5 Ways Pests Can Hurt Your Business

From health and safety violations to ruined reputations, pests can harm businesses in many ways. An infestation can threaten to undo all the hard work you’ve put in as a business owner.

Learn how pests affect business and how hiring pest management professionals to eliminate infestations can help your business thrive.

In This Article

• Jeopardized Health and Safety 
• Damaged Stock and Property 
• Damaged Reputation
• Reduced Productivity
• Cost and Insurance Implications 
• Schedule a Free Pest Inspection With Cape Cod Pest Pros.

1. Jeopardized Health and Safety

Pests pose health and safety concerns to you, your clients and your staff. Many pests carry bacteria and disease-causing pathogens that they spread through their environment. For example, pests that enter food sources will contaminate everything they touch, while droppings can spread diseases quickly and make your workspace unsafe.

Biting pests like ticks and mosquitos can spread diseases like yellow fever, Lyme, malaria and Zika. These diseases can be severe and have lasting health consequences for your staff and clients. Other pests can cause rashes, allergies and asthma flare-ups.

Safety risks are also a significant concern when it comes to pest infestations. For example, pest droppings can lead to slip-and-fall accidents. Wood-damaging insect pests like termites and carpenter ants can damage buildings and lead to dangerous structural failure.

Since you’re responsible for what occurs in your business, you’re liable if a customer or employee gets hurt or sick. Initiating pest control can help keep everyone safe while avoiding health code violations, fines and even closure.

2. Damaged Stock and Property

The impact of pests on business doesn’t stop at health and safety risks. Property damage is one of the biggest problems with pests like carpenter ants, termites, mice and rats. Infestations can damage several building areas, lowering your property value and putting you, your staff and customers in harm’s way.

Modern commercial buildings, with their internal ducts and false floors and ceilings, provide an ideal setting for pests. Indoors, they can damage structures, especially when they go untreated.

Rodent and insect pests can cause the following damages:

• Walls, floors and support beams: Rodents will chew through almost anything, including walls, floors and support beams. Over time, this damage can compromise the structural integrity of the building. You will eventually need to replace damaged structures, which can be very costly.
• Insulations and pipes: Rodents can also damage insulations and pipes. Damaged insulation can result in higher heating costs, while chewed pipes can cause costly water damage.
• Wires: The most dangerous risk presented by rodents is damaged wires. Chewed wires can cause sparks and lead to fires.
• Equipment and products: While they may be small, mice and insects can cause immense damage to your products, materials and equipment. Insects can get into food containers and contaminate usable products with disease and bacteria.
• Landscaping: Outdoor pests can damage the landscape and the solidity of the ground.

In all cases, taking preventive action is the best way to avoid these damages and protect your property. Pest management is essential at the first sign of an infestation.

3. Damaged Reputation

Reputation takes years to build, but today’s technology means it can unravel faster than ever. With online reviews, tweets, blog posts and text messages, the world could know about a mouse sighting in your building by the end of business hours.

If you’re in property management, rumors about pests can travel quickly and dissuade prospective tenants. They can also cause current tenants to leave, with high turnover negatively affecting your profits. Restaurants are also especially vulnerable to news of pest sightings and face an uphill battle to restore their reputations afterward.

Things that people post on the internet can spread quickly and stay online for a long time. Once someone talks online about your business’s pest problem, that information can tarnish your reputation long after you’ve dealt with the infestation. Even if a customer hasn’t seen the pests themselves, simply knowing that you’ve had an infestation could keep them from coming to your business.

4. Reduced Productivity

Reduced productivity is another significant pest impact on business. You and your employees have several essential tasks each day and responding to pest complaints is time-consuming, disrupting other necessary tasks. Additionally, motivation and morale often fall dramatically when employees regularly encounter pests of any type.

Without taking the necessary preventive steps, infestations can lead to a loss of working days as you attempt to control the problem. That’s why it’s essential to use pest management services that can deliver fast and effective solutions. By entrusting the job to trained professionals, you won’t lose out on working days or productivity.

5. Cost and Insurance Implications

When it comes to costs, the business impact of pests is immense. In fact, infestations are costly in more ways than one:

• Structural damage costs: Pest damage can be costly to fix. Structural problems and damage to equipment can be expensive and time-consuming to replace, hampering productivity and putting a dent in your operation costs.
• Infestation removal costs: Most pests establish colonies quickly — by the time you start noticing them, the infestation is likely already widespread. Getting rid of a full-blown infestation can be time-consuming and very costly.
• DIY attempts: Many people resort to DIY pest control methods to save money. However, these methods are usually ineffective since most people don’t have the knowledge or specialized training to deal with a pest infestation. Trying a DIY approach typically leads to sinking money into an ineffective technique on top of the cost of professional pest control services.
• Legal costs: Infestations can bring health and safety risks to your customers and staff. If you are a property manager, you’re responsible for pest control — if an infestation causes an injury or illness to a tenant, they are within their rights to sue. That can mean legal costs, stress and even a settlement or judgment against you.
• Insurance implications: Since pests are so common, damage from pests typically won’t meet the “unexpected and sudden” benchmarks for damages your insurance covers. Pest damages will instead fall under exclusions, meaning that the costs of damages are the property owner’s responsibility.

Schedule a Free Pest Inspection With Cape Cod Pest Pros.

Pests can severely impact your business’s success, making prevention essential. When you need fast, reliable and eco-friendly pest control services, call upon the professionals at Cape Cod Pest Pros. Since 1999, we’ve delivered effective pest control and prevention services to business owners in the Cape Cod area.

We take pride in our work, from basic inspections to intensive infestation treatments. We promise to get the job done any time, every time, so your business can continue operating as usual.

Contact us online or call us at (508) 888-0999 with questions about our pest management services or set up a free pest inspection today!