Industry Code of Best Practice for Bed Bug Management

Bed bugs continue to be a major problem in the developed world including Australia, and management technology has evolved at a rapid pace, hence the need for an updated edition of the ‘Code of Practice for the Control of Bed Bug Infestation in Australia’ (CoP). Up until recently in the modern bed bug resurgence, encounters with the insect were mainly in areas where people slept.

However, bed bugs have had a broader societal impact with infestations occurring in shops, offices, hospitals, physician waiting rooms, public transport systems such as planes, trains and buses, and cinemas. You no longer need to stay in an infested bed to pick up bed bugs.

One of the major factors for the degree of the bed bug resurgence has been poor pest control and the failure of industry associations around the world to provide guidance to their members on ‘best practice’ in the management of modern insecticide resistant strains of bed bugs (Doggett et al. 2011).

Despite the market being flooded with bed bug management devices and products since the last edition of the CoP, very few have been verified as efficacious by an independent scientific body. Accordingly, the use of any management device not specifically supported in this CoP is not recommended.
The CoP is the culmination of the hard work of many and sincere thanks must be given to the CoP Working Party (listed in Appendix A), those who provide feedback, and to the individuals listed in the acknowledgements.
Stephen Doggett