Bedbug workshop in Sydney, Australia

The Australian Environmental Pest Managers Association (AEPMA) held a one day training workshop on bedbugs and their control at Westmead Hospital in Sydney on 7 May 2009.

The global pandemic has meant that many nations have had to actively respond to the re-emergence of this nuisance public health pest. In Australia alone, bedbug infestations increased by an extraordinary 4,600% between 2000 and 2006, and this prompted a world’s first – the development by AEPMA of a Code of Practice for bedbug control – this can be freely downloaded from www.bedbug.org.au. Already this Code has gone through two iterations, and the release of the third edition is planned later this year.

The aim of the Code is to promote ‘best practice’ in the eradication of active bedbug infestations and the management of potential infestations. Having ‘best practice’ in place is the first strategy in the attempt to reverse the resurgence. The next is the active promotion of ‘best practice’ – hence the organisation of the workshop

But it’s not only bedbugs that continue their march around the world – the evolving control technology and the people behind these new developments are not close behind! PestEx in London one week, Australia virtually the next.

Running in tandem to the workshop was a series of company exhibits which included mattress encasements, various new bedbug traps and monitors including the BB Alert system, the CDC3000 all of which were on display at PestEx, and the new ‘Bed Bug Barrier’.

The curriculum for this workshop was developed by the working party associated with the Code of Practice and covered the following aspects:

Bedbugs, an overview and medical implications
The impact of bedbugs on the accommodation industry
The Code of Practice and the history of bedbug control
Inspecting for bedbugs
Non chemical control of bedbugs
Chemical control of bedbugs
Bedbug contracts and pest management plan
Case studies
Bedbug prevention (harm minimisation)

The workshop provided the opportunity for anyone working in the pest management industry, accommodation industry or property management, and other stakeholders to be briefed on the possible impact of bed bugs and means of control and eradication. The advantage for those attending was to provide knowledge. As knowing how to deal with bed bugs appropriately can reduce the chance of the infestation spreading, decrease overall control costs and minimise the risk of litigation.

The workshop was very well attended with a total of 127 registrants. Of these around 45% from were the pest management industry, 22% from accommodation groups, 13% represented manufacturers of anti-bedbug devices, and the remainder were from insecticide suppliers, government and research groups. Overall the day received high praise and there are already calls to rerun the workshop elsewhere in Australia, which is the plan of the working party.

Stephen Doggett event host
from Westmead Hospital