Bed Bug Solutions for Offices, Stores & Commercial Buildings

Bed Bug Solutions for Any Size Business

Bed bug infestations are an increasing problem for companies throughout the United States. If you’re a business owner, human resource director, or facility manager of any commercial property, you know that preventing bed bug issues requires proactive vigilance, frequent bed bug inspection and thorough, noninvasive elimination methods.

All of these elements are essential for developing a protocol to protect the office from a bed bug infestation. Businesses that ignore the growing problem of bed bugs risk losing employee productivity and morale, not to mention the company’s reputation. These businesses have an increased likelihood of lawsuits filed by workers, vendors and/or customers. This is why it’s imperative to contact a bed bug specialist in anticipation of, or at the earliest signs of bed bugs.

2010 was “The Year of the Bed Bug” and bed bugs were perhaps the hottest topic of discussion among New Yorkers, with good reason. Since June 2010, in New York City alone, bed bug infestations were reported in every imaginable type of business.

• Retail stores: Abercrombie & Fitch, Bloomingdales, Hollister, Juicy Couture, Niketown, Victoria’s Secret
• Offices: J. Crew, Macy’s
• Major tourist attractions: Empire State Building, Lincoln Center, New York Public Library, Time Warner Center, United Nations, Waldorf-Astoria
• Advertising, media, and publishing firms: Barron’s, Elle Magazine, Saatchi & Saatchi, Sirius XM Radio
• Movie theaters: AMC and others

Of course, bed bugs have been found in many other business settings that have not been publicly reported. Just think of how many businesses harbor these pests, but don’t know it due to inadequate bed bug detection! 

Vigilance and Early Bed Bug Detection is Key

No matter how clean, airtight, or elegant your commercial office facility is, bed bugs can appear. Pesticide pretreatments to prevent bed bugs have limited effectiveness because bed bugs are not inherent to a building itself; they travel on employees, customers, and other visitors. Unless a business bans all humans from entering the premises, there is a way bed bugs can get in!

To that end, it’s usually not the business’ fault that bed bugs appear, but it is the business’ responsibility to hire bed bug control specialists to deal with the problem as soon as it’s detected. Since bed bugs hide in tiny cracks and crevices, up to 20% of a building can have a bed bug infestation before the first insect is spotted— all the more reason for an early bed bug inspection and creating a regular schedule of canine visits.

Bed bugs rapidly acclimate to an office environment, moving anywhere people are sedentary for long periods of time. They will adjust their schedules in order to feed when employees and visitors are present. And if they can’t eat regularly, adult bed bugs can survive up to 400 days on a single blood meal! Their persistence, tenacity, and ability to hide in literally any crack and crevice means bed bug inspection and bed bug control must be incredibly thorough to be effective. Blanket-spraying of pesticides is one of the worst bed bug solutions, since it rarely works. Additionally, pesticides make office areas unusable by, and hazardous to, the health of employees and customers, damage equipment, and stain furniture.

Don’t Let Bed Bugs Shut Down Your Business

Too often businesses are caught off guard, panic, and overreact when they have bed bugs. Business managers call their existing or building exterminator rather than research the best bed bug solutions. It’s understandable that they want to solve the problem as quickly and quietly as possible. However, these efforts backfire, as these exterminators do not have the expertise or the right physical solutions to solve bed bug issues in an office. As a result, they end up throwing as many chemicals as possible at a problem.

Using chemicals usually requires that offices close down for a few days. Many employers then have to inform employees not to come into the office or to work from home. Often these directives are leaked to the media publicizing rather than quieting a bed bug issue.

These are exactly the wrong actions.

The misguided recommendations from existing or building exterminators result in spending too much money on ineffective chemical bed bug treatments, and worse, can require shutdowns. Closing an office to use heavy pesticides, or to take everything out for treatment, can quickly lead to lost sales and reputation damage. These loses far outweigh the cost of treatments, put employee health at risk, and can damage equipment.

Retailers Niketown and Abercrombie & Fitch unnecessarily shut their New York City stores down for several days just due to bed bug control treatments. Juicy Couture closed the doors of its Fifth Avenue store to solve bed bugs at the height of Christmas 2010 shopping season. New York Magazine estimated Abercrombie lost $496,488 in estimated sales when it closed stores to solve bed bug issues for three days in summer 2010. These companies also lost several days worth of sales during a peak tourist season and were tarnished nationwide for having a bed bug infestation. Even after these shut downs and the use of chemicals inside their stores, these retailers still remain vulnerable to a repeat of their infestations as bed bugs can hitchhike into their stores immediately after treatment has been completed.

If a store encounters bed bugs, there is no need to shut it down to treat, remove large amounts of inventory for fumigation, and then return and restock items. Such steps would affect store operations and have forced stores’ closures for several days. The lost sales cost companies tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the immediate and ongoing damage to companies’ reputations is quite significant. Instead, Bell Environmental has programs that give stores the ability to treat items and locations while staying open. We can preserve the quality of merchandise and sell them instead of having to destroy clothing or goods and write down inventory.  We have worked with world-famous retailers for 30 years to solve their pest, rodent, and bed bug issues. These efforts have identified and ended problems without any unwanted publicity, hours of downtime, or write-off of inventory. We also operate with confidentiality and maximum discretion.

Bed Bugs Respond to Physical Solutions, Not Pesticides

An appropriate constructive approach for a business is to get an opinion from a top specialist when a problem occurs. Just as you wouldn’t embark on extreme medical care to cure difficult health issues on the advice of an inexperienced doctor, it’s always a good idea to contact a bed bug specialist like Bell Environmental when your company suspects bed bug issues.

Bell Environmental recommends a two-step bed bug inspection/elimination system. First, a certified bed bug dog performs a bed bug detection that is over 250% more accurate than a human-only bed bug inspection. Affected areas are thoroughly treated with our InstantFreeze™ bed bug control system.

Freezing bed bugs with carbon dioxide solves bed bug issues instantly without using toxic chemicals or leaving behind dangerous residues. Your employees and customers can use treated areas immediately, meaning less lost productivity and revenue, and more confidence from your staff and patrons! The InstantFreeze program is employed by our technicians with exceptional thoroughness, finding and ending bed bug infestations that other, less-thorough bed bug companies might miss.

Bell provides 24 hour-a-day/7-day-a-week service so we can treat all your locations with late night and early morning crews. There’s no lost time or revenue lost for your business. Remember, there is no guarantee that bed bugs, once eliminated, won’t be re-introduced to a business setting, since any employee or customer can carry them back in. However, early bed bug control, regularly scheduled dog inspections and long term vigilance are the best preventive bed bug solutions.

Contact Bell Environmental today at 877-376-1775 to discuss a bed bug control plan for your commercial property if you’re a business owner, human resource director, or facility manager.