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Pest Management Roles for Housing Managers and Staff
Responsibly controlling pests in multi-family housing requires teamwork, communication, and cooperation between residents, housing managers, housing staff, and pest management professionals (PMP).
On this page:
- Property manager's role
- Maintenance's role
- Housekeeping's role
- Resident support services' role
- Pest management professional's role
- Resident's roles
The property manager's role encompasses these responsibilities:
- Develop and enforce policies and procedures with staff and residents
- Notify residents of PMP visit in advance
- Encourage a reporting system for residents and staff
- Manage PMP
- Monitor and maintain facilities
- Identify problems, especially with housekeeping and sanitation and delegate the solutions.
The property manager is responsible for IPM, not the pest control operator. Too many core elements of an effective IPM program are beyond the control of the Pest Control Operator (PCO). In a public housing authority, the property manager may be a building manager.
Other members of your staff and the PMP have their own responsibilities:
- Eliminate leakage
- Fix moisture problems
- Install barriers to pest entry and movement
- Monitor for pests and report problems
- Keep common areas clean and sanitary (especially trash chutes and dumpsters)
- Report problems with housekeeping in units
- Monitor for pests and report problems
- Get assistance for residents who are unable to prepare their unit for the PMP due to financial or physical limitations
- Educate residents on
- Pests
- Proper housekeeping
- Reporting presence of pests, leaks, and mold
- Enforce lease provisions regarding
- Housekeeping
- Sanitation
- Trash removal and storage
The role of maintenance staff:
Maintenance has a crucial role in IPM and maintaining a healthy building. They need to work closely with the PMP to respond to maintenance problems documented in the IPM log. They also need to get at the root causes of pest problems - water and holes.
Maintenance may be asked to monitor for pests with glue traps in common areas to alert the PMP of potential new problems.
Finally, they may have a role in unit turnover. Unit turnover is a great opportunity to clean up units, and to apply boric treatments behind walls and cabinets.
The role of housekeeping staff:
The role of resident support services:
Resident support services are the people that interface with the residents, especially when there are problems. They may accompany the PMP on site visits.
The role of the pest management professional:
- Follow contract and get paid
- Provide technical assistance
- Communicate with staff AND residents
- Identify problems
- Recommend alternative approaches
- Monitor for pests
- Apply safest pesticides
- Document everything: observations, pesticide usage, suggestions
- Be licensed if required by the state.
The PMP's other potential roles and responsibilities:
- Using vacuum to make initial treatment of infested unit.
- Seal cracks and crevices.
- Set out glue traps (this may be done by staff instead).
Residents have their own important role to play in terms of implementing IPM. Learn about the role of residents.
The results of this team approach:
- An inspection and monitoring system that finds pests
- A reporting system that identifies areas of improvement
- Units that are prepared to get a least-toxic treatment
- Communication that empowers all
- Fewer pests and a healthier environment