There are also less obvious applications where the need to keep flying
insects under control is important. Some sensitive machinery can be
fouled if insects get inside. Printing presses can see the unfortunate
spectacle of the impression of a dead fly on its finished pages because a fly
killer machine wasn’t around to do its job. Laboratories need to ensure
that chemicals and experiments are not interfered with by a stray fly.
And then there are farms. Where there is livestock, there are
predators or scavengers waiting to get in on the act. These include flying
insects. Even stables, 滅蚊燈 kennels and catteries need
protection. This list is by no means comprehensive. For example, undertakers
and hospitals have a duty to ensure morgues are free from pests.
The answer to these problems is to purchase a fly killer machine.
There are two reasons why fly killers are purchased, one is because they
are wanted by the purchasers. OK, so that is a dumb thing to say, is it? Am I
really saying that some people buy fly killers, even though they don’t want to?
Well, yes, because the second reason for buying fly killers is that people are
forced to do so by law. As I said, where food is being handled in a business or
public sector operation, they have no option but to provide protection against
infestation by flying insects – and this usually means a fly killer machine.
More often than not, those in the second group – those that must use fly
killers by law – are also found in the first group, i.e. they are happy to have
them anyway. There are a minority of business, however, that are found only
in the second group. They are the people who only buy a fly killer because they
are forced to. The establishments run these people, whether they be restaurants
or food factories, are places to be avoided!
Anyone reluctantly buying a fly killer for no other reason other than the
legal necessity to do so will probably buy the cheapest, nastiest – and
ineffective – machine they can find. Flies will not be properly controlled and
the food they are handling will not be properly protected. They will be hoping
that time-challenged Environmental Health Officers may pass these
machines as satisfactory even though they are more likely to catch fire than
catch a fly. Even if they had purchased a good quality fly killer machine, would
they change the ultra violet lamps each year? You see, flies are attracted to
ultra violet light. Fly killers take advantage of this and use uv lamps to lure
the flies to an electric grid that destroys them or to a glue board which traps
them. The ultra violet emitted by these lamps degrades over time. In about 12
months. although visible light would still be emitted, the degradation of ultra
violet rays would render the fly killer machine virtually useless. By the same
token, glue boards can become full of flies over time and will need changing.