How I Use the Integrated Pest Management Template with Customers in Pilla

I'm Liam Jones, NEBOSH-qualified health and safety consultant, Level 3 Food Safety, and founder of Pilla. This is how I approach integrated pest management policies in a food safety management system, based on close to twenty years in frontline operations and advising hundreds of businesses on compliance. You can email me directly; I read every email.

Pest management is the topic that catches businesses off guard. I've walked into kitchens where the food safety paperwork is solid, the cleaning schedule is up to date, and the temperature logs are perfect. Then I open the back door and find bin lids left open, a gap under the external door where the bristle strip has worn through, and mouse droppings behind the chest freezer that nobody has moved in six months.

The pattern is usually the same. The pest control contractor visits, leaves a report, and nobody reads it. The recommendations sit in a folder. Proofing gaps stay open. Staff don't know what signs to look for and don't report what they find. This article covers what your pest management policy actually needs to contain, gives you a template you can edit for your own operation, and explains the bits that matter most when an EHO checks your records.

Key Takeaways

  • What is integrated pest management in food safety? It's the combination of physical proofing, contractor-led treatments, staff vigilance, and good housekeeping that prevents and controls pests in food premises. Pests are a major contamination source and one of the fastest ways to lose your food hygiene rating
  • Why do you need a pest management policy? Regulation (EC) 852/2004 requires food businesses to have adequate procedures to control pests, and your EHO will check your proofing, contractor records, and staff awareness on every inspection
  • How do you set it up in Pilla? Use the knowledge hub template below, edit it to match your operation, and share it with your team through the app so everyone has access and you can track who's read it
  • How do you automate the follow-up? Set up Poppi to chase staff who haven't acknowledged the policy and flag when it's due for review

Article Content

Understanding What's Required of You

Pests are one of your most serious contamination risks. Rodents, insects, and birds carry harmful bacteria, contaminate food through droppings and body parts, damage stock and packaging, and destroy public confidence in your business the moment a customer spots evidence. An EHO finding active pest problems during an inspection can lead to closure notices, fines, and a wrecked food hygiene rating.

Pest contamination falls across three of the four contamination types. Microbiological: bacteria like Salmonella and E. coli transferred through droppings, urine, and contact with food surfaces. Physical: droppings, fur, feathers, insect parts, and nesting materials ending up in food. Chemical: rodenticides and insecticides contaminating surfaces or food if treatments aren't managed properly.

The legal basis is Regulation (EC) 852/2004. It requires food business operators to have adequate procedures in place to control pests. In practice, your EHO will check three things: that your building is physically proofed, that you have a contractor with proper records, and that your staff know what to look for and what to do when they find it. Pest management scores crop up across several areas of an inspection, so a failing here can pull your rating down quickly.

What separates good pest management from the paperwork exercise I see in most kitchens is staff involvement. The contractor visits once a month, sometimes once a quarter. Your team is there every day. They're the ones who notice droppings behind a shelf unit, spot a damaged bristle strip, or see a bin lid left open overnight. If they don't know what to look for, or don't report what they find, a small problem becomes an infestation before the contractor's next visit.

I reviewed a site last year where the contractor's reports had flagged a proofing gap under the kitchen's external door for three consecutive visits. Nobody had acted on it. By the fourth visit, there was active mouse activity inside the kitchen. The EHO arrived two weeks later. That gap, documented three times and ignored three times, destroyed their due diligence defence completely.

Setting It Up as a Knowledge Hub Entry

I've built an integrated pest management template in Pilla covering contractor selection, pest proofing, bait stations, UV fly units, delivery checks, external area management, housekeeping, signs of pest activity for each species, and corrective actions. It gives you a structured starting point, but you need to edit it to reflect your premises and your contractor's setup.

In the knowledge hub, create a new entry and tag it with "Food Safety Management System". Use the same tag across all of your food safety policies so they are grouped together and Poppi can track them as a set. Assign the entry to all teams so that everyone in the business can access it.

The template is designed to be edited, not just filed. Go through each section and make it specific to your operation. Replace the generic guidance with your contractor's name and contact details, your actual bait station locations, the positions of your UV fly units, and your specific proofing measures. If your contractor is BPCA-accredited, say so. If you have particular seasonal pressures because of your location, add that context. The EHO wants to see a policy that describes your premises, not a document you've copied from a template and never touched.

Knowledge Hub Template·Integrated Pest Management

Pests are a major source of contamination and therefore must be prevented and controlled.

Pest activity and ingress can harm food and the food production environment as well as handlers and customers.

Pest activity can harm the reputation and public perception of a business as well as lead to closure of the business, fines and poor food hygiene ratings.

Food handlers should follow the safety points laid out below.

