Because continuing education and training for both pest management professionals and building managers is essential to protecting against the ever-increasing pest pressures in all building projects, Greenleaf, a leading pest management company serving the Greater Toronto Area and surrounding regions, has developed a new training course, “Integrated Pest Management Plans for All Facilities, Including LEED®,” now available online here.

Ongoing food-poisoning outbreaks and concerns in Canada, occurring at rates higher even than in the U.S., on the one hand, and increased awareness of the adverse effects pesticides have on the environment, on the other hand, has prompted Greenleaf to raise awareness on the importance of establishing Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plans for all facilities, including LEED® building projects. The course, a comprehensive 1-hour program addressing PMPs, developers, building owners,  management staff and contractors, provides an overview of how IPM suppresses pest populations in a cost-effectively and environmentally-friendly way for all types of facilities.

Course Objectives

 

Upon completion of the program, participants will be able to:

• Understand the concept of Integrated Pest Management and explain how its pest control methodologies differ from those of traditional pest control
• Identify the components of an IPM plan and the types of control methods used for effectively suppressing pest populations while keeping ecological, economic, and human health risks at a minimum
• Understand the structure of the IPM process and how its interrelated steps are essentially the framework of a structural IPM program
• Discuss the selection and application of pest control methods, with emphasis on the importance of documenting and monitoring all pest-related activity to ensure an effective IPM program implementation
• Explain the economic and environmental benefits of establishing an IPM plan for a building facility and the LEED credits that may be earned as a result of integrating such practices

IPM and LEED®

In Canada, the U.S., and 148 other countries in the world, LEED certification is the recognized standard for assessing building sustainability and operating performance. Achieving LEED certification is the best way for your building project to be considered truly “green.”

Achieving LEED certification provides a lifetime of returns. Research and case studies have proven that green buildings boost productivity and performance of occupants, increase employee satisfaction, reduce stress and absenteeism, and are a powerful recruitment and retention tool.  By incorporating LEED into their building plans, property owners earn a significant competitive advantage – green buildings have a greater appeal to a growing number of corporate, public, and individual buyers – and can obtain higher financial benefits from investing in green building design.

In the newest version of the LEED green building program (LEED v4), IPM takes a role under the following sections:

• Operations and Maintenance (O&M)/Indoor Environmental Quality (1 point). Applying to schools, retail, data centers, hospitality, warehouse & distribution centers, LEED requires existing buildings to have in place an IPM plan for the building and perimeter within the project boundary in order to minimize pest problems and exposure to pesticides.
• Interior Design and Construction (ID&C)/Innovations in Operations (4 points). Applying to commercial interiors, LEED requires that (1), all of the building and site must be under the control of the ID&C tenant, and (2), buildings to have in place an IPM plan for the building and perimeter within the project boundary in order to minimize pest problems and exposure to pesticides.

The course describes in great detail how to develop, implement, and maintain an IPM plan in order to obtain LEED credits for pest control, which is comprised of the following steps:

• Establishing an IPM team (may comprise an IPM service provider, facility management, building operators, custodial staff, and an onsite subject matter expert (SME)) responsible for designing and implementing the IPM plan, setting policy goals and recordkeeping, preparing documentation for third-party audits, and assessing the plan’s effectiveness
• Conducting a thorough facility inspection to determine what structural repairs, changes to sanitation practices, and exclusion strategies are required for suppressing pest populations
• Identifying and reporting pest activity in order to select effective control strategies
• Monitoring pest activity to obtain successful management of pest populations
• Establishing action thresholds (the population level for a specific pest at which control measures are justified)
• Selecting and Identifying acceptable non-chemical control measures that target specific pests
• Using only approved chemical pesticides when action thresholds are exceeded
• Recordkeeping of all pest management activities to determine the effectiveness of an IPM plan and determine new goals based on successful use of pest control measures
• Ensuring strategies for communication between the IPM team, facility personnel, and the PMP in order to keep the IPM policy up-to-date

If you are interested in taking this course, please visit http://aecdai.ly/greenleaf and click on the Education tab. To find out more about common pests in commercial and residential buildings, as well as exclusion and sanitation procedures to keep pests out of your property, please visit https://www.greenleafpestcontrol.com/.

 

About the Author

Daniel Mackie, co-owner of Greenleaf Pest Control, is a Toronto pest control expert well-known as an industry go-to guy, an innovator of safe, effective pest control solutions, and is a regular guest on HGTV. Mackie, along with business partner Sandy Costa, were the first pest control professionals in Canada to use detection dogs and thermal remediation for the successful eradication of bed bugs. In his free time, he is an avid gardener.