COCKROACH TRAP DISPOSABLE, WITH SPECIAL FOOD BAIT 5'S/BOX 550640

Plan the number of traps by location, not by box. In the ferry study each ship received 10 to 20 traps, in proportion to its size and the number of galleys, food stores and similar areas. For a cargo ship, list the galley, provision rooms, mess rooms, pantry and garbage store, and order enough boxes for each point plus replacements.^[1]

Put most traps in the galley. In the same study, traps at the galley refrigerators held 337 of the 431 cockroaches caught, about 78 %. The authors say control should focus on galleys, especially refrigerators and other electrical appliances, and on places where food is stored or handled, including dining rooms, bars, pantries, garbage rooms and food stores.^[1]

Traps show where the cockroaches are; they are not the treatment. The group’s treatment codes are separate: the self-heating fumigators 550635 to 550637, the aerosols 550621 and 550622, and the smoke generators 550651 to 550653. Use them with care. In the ferry study, infestation was more likely on ships where the crew used domestic pesticide sprays (relative risk 4.00), and most surviving cockroaches were nymphs in harbourage areas where pesticides are hard to apply. If traps keep catching, a professional disinsection may be the better order.^[1]

Under the International Health Regulations, port health officers inspect ships for Ship Sanitation Certificates, which are valid for a maximum of six months. Where they find signs of vector infestation in food areas, the WHO handbook tells them to require cleaning and vector control. It also says the ship should keep a record of traps and baits, with their location, dates and results.^[2]

Keep that log. In the ferry study, ships that kept no cockroach monitoring log were about five times as likely to be infested (relative risk 5.00). Ships that applied a HACCP food-safety system were less likely to be infested (relative risk 0.23).^[1]