Bedbug control and prevention for St Mungo's

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Managing health and safety risks from bedbugs at St Mungo's site

St Mungo’s are a homeless charity who help the homeless off the streets offering a bed and support to more than 3,150 people across the south and south west.

NBC are helping St Mungo’s manage the health and safety risk and contain and remove any infestation of bedbug activity to ensure the wellbeing of the clients and to reduce the risks of further spread.

Project overview

At one site and flat in particular, there was a high level of bedbug activity. This was evident by the amount of bedbugs, eggs and rust coloured stains on bedding, mattress, furniture and personal items. If the infestation was left untreated this could cause further implications to the client’s wellbeing.

Due to the volume of items NBC were presented with in the flat it was not be possible to treat and prevent another infestation from occurring. To ensure the success of the program NBC carried out a room clearance prior to any treatment taking place.

Bedbugs are small, yellowish-white to reddish-brown wingless insects that feed on human blood during the night. They are about the size of a ladybird or an apple seed. Bedbugs do not fly; they either crawl or are carried from place to place in a person’s belongings. Before a bedbug feeds on blood, its body looks flat with a circle shaped abdomen; however, after it has fed, the body lengthens and becomes narrow. Bedbugs can survive for weeks to months without a blood meal and adults generally live up to one year.

Our solution

Clearance and waste removal

NBC’s technicians with client agreement removed all items from the location. Small items were placed in a sealed bag, bigger items such as bed frames or other furniture were wrapped and sealed. Any items that had been infested were disposed of using a local waste carrier.

Bed bug heat and spray treatment

Once the flat was cleared, NBC could deal with the infestation with a combination of the treatments below;

• NBC required the client to wash all bed linen and clothing from the bedroom at 60 degrees Celsius using a washer on site.
• For other potentially affected items, such as books and shoes a heat treatment by using a Zapp Bug Oven was used. This will kills all bedbugs at all life stages, including eggs, nymphs and adults.
• All electricals i.e. televisions, radios and plug sockets were treated with a non-toxic organic dust known as diatomaceous earth, this aids in drying out the insect’s cuticles.
• The entire room was steam cleaned including walls, ledges, and floors.
• Vacuum thoroughly and clean the flat and ensuring the vacuum bag contents were discarded outside of the property.
• Carry out a spray treatment.
• The heat and spray treatment was then repeated weekly over a period of six weeks.

More information on our bedbug treatment control