Safety points

Contractor

Pest control companies should be chosen based on factors such as:

  • Their ability to undertake a complete survey and provide a clear report of recommendations and actions required
  • Previous experience within the food industry, and provision of references from similar size businesses
  • Adequate insurance cover
  • Reputation and accreditations
  • Staff training and qualifications
  • Large enough organization to respond quickly and have adequate resources available at short notice
  • Clear reporting procedures and clear documentation
  • Methods and materials approved under the control of pesticides regulations 1986
  • Provision of up to date CLP compliant material safety data sheets (MSDS)
  • General risk and COSHH assessments
  • Written safe systems of work / safe work methods (SSOW)
  • Company should be a member of the British pest control association (BPCA)

Managers should also carry out their own regular inspections of work areas especially areas that are relatively undisturbed.

Recommendations

Advice and recommendations given by the pest control contractor either verbally or written must be acted on by management. Written recommendations that are not acted on will harm a due diligence defence.

Pest proofing

Buildings must be sound and physically proofed to protect their integrity against pest ingress.

Managers must ensure that:

  • Brickwork is sound
  • Pipework and utilities entering/exiting buildings have been proofed
  • Drains and drain covers are sound and intact
  • Doors are tight fitting into their frames, bristle strips and kick plates should be fitted to external doors
  • Windows/doors open for ventilation have fitted fly screens
  • Eaves of buildings have been proofed to prevent rodent and bird ingress
  • Bird control measures have been taken to prevent roosting and nesting birds
  • Any other means of ingress not mentioned has been identified and control measures taken

Deliveries

  • Checking for pests or pest activity forms part of delivery checklist, this includes stored product insects (SPIs)
  • Please note housekeepers must check deliveries of laundry as cockroaches are commonly found in industrial laundries

External areas including waste areas

  • External waste storage areas can provide a ready-made source of food for rodents, insects and birds if not controlled adequately
  • Yard areas and any nearby areas can provide potential harborage for pest species
  • All external areas must be kept clean and tidy, all waste must be stored in commercial off the floor waste receptacles that have tight fitting lids, which are closed when not in use
  • Areas of vegetation should be trimmed down to prevent rodents burrowing
  • External areas should be checked regularly to ensure that good housekeeping practices are being adhered to stringently

Ultraviolet fly units

  • Electronic fly killers (EFKs) and sticky board units must be fitted in food areas to control flying insects
  • They must be sited optimally for maximum efficacy by the contractor whilst being sited in such a way as to avoid physical contamination from dead / exploding insects electrocuted by the unit. They should be placed away from doors and windows to avoid attracting flies into the kitchen
  • Fly units must be cleaned regularly, and the fly catch trays emptied to avoid overspill
  • The ultraviolet tubes should be changed annually before the so called "fly season" starts in spring. The efficacy of the ultraviolet tubes will diminish over the year and even though to human eyes the tubes appear to be working, they will not attract flying insects efficiently. Ideally shatterproof tubes should be used (coated in a film that contains the glass should the tube explode)

Insecticides

If insecticides are to be used in any food areas by staff or a contractor, the biggest risk is from chemical contamination of surfaces, but also physical contamination from dead insects.

  • All foods must be removed from the treatment area
  • Treatment should only take place out of service times
  • All surfaces, utensils and equipment must be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected afterwards
  • Records should be kept of any treatments undertaken

Housekeeping

  • Ensure all areas including kitchen and storage areas are kept free from food and other debris, especially dark and undisturbed areas
  • If evidence of pest activity or ingress is found inform contractor immediately, ensure droppings or other physical contaminants are cleaned up on a daily basis, by cleaning up daily this will give you a better picture as to the efficacy of control treatments

Rodenticides

  • All rodenticides must be contained within tamper proof bait stations
  • A list or plan of all bait stations must be provided by the contractor, normally larger metal bait stations for rats will be sited around the perimeter of a building, whereas smaller plastic bait stations for mice will normally be sited within the building, in the kitchen and storage areas
  • Food handlers should be aware of the locations of these bait stations but must not interfere, tamper with or move them from their stated locations as per the pest control log
  • Dead rodents must not be removed by food handlers, call the contractor for removal immediately

Signs of pests

The following signs should be noted as evidence of pest activity / ingress.

