Across South Africa, many office buildings are left vacant during the holiday season as employees head off on well-deserved breaks. While this is a time of relaxation for people, it often becomes an open invitation for many pests to move in and thrive in the empty spaces.
With reduced activity, office buildings become a perfect habitat for nuisance pests. We wrote extensively about pest risks to vacant buildings during lockdown. The presence of pests can lead to physical damage to the building and its fittings, large-scale infestations that are difficult to control, and contamination caused by droppings, nesting materials, and debris from pest activity. Such issues pose significant health risks to employees upon their return and may result in property damage and costly clean-ups.
In addition to structural damage, empty offices are at risk of secondary pest infestations, such as ticks, fleas, mites, lice, beetles, and weevils, which infest nests or are carried in by rodents and pest birds. These infestations can contaminate surfaces and create unhygienic conditions, further threatening the health and well-being of employees.
Preventive pest control this summer
To ensure that employees returning to the office after the holiday season are kept safe from pest-borne diseases, pest control services for your business must be prioritised. It is especially important now, as the summer months are in full swing, to maintain hygienic premises. Remember that office hygiene should be managed, even during the holidays.
This is because the warmer weather causes an accelerated breeding cycle for pests like cockroaches and flies, which means what starts as a few pests can very rapidly become uncontrollable infestations. No one wants to arrive at work on a Monday morning to find the kitchen dustbin crawling with maggots! Regular cleaning and maintenance are essential for keeping pests away.
Summer pests and the problems they can cause for your office:
This blog concentrates on two particularly problematic summer pests: flies and cockroaches. Warm weather leads to a dramatic rise in both fly and cockroach numbers, caused by an accelerated breeding cycle. Both pests are commonly found in almost every business premise, including offices.
1. Flies
Flies are a topic we’ve covered extensively on the deBugged blog due to their prevalence in both businesses and homes.
They regularly move between contaminated food sources and clean areas, such as office kitchens, carrying bacteria on their bodies. They can transmit diseases such as Salmonella, E. coli, and bacterium responsible for cholera. With their rapid breeding during summer months, flies quickly become an infestation in office spaces.
Prevention tips:
- Ensure waste bins are emptied and have tight-fitting lids.
- Remove standing water sources around the property.
- Use eco-friendly and sustainable fly traps.
There are a number of fly species that can be considered a pest risk around buildings. Buildings also provide sites for some fly species to overwinter.
Risks from a fly infestation:
In summer, with adequate food supplies, flies multiply very quickly. Read how to spot the signs that indicate you have a fly infestation. They feed on faecal matter, rubbish, rotting materials and stored and processed foods, which means that an unemptied rubbish bin in the office kitchen is a perfect weekend breeding ground for flies.
Disease-causing microorganisms carried by flies include Salmonella, cholera, Campylobacter spp, E. coli, Cryptosporidium, parasitic worms and fungi – none of which your employees will thank you for.
2. Cockroaches
Cockroaches are the most common type of crawling insect to infest businesses. They cause particular problems because of their small size (which means they can hide just about anywhere), their varied diet, their rapid reproduction cycle and the diseases they can carry.
Cockroaches shelter in dark places such as cracks, crevices, drains, sewers, inside equipment and furnishings, and hidden spaces – in fact just about anywhere that provides the right temperature and humidity. These places are also difficult for your daily office cleaners to reach.
Prevention tips:
- Seal cracks and install tight-fitting doors and windows.
- Schedule professional pest control services for year-round protection.
- Eliminate excess moisture and maintain cleanliness.
Risks to your business posed by cockroaches:
Cockroaches can carry a large number of disease-causing bacteria, including Salmonella, Staphylococcus, Listeria, E. coli, and also fungi, viruses and parasitic worms. Like flies, they also feed on any decaying organic matter, mould, and faecal matter in sewers, which can then be carried into buildings on their bodies and in excreta.
They defecate wherever they crawl and frequently expel saliva on surfaces to ‘taste’ their environment. And if that isn’t off-putting enough, their droppings and bodily secretions stain and leave a foul odour that can permeate infested areas. And finally, allergens in their droppings and shed skins can cause asthma. When it comes to cockroaches, there is never just one. Spotting one in an office indicates that a professional pest control service may be needed. Acting quickly can help prevent an infestation.
How to protect your office from pests:
Even if not all your employees have return to the office, it’s essential to continue with your pest control services over summer, when pests can breed exponentially. In addition to pest control services, special attention needs to be paid to building maintenance and proofing to prevent pests from accessing your building. Rentokil can help to keep the pests at bay this summer
Our pest control programmes are tailored-made to protect your business and your employees from pest-related problems. Think that you may have a pest problem in your office? Contact us today about a pest risk survey.

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