Bed Bugs at the Office
Bed Bugs at the Office
Bed Bugs at the Office
Bed bugs, bed bugs, bed bugs; just hearing the words make people itchy!
Even so, bed bugs continue to dominate the media with reports of them infesting everywhere from movie theaters to retailers, and yes; even possibly your place of business.
Bed bugs at work are usually introduced by an employee with an infestation in their home or can also be brought in by office visitors, vendors or maintenance staff.
Since they're great hitchhikers, they can easily transfer to the workplace on purses, backpacks, briefcases, clothes, shoes, and even books.
Bed bug behavior changes when they're introduced into an office environment.
Bed Bugs: Home vs. Office
Home
Bed bugs concentrate around sleeping and resting areas.
Bed bugs feed, mate, and populations increase primarily though reproduction.
Populations can increase to high numbers.
Bed bugs are active and feed at night.
Office
Bed bugs wander and spread into less predictable locations.
Populations tend to grow slowly, primarily through new introductions.
The total number of bed bugs is typically lower.
Bed bugs are usually active at night in the beginning but, since they typically can't find people for a meal, they'll shift their activity to daylight hours.
Bed bugs have created a unique set of issues for Human Resource Departments to handle:
Should the employees all be notified when an infestation is found?
How should the company educate employees about the signs and symptoms of bed bugs?
Will the company be paying for bed bug treatments at the homes of employees who have been found to be bringing these critters into the office?
If so, will the company pay for every employee's home to be inspected to see if they brought bed bugs home with them from the office?
How will the company keep these employees' identities confidential?
Do you suspend the employee suspected of bringing bed bugs from home? Do you terminate their employment if they're not cooperative?
In addition, there may be legal issues involved:
What if an employee is being blamed for the infestation? Rightly or wrongly?
Are there legal implications for the employer being blamed when workers take bed bugs home with them?
Then there are the employees' perceptions to deal with:
Anxiety that exists because of concerns about working in an environment that has bed bugs.
Perceptions that the workplace is unhealthy and the risks of bed bug bites and allergic reactions.
Real concerns about taking bed bugs home.
There's no doubt that disclosing a bed bug problem to employees is a sticky wicket. The disclosure could possible lead to discrimination and unfair treatment of employees whose work stations are infected.
However, failure to disclose the problem could lead to even far greater problems. There's the issue of reintroduction of bed bugs by the infested employees, and even litigation from employees who are upset they weren't warned about the problem so they could take steps to avoid bringing bed bugs home.
If the company doesn't disclose, then it must conduct all treatments and inspections during the weekends or evening/early morning hours when employees aren't around to witness the proceedings. Keeping a secret like this is very difficult, if not impossible. If word gets out, the potential for legal action is increased many fold.
Of course the right thing to do is to immediately disclose the problem to employees as soon as possible.
Do you have a bed bug workplace story to share?
What, you haven't yet subscribed to my Blog? That's easy enough to fix.
Check out my website (http://www.NABedBugs.com) for more information on bed bugs and some tips and products for preventing them!
I invite you to subscribe to my Blog at http://www.NABedBugs.com/blog/
Stink Bugs In Pittsburgh Bed Bugs Are Back And Stronger Than Ever: How To Get Rid Of Them No More Bed Bugs And Dust Mites: Get A Bed Bug Mattress Covers For Less Keeping Bugs Out of Your Back Yard - The Natural Way is Usually the Best Intro to Bed Bugs Bugs And Rodents Need Experts To See Them Off Kill Bed Bugs with Bed Bugs Steamers in Commercial and Residential Areas Bed Bugs Can be Killed with Steam – But Make Sure Your machine is Up To The Job Detecting and Eliminating Bedbugs in Austin Bugs And Pests Kept At Bay By Qualified Exterminators How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs - Pest Extermination Bugs May Really Be Hiding in Your Bed and Mattress? Bed Bugs And Mites---4 Differences To Be Aware of Between the Dust Mite and Bed Bug