Rodents:

  • Droppings, mouse droppings are small and scattered, rat droppings are larger, and spindle shaped
  • Urine, especially rat urine which has a very distinct smell
  • Footprints and tail swipes in dust
  • Smear marks around runs and holes
  • Gnawing marks in food, packaging, doors and the fabric of the building

Flies / flying insects:

  • Eggs, larvae (maggots), pupae (cocoons) and or live insects in food
  • Insect excreta, usually tiny smears on surfaces or food
  • Moth frass
  • Excessive levels of blow flies, for example, bluebottles and greenbottles can indicate rotting flesh. E.g. Could indicate a dead rotting mouse

Cockroaches:

  • Give off a distinct foul odour
  • Oothecae (egg cases) found, sometimes carried by the insect, sometimes hidden
  • Droppings, small dark smudges
  • Moulted skins (exoskeleton) found
  • Adult or juvenile (nymphs) cockroaches seen

Ants:

  • Single or trails of ants leading to foodstuffs, especially sugary foods
  • Holes and small piles of soil close to perimeter walls and outside areas, especially flagged areas
  • Large flying queen ants on hot summer and autumn days

Beetles:

  • Sometimes found infesting stored foodstuffs such as grain, corn, flour, nuts etc.
  • Holes through corn, nuts, grains caused by burrowing feeding larvae
  • Beetle eggs, larvae, wing cases, droppings

Birds:

  • Physical sightings of birds nesting or roosting on buildings
  • Droppings (guano) accumulating below window ledges and eaves of building
  • Feathers, nesting materials and broken egg shells

Corrective actions

  • Signs of pest activity suspected, pest control contractor must be called
  • Contractor recommendations treatments, proofing, housekeeping recommendations etc. must be actioned
  • Retraining of staff if needed, along with extra supervision until full competency can be shown

Record keeping

  • Record any instances of pest activity or ingress
  • Keep records obtained from the pest contractor regarding both routine work and details of treatments and/or other works completed
  • Record any contraventions and corrective actions taken
  • Record any training or retraining of staff

This is a preview of the template. In Pilla, you can edit this to match your business.

What I'd want to see when reviewing this:

The contractor section is where I start. I'd want to see that you've chosen a pest control company based on proper criteria: experience in the food industry, BPCA membership, adequate insurance, clear reporting, and the ability to respond quickly. The template lists the selection factors, and most of them matter. But the one that catches people out is the requirement for methods and materials approved under the Control of Pesticides Regulations 1986 and provision of up-to-date CLP-compliant material safety data sheets. If your contractor can't provide these, find a different contractor.

The pest proofing section needs to match your actual building. Walk through your premises with the template open and check every point: brickwork, pipework proofing, drain covers, door seals, bristle strips, kick plates, fly screens, eaves. If something on the list doesn't apply to you, remove it. If there's a proofing measure specific to your building that isn't listed, add it.

The signs of pest activity section is critical for staff training. Your team needs to know the difference between mouse droppings and rat droppings, what cockroach egg cases look like, and that excessive bluebottles can indicate a dead rodent nearby. This is the section that turns your staff from passive bystanders into your first line of detection.

Common mistakes I see:

The recommendations section is the one that causes the most damage. The template states that advice and recommendations from the contractor must be acted on by management, and that written recommendations not acted on will harm a due diligence defence. I see this play out repeatedly. Contractors flag issues in their reports, management files the report without reading it, and the same issue appears visit after visit. When an incident happens, those ignored recommendations become evidence against you.

The bait station rules trip people up more than you'd expect. Staff move bait stations because they're in the way during a deep clean, or because they don't understand why the station is positioned where it is. The template is clear that food handlers must not interfere with, tamper with, or move bait stations from their stated locations. But unless you actually train staff on this and explain why, it keeps happening.

The external areas and waste management section often gets filled in but not followed. Bin lids left open, waste accumulating outside receptacles, vegetation growing unchecked against perimeter walls. These are the conditions that attract pests and give them harbourage. Your policy can say all the right things, but if your bins are open and your yard is overgrown, the EHO can see the gap between policy and practice from the car park.

Automate the Follow-Up with Poppi

Writing the policy is one thing. Making sure your team has actually read it is another. Poppi can handle the chasing so you don't have to.

If you mark the knowledge hub entry as mandatory, Poppi will track who's read it and who hasn't. You can set up automations to chase staff who are behind, notify managers when someone completes the policy, and get a regular report showing where the gaps are.

Here are three automations I'd set up for any knowledge hub policy:

Overdue training reminders

Automatically chase team members who have mandatory policies they haven't read yet. Poppi sends the reminder so you don't have to.

Poppi
Poppi

Tom, you have 2 overdue policies to read and acknowledge

Video completion alerts

Get notified when a team member finishes reading or watching a policy, so you can track progress without chasing.

Poppi
Poppi

Emma has completed a mandatory policy

Training gap analysis

Get a regular AI report showing which team members are behind on mandatory policies and where the gaps are across your team.

Poppi
Poppi

Training Report: 87% team completion. Tom and Sarah behind on 2 mandatory policies, due 3 days ago.