Cluster Flies in the workplace
Discussion
Cluster Flies;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_fly
(Apparently they don't represent a health risk)
My employer, forced by financial pressure, has had to shut down half of the office block I work in in order to save on heating costs (It's a large building that's poorly insulated) - Consequently we've been shipped over to one half where the upper floors have previously been under utilised due to a problem with the aforementioned flies.
The office we've been crammed into an office is the top floor - 5 desks for 8 people, expected to work from home etc.
Last night, at dusk, in an office that's around 4 x 6m, I estimate that there was around 40 flies crawling on each window, of which there are 5 in total equalling around 200 of the buggers.
Which is not pleasant. At all.
Because there are also bats roosting in the roof space above the office (it's not unknown to find them in the office the next morning) options to deal with the flies are very limited.
We have the electrical zappers which are not useable during the day for 2 reasons;
The stink of burnt hair / flesh
They spit out bits of the fly up to 1.5m from source
So they're left on over night which isn't that effective. And we need to clear the mess up the next day.
Is there any legislation that dictates working conditions that would cover this?
And is anyone aware of an effective solution to deal with the pest?
TIA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_fly
(Apparently they don't represent a health risk)
My employer, forced by financial pressure, has had to shut down half of the office block I work in in order to save on heating costs (It's a large building that's poorly insulated) - Consequently we've been shipped over to one half where the upper floors have previously been under utilised due to a problem with the aforementioned flies.
The office we've been crammed into an office is the top floor - 5 desks for 8 people, expected to work from home etc.
Last night, at dusk, in an office that's around 4 x 6m, I estimate that there was around 40 flies crawling on each window, of which there are 5 in total equalling around 200 of the buggers.
Which is not pleasant. At all.
Because there are also bats roosting in the roof space above the office (it's not unknown to find them in the office the next morning) options to deal with the flies are very limited.
We have the electrical zappers which are not useable during the day for 2 reasons;
The stink of burnt hair / flesh
They spit out bits of the fly up to 1.5m from source
So they're left on over night which isn't that effective. And we need to clear the mess up the next day.
Is there any legislation that dictates working conditions that would cover this?
And is anyone aware of an effective solution to deal with the pest?
TIA.
Edited by Zombie on Thursday 20th October 14:10
We had them in a loft once. I took the vacuum cleaner up there and waved the hose around for a bit. It wasn't too hard to catch them as they seemed fairly lazy and gathered around the lights. I'm led to believe that they don't lay eggs inside, so once they are gone you shouldn't have more popping up.
Just make sure you use the garage vac if doing this at home, not the good one..
Just make sure you use the garage vac if doing this at home, not the good one..
simion_levi said:
I'm led to believe that they don't lay eggs inside, so once they are gone you shouldn't have more popping up.
Little buggers use pheromones, don't be surprised if they come back. They lay eggs outdoors, come indoors to hibernate and use the pheromones to mark favored places.We had our first visit of them last month, appeared out of the extractor fan in bathroom one afternoon. Visit into the loft revealed lots, combination of hoover and normal fly spray over a 72hr period cleared them.
Your Dad said:
Little buggers use pheromones, don't be surprised if they come back.
We get 'em for a brief period every autumn in an upstairs room. They seem to lay eggs in the shutlines of a velux. Open the window = carpet looking like a currant sponge mix.They're annoying, but they're really no more than that.
An electric UV zapper shouldn't spit bits over a range - they use 'em in every single food prep outlet in the developed world, ffs.
And, no, unless you happen to work in a food prep environment, there's no legislation that means you can skive off early because of a few flies.
TooMany2cvs said:
We get 'em for a brief period every autumn in an upstairs room. They seem to lay eggs in the shutlines of a velux. Open the window = carpet looking like a currant sponge mix.
They're annoying, but they're really no more than that.
An electric UV zapper shouldn't spit bits over a range - they use 'em in every single food prep outlet in the developed world, ffs.
And, no, unless you happen to work in a food prep environment, there's no legislation that means you can skive off early because of a few flies.
The problem is a little more expansive than that;They're annoying, but they're really no more than that.
An electric UV zapper shouldn't spit bits over a range - they use 'em in every single food prep outlet in the developed world, ffs.
And, no, unless you happen to work in a food prep environment, there's no legislation that means you can skive off early because of a few flies.
And I'm not looking for legislation that allows me to "skive" I've got enough to do, thanks, I'm looking for legislation to lever a more proactive response to the problem so that I don't feel like showing with domestos when I get home...
Edited by Zombie on Thursday 20th October 17:44
Zombie said:
TooMany2cvs said:
We get 'em for a brief period every autumn in an upstairs room. They seem to lay eggs in the shutlines of a velux. Open the window = carpet looking like a currant sponge mix.
They're annoying, but they're really no more than that.
An electric UV zapper shouldn't spit bits over a range - they use 'em in every single food prep outlet in the developed world, ffs.
And, no, unless you happen to work in a food prep environment, there's no legislation that means you can skive off early because of a few flies.
The problem is a little more expansive than that;They're annoying, but they're really no more than that.
An electric UV zapper shouldn't spit bits over a range - they use 'em in every single food prep outlet in the developed world, ffs.
And, no, unless you happen to work in a food prep environment, there's no legislation that means you can skive off early because of a few flies.
s. Will not affect the bats upstairs, needs a direct hit on the flies FFS!
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