Around five years ago commercial pest control services moved on somewhat when companies started providing reports at the end of each inspection (instead of days or weeks later). Laptop generated inspection reports containing digital photographs on proofing issues, stacking etc. (a picture paints a thousand words) was a great improvement, other things like online reports soon followed. At the time I moved a contract from Rentokil to benefit from the innovation (anything to make life easier), its true at the time Rentokil were pretty outdated and expensive. Not any more…
I was talking with a representative of Rentokil today and I was surprised to see how much they have moved on both technologically and environmentally in the last five years. It seems they've ‘listened to the customer'.
Here's a few of their developments:
1. They developed a ‘smart' insecticide that breaks down in a controlled manner, depending on its exposure to light. In dark areas where insects tend to congregate, it remains highly effective. In lighter areas, such as open spaces, it disappears relatively quickly - minimising any potential contact with non-target species, such as humans and pets.
2. They don't use fly zappers anymore, instead they now use flying insect encapsulation units (sounds impressive). The units use a powerful A-band ultra-violet light and pheromone lures with a slow winding adhesive film. This means no escape and no fragmentation, no ‘blow-out' of dead flying insects, no dissemination of airborne contaminated spores and no high voltage ‘arc' (a feature of ‘zappers').
3. Cool mouse traps called RADAR. A mouse entering the RADAR unit is immediately detected by a pressure pad, which causes the doors at either end to be dropped, sealing off the unit. CO2 is then released into the unit, killing the mouse without introducing any form of environmental risk. An LED flashes on the top of the unit to indicate there's a mouse in the house.
4. Baitless electronic mouse detection. Using the same pressure pad as RADAR the presence of mice is detected by the unit, which, in turn, activates an external LED signal to alert that immediate attention is necessary. Once activated, the LED flashes until checked.
5. Online pest management. Baits are barcoded and technicians use handheld scanners, data is captured and uploaded to the web. Amongst other things this allows the access of real-time data from remote locations, interrogation of all past records and data and the ability to track actions against recommendations made. If I heard right bait activity can be linked into the system, notifying the customer by email and the technician by text message if there's a mouse in the house.
Maybe I'm a bit behind the times, is this sort of stuff state of the art or par for the course nowadays? I was impressed anyway.
Regards,
Simon
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