Blog Posts

Mesh Screens for Windows & Doors: An Eco Alternative

Eco-Friendly Insect Screens

Many industries are endeavouring to replace their processes and offerings with sustainable solutions. One industry that is known for its use of chemicals and toxins is Pest Control. Now, we know that sometimes this just can’t be avoided and may even be the best solution to a problem, but there are ways that the impact can be reduced. Insect mesh and mesh screen doors can provide an eco-friendly alternative as a preventative measure, avoiding the problem before it even takes hold.

 

Mesh screen window

 

Benefits of Mesh Screens for Doors & Windows

Fly screens are an alternative solution to a fly or insect problem, avoiding the use of chemicals to kill or keep them out of homes and businesses. Many are looking for an eco-friendly and chemical free method to prevent flying insects from entering premises, but there are many other benefits to fly screen windows and doors for a variety of premises.

Beyond their primary function of insect protection, mesh screens help improve indoor air quality by encouraging the opening of windows and doors and reducing the need for artificial cooling systems. In today’s economic and environmental climate, reducing the cost of temperature regulation and the environmental impact on our planet is an important consideration. Additionally, allergen reduction can also contribute to a better living or working environment. As well insect protection, fly screens can filter out allergens like dust and pollen to improve air quality for those prone to allergen reactions.

 

Closeup of a Fly on a Mesh Fly Screen

Insect Screens

It’s easy to mistakenly think mesh screens are just for keeping out flying insects, but an insect screen can prevent a multitude of bugs from entering areas whilst still allowing fresh air to circulate. One of the easiest ways to keep areas clean and cobweb-free is to avoid insects being able to come inside in the first place. Whether maintaining hygiene is essential or simply because spaces should be kept clean and tidy for employees or customers, fly screens for windows and doors can assist.

Window Fly Screen

Fly screens for windows can be complex, with such a wide variety of window types and opening systems. However, especially for areas that are close to damp environments like coasts and forests, insect screening is paramount. That’s why innovative fly screening solutions, such as magnetic fly screens or a roller fly screen, are essential in producing an insect free environment.

Door Fly Screens

Aside from insect protection, fly screen doors can introduce an added level of security whilst maintaining the ability to let in outside air. Reduce the likelihood of unauthorised entry whilst adhering to hygiene standards with secure fly screen options. Ultra durable fly screen doors ensures year round protection from flies and other insects, with options suitable for single doors, bi-fold doors and all conventional doors in various openings and dimensions.

Mesh Screen Door

Bespoke Fly Screens

Safety Screens offers a wide range of fly screen windows and doors that can be fitted to even the most tricky of door and window frames. We can supply and fit the highest quality fly screens for Velux windows, sliding fly screens for french doors and innovative solutions for any window frame and door. Bespoke solutions and RAL colour matching means whatever you need, Safety Screens can provide. Made to measure fly screens are simply a phone call away. Contact us, obtain a quote, win the job and we will do the rest.

What sorts of Businesses need Fly Screen Doors?

Flies and insects can be a problem for many types of businesses. They are unsanitary, unpleasant to have around and potentially dangerous. However, many businesses do not take the necessary steps to protect their premises and customers from unwanted pests. As a pest control specialist, you have the opportunity to improve your customers’ hygiene and safety in ways they might not have realised were necessary.

The Food Industry

The industry that most needs to make use of fly screen doors and window fly screens is the food industry. Any business in the food industry is required by law to take active steps to prevent flies and insects from entering the premises. This is essential – as the food industry relies on good hygiene to be successful. The food industry takes into account any business involved with the production of food – at any stage in the process. This might mean cafes and restaurants that serve food, but it can also mean factories and warehouses that store or produce anything involved with food, from ingredients to storage boxes.

Education

Schools, colleges and universities often work through the warmer months. Overly warm classrooms are not conducive to effective learning, meaning that many educational facilities resort to leaving the doors and windows open. Increasing numbers of younger people suffer from allergies to insect stings and bites, meaning that keeping the classroom comfortable is not always completely safe. Fly screen doors and windows can help keep a school or university cool, even without air conditioning.

Residential facilities

People who live in retirement communities or other residential facilities often need to be kept in as safe an environment as possible, as they often suffer from health issues. However, this can often make for a less pleasant environment. Having to stay indoors can be stuffy and frustrating. Fly screen doors and windows allow fresh breezes to enter the room, without allowing for any unhygienic or even dangerous flies and insects to enter.

