Involvement in and employee “ownership” of e a facility's
pest management program may be a more important factor for
improving sanitation and pest control than annual expenditures in
sanitation. Facility managers may feel that improving the quality of
facility management is a “luxury” that is unnecessary for standard
facility operation (Zagurramurdi et al., 2007). In the two observed
facilities, Facility A used an in-house team of employees for almost
all pest control activities, while Facility B contracted with an
outside service provider. While these different sources of service
should not be a significant factor in the success of the facility's pest
control, the recorded observations suggest that it may have some
effect. Manager responses to questions regarding attitude and
knowledge of their pest management programs are an additional
indicator. Facility A's manager was able to provide detailed information
relating to his facility's handling of pest control, yet Facility
B's manager was not knowledgeable of specific aspects of his
facility's management since it was handled by an outside provider.
This may put the outside provider at a disadvantage, since he may
not be able to clearly communicate the sanitation and pest management
needs to the facility workers. This is a serious problem for
the outside provider, since lack of knowledge regarding pest control
from the facility manager may translate to lower understanding of
pest management realities for non-management employees