Division 5. Pest Control

Business building shall mean any structure, whether public or private, regardless of the type of material used in its construction, located within the jurisdiction of the County, that is adapted to occupancy for transaction of business, whether vacant or occupied, for the rendering of professional services, for the display, sale, or storage of goods, wares, or merchandise or for the performance of work or labor, including hotels, rooming houses, apartment houses, beer parlors, office buildings, public buildings, theaters, stores, markets, restaurants, warehouses, grain elevators, abattoirs, work shops, factories, and all public or private structures where domestic or other animals are kept.

Opening shall mean any opening in the foundation sides or walls, ground, or first floor, basement, and roofs, including chimneys, eaves, grills, windows, ventilators, sidewalk grates, and elevators, and around any pipe, wire, or other installation connecting with a building, through which a rodent may enter.

Premises shall mean all business buildings, sheds, barns, animal pens or shelters, garages, docks, wharves, piers, grain elevators, and abattoirs, whether public or private, used in connection with the operation of any business building.

Rodent harborage shall mean any condition which provides shelter or protection for rodents, thus favoring their multiplication and continued existence in, under or outside of a structure of any kind.

Rodent-stoppage or rodent-proofing shall mean a relatively inexpensive form of rodent-proofing to prevent the ingress of rodents into business buildings from the exterior or from one building or business establishment to another. It consists essentially of the closing or protection of all openings in the exterior walls, ground, or first floors, basements, roofs, and foundations with material impervious to rodent gnawing in such a manner as to prevent rodents from gaining entrance.

If the first or ground floor of a business building is constructed of cement, tile, or other material impervious to rodent gnawing and does not have a basement or cellar under the entire floor area which can be satisfactorily rodent-proofed, the Health Officer will require that all actual or potential openings through which rodents may gain entrance, such as those around pipes, wires, or other installations, those caused by defects of any kind and those where the floor and side walls join, shall be properly sealed with cement, mortar, masonry, metal collars, metal flashing of twenty-six (26) gauge or heavier, or any other suitable material as indicated, and that open drains or pipes through which rodents may pass shall be securely capped with perforated iron or other metal having openings not greater than one-half (1/2) inch in diameter;

Whenever rodents are found to be harboring under wooden platforms or secondary wooden floors built over cement floors the Health Officer may require the complete removal of such wooden platforms or floors or that they be lowered to a distance not exceeding one-half (1/2) inch above the cement floor; and,

If the first or ground floors of business buildings are constructed of wood, and do not have basements or cellars extending under their entire area that can be satisfactorily rodent-proofed, the Health Officer may require whichever of the following procedures he deems necessary:

Solid, strong doors constructed of hardwood or metal that fit snugly in their frames and on their thresholds or sills so that rodents can not gain entrance through them and that do not present irregular surfaces or cracks for rodents to gnaw through them may be passed without any treatment, at the discretion of the Health Officer;

Doors in such disrepair or in such a poor condition that they cannot be satisfactorily rodent-proofed are required to be replaced by new ones or repaired to the extent that they can be satisfactorily rodent-stopped and they shall swing smoothly and easily on their hinges;

All doors on the sides and rear of a building that are constructed of soft wood, any doors that show evidence of rodent gnawing or have any irregularities, cracks, or small openings along their lower margin or sides that offer potential sites for rodents to gnaw and doors that have any openings over three-eighths (3/8) inch wide between the door and door sill or threshold are hereby required to be fortified and rodent-proofed by using either metal channels of twenty-four (24) gauge or heavier or to be flashed with twenty-six (26) gauge or heavier metal, as directed by the Health Officer in the following described manner:

Wooden door frames are required to be flashed with twenty-six (26) gauge or heavier metal to the same height as the door flashing whenever there is a crack or other defect between them and their doors that may be utilized by rodents for gnawing through the frame;

Irregularities or defects in wooden door sills are to be corrected by flashing the sills with twenty-four (24) gauge or heavier metal;

Any irregularities or defects in door thresholds constructed of cement or masonry which produce any openings under doors three-eighths (3/8) inch or greater shall be corrected by pointing up with cement, mortar, or other suitable material or by constructing a new threshold of similar material as directed by the Health Officer;

Sliding wooden or metal doors and swinging metal doors that have any spaces greater than three-eighths (3/8) inch wide between them and their sills or thresholds are required to have either rigid or movable sliding strips of twenty (20) gauge metal or equivalent material fastened to their lower margins so that spaces under such doors when closed will not exceed three-eighths (3/8) inch in width;

Mail slits in the lower part of doors that are accessible to rodents shall be fitted with covers that cannot be raised by rodents from the outside;

Other openings in exterior doors used as vents or for other purposes shall be fitted with iron grill work having no openings larger than one-half (1/2) inch in diameter or wire cloth of the same mesh of nineteen (19) gauge or heavier; and,

All exterior doors on the sides and rear of business buildings are required to be kept closed at night and during the day unless protected by screen doors with automatic closing devices.