Healthcare

Hygiene is essential in a healthcare environment. Hospitals, doctors surgeries, hospices and other healthcare facilities need to be maintained at the highest possible standards of cleanliness. This means that while they need to be cleaned frequently, they also need to be designed in a way that decreases the chances of becoming unhygienic in the future. Fly screen doors and windows are designed to prevent unwanted bugs from entering, while maintaining cool breezes from outside.

Offices

The weather in the UK is warming. Every summer becomes slightly hotter and more uncomfortable for millions across the country. For people working in offices, this has made a high proportion of their summer difficult and unpleasant. Air conditioning is not economical for many companies in the UK, meaning that open windows and doors – which can allow wasps and other undesirable insects to enter – is often the only option available. Fly screen doors and windows can help to protect office workers from undesirable creatures.

We offer a range of fly screen doors to suit almost any business or location. We offer both regular and heavy duty doors, as well as sliding screens and retractable offerings.

Check out our full range of fly screen doors.

Can your customer have a fly screen door?

Insect screen double door leading out to balcony

When you are on site visiting a customer, you want to make sure that they receive the best care you can provide. As a health and safety or pest control professional, you want to offer your clients complete, all round service. You might specialise in one or more aspect of pest control, but need assistance in offering others. Fortunately, Safety Screens can help you with offering one of the most important aspects of pest control – fly and insect screening.

What is a fly screen door?

A fly screen door is a major part of protecting many types of businesses against unwanted pests. It is a type of mesh and frame structure that covers over the area of a door entirely. This enables you to open the door without allowing bugs and insects to enter through the open space.

Who needs a fly screen door?

Many industries and business types are required by law to protect their premises against flies and pests. These businesses are most likely to be related to the food industries – not simply restaurants and cafes, but also any type of business that is associated with food preparation or storage. This might include businesses that produce ingredients, store elements of food, or pre-prepare whole meals.

When can we fit one?

We can fit a fly screen door over most types of door. We are experienced enough in fitting fly screen doors to enable almost all of the most awkward shapes and locations of doors to be screened. However, it is not always possible to fit one – particularly if there are certain objects in the way.

When can’t we fit a fly screen door?

On a few occasions a customer of yours may not be able to have a fly screen door installed to the kitchen door due to an alarm system or other obstructions in the way on the door frame. There are, however, alternatives available.

The perforated PVC curtains are a great alternative as it is a means of proofing from insects and adhering to food hygiene regulations yet keeps a healthy amount of air flow leading from the kitchen to outside and vice versa.

The Strips are easily removable for deliveries, if necessary, by simply being hooked off the stainless-steel hook-on track that is installed above the door frame where they are attached. These can also be replaced by the strip over a period if required.

We offer a range of fly screen doors to help meet and requirements you might have. From Two way fly screen doors to fly screen security doors, our wide range of screening options can help you meet regulations with ease.

To learn more about our full range of fly screen doors, check out the options available to you here.

Alternatively, if you’d like to discuss your options in more detail, get in contact with us today. You can give us a call on: 01260 460 062, or email us on: sales@safetyscreens.co.uk.

How can Pest Control Specialists offer Fly Screens?

Offer more services to your pest control clients – without needing to do any more work

Pest control specialists are exactly that – specialists. You are likely to know a huge amount about your specialist field, and be confident of your ability to help your customers sort out any issues they may have. However, how confident are you of our ability to offer a wider range of services to your customers?

Pest control is not limited to your narrow field of expertise. It takes into account every aspect of keeping a premises hygienic and free of pests. This means that there is always more to offer your customers than you might think you are able to offer them. Fly screening is a great way to offer an additional and often essential service to your offering. With Safety Screens, you don’t even need to know anything about screening to offer the service.

Fly and Insect Screening

Regular doors and windows are not designed with flies and insects in mind. They may let in cool breezes, but they also let in anything with wings. Fly screens are designed to allow air and light to pass through unhindered without allowing unwanted pests to enter the building. They can be fitted over windows or doors, either internally or externally. They prevent a wide range of unwanted pests from entering – although specialist mesh might be needed to prevent certain types of insect.

