution for ANY bird problem. systems, the elderly, and • TOUGH Ca Guaranteed to get c o m ll fo r children are pet • FLEXIBLE rid of birds, and the mess q u o it iv e most suscepte ! and diseases they bring. t i b l e t o t h e • ECONOMICAL diseases birds • EASY TO INSTALL carry. Because 800-662-5021 of this, health- 300 N. ELIZABETH ST. DEPT. EHT care and edu- CHICAGO, IL 60607 • 312-226-2480 WWW.BIRD-X.COM/EHT 312-BAN-BIRD • FAX cational buildTHE BIRD CONTROL “X-PERTS” SINCE 1964 ings must pay Get Rid of Birds! SPIKES NEEDLE STRIPS July 2008/Executive Housekeeping Today http://WWW.BIRD-X.COM/EHT

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Executive Housekeeping Today - July 2008

Executive Housekeeping Today - July 2008 Contents Executive Corner Inspecting a Different Way Quality in the 21st Century Frugal Housekeeper How Eliminating Nuisance Animals Can Increase Quality Healthcare Goes Green Feature Article IHW Product Information The Green Scene 2008 Call to Convention 2008 Convention Information Inside the Industry Product Highlights New Members Joint IEHA/ISSA Members CEH/REH Members Advertisers' Index Calendar of Events Inside I.E.H.A. What I.E.H.A. Has Done for Me

Executive Housekeeping Today - July 2008

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