How utilising fly screens can protect your clients
Businesses in all sectors must uphold the strictest hygiene standards possible in order to maintain the health of their staff and customers alike.
Yet this is more acute in sectors such as food manufacturing, catering, hospitality and health and care where flying insect infestations can bring significant health and safety risks and the potential for enforcement action.
It is essential that businesses, and their pest control partners have the right solutions to prevent flying insect infestations. Solutions such as insect light traps are amongst the most common methods of maintaining health and safety within businesses.
Another significant tool is flyscreens and PVC curtains which create a physical barrier preventing insects from entering while allowing air to circulate. As well as food and drink businesses, flyscreens are particularly suited to health and care settings where bringing fresh air into buildings, without insects, is particularly beneficial to occupiers.
This highlights a significant commercial opportunity for pest control business owners as they help their clients navigate flying insect infestations.
Fly screens and regulations
The UK’s ‘Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 2013’ states:
“Windows and other openings are to be constructed to prevent the accumulation of dirt. Those which can be opened to the outside environment are, where necessary, to be fitted with insect-proof screens which can easily be removed for cleaning. Where open windows would result in contamination, windows are to remain closed and fixed during production.”
The guidelines are clear: food and drink businesses must, where necessary, fit their windows with insect-proof screens to minimise the risk of infestations and which can be removed easily for cleaning.
It’s therefore crucial for businesses to com[ply with regulations. However, this can be a challenge: the diversity of different entrance ways (e.g. doors, windows, and vents) means installing the right flyscreen solution can be a challenge.
This diversity means fly screen installations are a strong example of where pest control businesses can consult on how they can help their clients remain compliant.
At Pelsis, this is something we are proud to actively support pest control businesses with a bespoke, value-added service. An additional commercial opportunity it provides is the ability for pest controllers to offer their clients a retainer for ongoing flyscreen maintenance.
What Pelsis can provide pest control businesses Our range of Insect-O-Cutor fly screens are applicable for a wide range of settings and applications and a re fully removeable for easy cleaning and maintenance.
After receiving photos and measurements and photos of the sites where needed, our team will manufacture and deliver a bespoke solution depending on your client’s needs.
Our fly screen solutions include:
· Full and partial windows. Our team can fit screens in windows of almost any description, including roof vents and airbricks. This includes box-out screens, such as smaller fittings of 200mm fittings, as well as deeper boxes that allow the client to open the window into the screen itself. Roof vents or extractors that allow ingress but still provide airflow if desired. Alternatively, we can provide sliding systems that allow for moveable fly screens.
· Standard doors. These include double action doors and quarter double action doors, with options for fibreglass mesh, stainless steel mesh or midge mesh. Locks are also available at an additional cost. Doors with obstructions can be tailored to, and we can also provide kick-plates or brushes.
For windows and doors settings, the flyscreens come with a fibreglass mesh as standard. A stainless steel mesh or midge mesh can be fitted at increased cost as well as locks.
The solution comes in our standard white colour or can be RAL coded to match the building.
· Arma-doors. These are heavy-duty doors that have flyscreen mesh fitted in-between aerated steel plates, which prevents pest ingress while providing airflow. Similarly, we can also provide screens for fire exit doors and heavy-duty security doors.
· PVC curtains. These are available for a wide range of options and industrial settings, including large roller shutter doors for food sites, shutter doors for distribution depots, and large complex installations, such as airport hangers, shipping hangers and military institutions. If the client is
unsure on the type of materials or fittings, our team can decide which kind of screens to use based on their needs. Advising on sliding curtains or hook-on systems, depending on the kind of traffic coming in and out of the doors (e.g. lorries, or simply pedestrians) is something we also provide.
In addition to flying insects, PVC curtains can help with dust and noise, and when fitted can be posited across the whole factory floor. Other benefits include that they keep out birds, another form of pest which can impact industrial settings.
Partnering with experts
Flying insect pest control management represents a business-critical priority for sectors such as food manufacturing, catering, hospitality and health and care owing to the health and safety risks alongside the potential for enforcement action.
Installing and maintaining fly screens represents a significant commercial opportunity for fly screen businesses by adding another service to their portfolio.
We recommend business owners discuss with their new and existing clients where these solutions could be applied and request a flyscreen quote from our team today.
