In Rememberance of Sam Bloom

Sam Bloom, President of Standard Pest Management, passed away early this morning at the age of 87. Sam started working at Standard in 1960 for his father-in-law and the business is now run by the 3^rd and 4^th generation of Blooms. Throughout the years, Sam grew the business that provided not only for his own family, but also for the families of countless employees. Sam was also an active member of the community, serving on community boards and dedicating his time and efforts to countless religious and political organizations. You could not help but like Sam. His friendly personality and positive demeanor always put a smile on your face. He was kind and always willing to help his friends, family, employees or anyone that came across his path. He will be truly missed.
Check out this article about Sam that was in the NY Times here.

In-home bed bug inspections de rigueur at some Manhattan private schools

In addition to writing out checks for tuition and extracurricular activities this summer, some Manhattan private school parents apparently found themselves shelling out for a licensed pest control operator to satisfy a new school requirement that all students' homes get visually inspected for bed bugs before the first day of classes.

"I have dealt with two families that needed bed bug clearance letters for their children's private schools along with the usual doctors' notes," says Gil Bloom, the entomologist and pest control operator who runs Standard Pest Management in Queens. "One was a preschool and the other a primary school."

Also new this school year: The city has implemented new reporting protocols and requirements (e.g. the Department of Education's Bed Bug Information Kit for Schools), mandating that records and statistics be kept and centralized, and that letters be sent home when the presence of bed bugs is confirmed.

The new rules may result in more incidents being reported this school year than last, says Bloom, but "overall, more folks are aware of bed bugs in general and as a result, our social institutions are learning and devising better ways to deal with them."

Standard Pest Management, Queens, N.Y., employs an exclusion strategy to keep mice out of an apartment building’s garbage chute.

By June Van Klaveren

Standard Pest Management, Queens, N.Y., employs an exclusion strategy to keep mice out of an apartment building’s garbage chute.

Take an old six-story, 72-unit apartment building in New York City, add brick-lined trash chutes filled with cracks and crevices, tons of garbage and a basement where that garbage collected, and you have a recipe for a serious mouse infestation and unhappy tenants.

The property management company for the building contacted Standard Pest Management in Queens to bid on pest control in three of their newly acquired buildings. Joshua Bloom, quality assurance director for Standard Pest Management, explains, “Inspections of the first two buildings showed no unusual pest activity but in building three, a severe mouse problem was found.”

The apartment building’s trash chutes previously led to garbage incinerators in the basement but now those same chutes are used to convey refuse to the trash compactor. The garbage then accumulates in the basement compacting unit until it is compacted and removed. Lined with deteriorating brick and concrete, these trash chutes provided ample harborage for mice at the base of the chutes. The building contained two separate chutes, one of which was infested, and the tenants from 10 to 15 units adjacent to that chute complained of rodent activity on higher floors.