Integrated Pest Management
The right choice for the safest kind of pest management for schools, hospitals, nursing homes, medical facilities, rehabilitation facilities, convention centers, public buildings, offices, courthouses, churches, nursery schools…

Westwood's Pest Control can help with NAO compliance. We are familiar and experience with the procedures necessary to be in compliance. We understand the legal ramifications involved to keep everyone on the right track.

Integrated Pest Management begins with evaluation of the Pest Problem. We make healthy environmental choices for pest elimination in sensitive areas.

We accomplish this by evaluation of the problem in the areas of sanitation and prevention through education and IPM procedures.

1. Sanitation
2. Vacuuming
3. Caulking
4. Monitoring
5. Baiting
6. Precise spot application of approved pesticides.

We use the procedure manual throughout the program.

More information about IPM and Schools
EPA: Pesticides - Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in Schools As part of International Healthy Schools Day on April 7th, the Council of Educational Facility Planners offered a checklist (PDF format, 34 KB, 1 page) for schools to consider in making their schools healthier.

Protecting Children in Schools from Pests and Pesticides "Childhood exposure to pesticides is an environmental health risk facing children today. We are very focused on helping communities address this problem."

    Christie Todd Whitman, Administrator
    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

One of EPA's highest priorities is protecting children's health from unnecessary exposure to pesticides that are used in their schools to control pests. EPA is encouraging school officials to adopt Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices to reduce children's exposure to pesticides.

A SAFER Way to Control
School administrators and others who have decision-making responsibilities for pest management in and around school buildings and grounds should know that safer options exist.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a safer, and usually less costly option for effective pest management in the school community. A school IPM program employs commonsense strategies to reduce sources of food, water and shelter for pests in your school buildings and grounds. IPM programs take advantage of all pest management strategies, including judicious careful use of pesticides when necessary.

How Do You Know if Your School Is REALLY Using IPM?

IPM is:

•     Effective and environmentally sensitive approach to pest management.
•     Program that relies on a combination of common sense practices.
•     Management strategy based on communication and education, and supported by a
      committed and empowering school administration.
•     Partnership between the school community (including concerned parents) and a qualified
      pest management professional who can both implement and communicate about IPM.
•     Elimination or reduction of the reasons that insects, rodents, and plants become pests.
•     Knowledge of when and how to remedy pest problems.
•     Prevention of pest entry into school facilities.
•     Integration of cultural, mechanical, and lowest-impact chemical control technologies.

Examples of IPM Practices:

• Vegetation, shrubs and wood mulch should be kept at least one foot away from structures.
• Cracks and crevices in walls, floors and pavement are either filled or eliminated.
• Lockers and desks are emptied and throughly cleaned at least twice yearly.
• Food-contaminated dishes, utensils, surfaces are cleaned by the end of each day.
• Garbage cans and dumpsters are cleaned regularly.
• Litter is collected and disposed of properly at least once a week.
• The problem or pest is identified before taking action.
• Fertilizers should be applied several times (e.g.,spring, summer, fall) during the year, rather than one heavy application.
• If pesticides are necessary, use spot treatments rather than area-wide applications.
  

What Some Professionals Are Saying About IPM

"Professional educators know that communication and education are required to influence behavior. Successfully implementing IPM means influencing individuals whose behaviors allow pest problems to continue or occur in school settings. Drawing back on my first years in graduate school, I learned that pest management is people management." -- Dr. Marc Lame, National IPM Expert, Entomologist, and Professor at Indiana University

"In managing pests, the emphasis should be placed on minimizing the use of broad spectrum chemicals, and on maximizing the use of sanitation, biological controls and selective methods of application." -- American Public Health Association

"A healthy school environment is essential. All students and staff have a right to learn and work in a healthy school environment, safe from air pollution, radiation, sound and mechanical stress, and chemical exposures." -- National Association of School Nurses

"National PTA supports efforts [IPM implementation] at the federal, state, and local levels to eliminate the environmental health hazards caused by pesticide use in and around schools." -- National Parent Teacher Association

EPA funds grant programs to initiate IPM in schools projects. The two major types of grants awarded are from the Pesticide Enviornmental Stewardshsip Program (PESP) through the cooperative agreement with the National Foundation