By covering the opening in the side wall or foundation of the building with wire cloth of nineteen (19) gauge or heavier having a mesh of one-half (1/2) inch of less, which will be securely fastened in place with cement mortar or on a tight fitting frame. If it is necessary to gain entrance to the well for any purpose a frame should be installed that can be easily removed, or the frame may be attached by hinges.

By partially closing the openings in the foundation or wall of the building with masonry and treating the remaining opening as in Subsection (a)(1) of this Section;

In lieu of the above described procedures for the rodent-stoppage of light wells and sidewalk vents the following method may be used in suitable instances:

Custom applicator means any person, and his employees, who is engaged in the business of applying, by air, ground, hand, or mechanical equipment, pesticides to property;

Customer means any person who has entered into an agreement for a custom applicator to apply pesticides for the care of property;

Pest means any insect, snail, slug, rodent, nematode, fungus, weed, or any other form of terrestrial or aquatic plant or animal life or virus, bacteria, or other microorganism (except viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms, on or in living man or any other living animal), which normally is considered to be a pest or which the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Agriculture declares to be a pest.

Pesticide means any substance or mixture of substances intended:

Private Applicator means any person who applies pesticides by air, ground, hand, or mechanical equipment to his privately owned or leased property, or property which he otherwise occupies or uses by consent of the owner, and further includes any corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, other business association, condominium association, agency of Prince George's County, Maryland, or any of the municipalities within Prince George's County, Maryland, and similar entities which utilizes its own employees to apply by air, ground, hand, or mechanical equipment, pesticides to property owned or managed by said entity.

Property means land located in Prince George's County, Maryland, and the water, vegetation, and airspace upon and above said land, but does not include structures or other improvements or areas of land used exclusively for agriculture or commercial forest production.

Residential Applicator means a private applicator who applies a pesticide for any purpose on any property where he/she resides, excluding such property as may comprise the common area of a multifamily dwelling or associated group of dwellings.

For at least twenty-four (24) hours prior to each application of pesticide by a custom applicator, the customer shall post signs visible from all streets fronting or providing principal access to the property. The sign(s) will be developed or approved by the Health Officer for the purpose of notifying the public of the pending property treatment and will be supplied to the customer by the custom applicator.

At least twenty-four (24) hours prior to each episode of pesticide treatment by a private applicator, or a residential applicator, the applicator shall either post signs visible from all streets fronting or providing principal access to the property, said sign to be substantially in the form and content as described in paragraph (1) of this Subsection and may be obtained pursuant to Section 12-161.05 of this Subdivision.

This requirement shall not apply to emergency situations as may be defined by regulation or in which treatment is necessary to protect property or structures from immediate damage from an existing pest.

The Health Officer shall further have the right, from time to time, to exempt certain properties, such as, but not exclusively, golf courses and public utility rights-of-way, when it is shown that access to the property is sufficiently restricted and proximity to other properties which may be affected by or receive drifting chemicals from the pesticide application is sufficiently removed so as to eliminate the need for prior posting.

The signs required under this Subsection shall remain posted until replaced by the signs required by Subsection (b) of this Section.

Immediately after pesticide application, the applicator shall post a sign or signs on the treated property.

Such sign or signs shall:

The Health Officer may from time to time exempt certain types of property, such as, but not exclusively, golf courses and public utility rights-of-way, in which access is sufficiently restricted and proximity to other properties which may be affected by or receive drifting chemicals from the pesticide application is sufficiently removed, from the requirements of this Subsection, providing such exempted property has an alternative method of providing the notification set forth in this Subsection to members of the public who may come into contact with the treated area.

Current government agency phone numbers for consumer complaints, further technical information and medical emergencies;

A list of general customer safety precautions applicable to most pesticide applications; and

A statement notifying the customer that each custom applicator applying pesticides must be licensed by the Maryland Department of Agriculture and have its employees follow safety precautions.