Who needs Screening?

Fly and Insect Screens are an essential part of maintenance and adherence to hygiene standards for many industries. While we can offer domestic screening, most of the customers you are likely to deal with on regular pest control visits will be commercial customers with either industrial or commercial properties.

Businesses involved in food preparation – at any stage – are required by law to have fly and insect screens. This might be at one end of the scale, such as a café or restaurant. However, it also includes food preparation factories, or even warehouses that store ingredients for food.

How do Safety Screens Help?

We often hear from pest control technicians that they do not understand the process behind installing fly screens, or that they do not feel confident offering the service.

With Safety Screens, this does not need to be an issue. To add insect screening to your pest control offering, simply give us a call when you are on site. We are the experts, so that you don’t need to be. We talk you through the process, and ask you for all the information that we will need while you are still on site. This way, we know that we’ve got all the info required.

When the time comes to install the screening, we handle the installation. We arrive in either unbranded, or branded to your business’ specification. We complete the installation of the screening, including any changes that need to be made to the original spec.

With Safety Screens, you can offer additional services to your clients with just a phone call – leaving you to collect the commission!

How important are fly screens in the winter?

Summer might still be here for some of us, but that means that winter is unfortunately just around the corner. This might be something you’re looking forward to – especially if you work in the food or catering sector. After all, the winter usually represents a respite from flies and pests, which are particularly a problem in the food industry.

If you live around the coast, or near water, insects can be a real problem for your restaurant or catering business’ hygiene. However, the winter is not necessarily a time to get lax with your fly screen hygiene. After all, businesses have a responsibility and legal necessity to keep their premises clean and hygienic year round – even if the problem might seem to have lessened.

Should I remove my fly screens in winter?

If you look up what to do with fly screens in the winter, you might see a range of websites purporting to advise you that you should remove your fly screens when it gets colder. This is not advice we would give, nor is it a practice we recommend. The reason you may see this advice on the internet is that many countries with more extreme climates have the common practice of fitting fly screens on homes.

If you are likely to see heavy snow, you may fear that your screens will be damaged by its build up. However, this is unlikely to be a problem in the UK. Equally importantly, most fly screens in the UK are not fitted to domestic properties, but rather commercial buildings. In commercial buildings, particularly those related to food production, fly screens are an essential to stay compliant all year round.

Winter pests

One reason to maintain your window and door screens throughout the year is to protect your property against a range of potential pests – not just spring and summer insects. Winter represents a time where a great many animals and birds are attempting to find somewhere warmer to live and sleep. Even the coldest warehouse or factory is likely to be warmer than a tree or hedge, so represents a perfect place to try and gain access to. Screen doors and windows can help prevent all sorts of animals from getting into your property, and compromising your hygiene standards.

Fly Screen Legislation

Businesses that are involved in the production of food need to abide by certain standards of hygiene and public health. Fly screens are necessary to ensure that businesses are at the standard of public hygiene necessary to be compliant with regulation.

We are experts in supplying fly screens to businesses all year round. We can fit screens on a wide range of buildings and to suit a wide range of situations. To learn more about our fly screens, and how we can help your business, get in touch today. We’d be happy to talk you through your options, and to help you decide what sort of fly screening products might be needed for your business.

 

How do Fly Screens Benefit your Business?

A wasp on the outside of a window

Running a business is hard, and only getting harder. You need to make sure that your business has the tools and the conditions that it needs to succeed – without costing you too much to be successful. Even if you have the perfect product, and the greatest sales pitch, without the right working conditions, you will not be able to reach the heights you dream of. Building the right conditions for success isn’t just about having the right staff, or a quirky office. It’s about taking care of the small things, like fitting fly screens on your windows and doors.

How do fly screens benefit your business – and how do they effect different types of businesses?

Office fly screens

Warmer and warmer summers are increasing the need for offices and other work spaces to keep cool. Staff are finding working conditions harder and harder to cope with – leading to some businesses having to close their offices, as they are unable to keep them cool enough. While it might seem obvious to open the windows, this can lead to flies and other insects being able to enter, making the environment more uncomfortable and insanitary. Fly screens across windows make it possible to open them without allowing creatures to enter. This helps to make work places cooler and more comfortable, and in turn save money on air conditioning.

Food establishment fly screens

Businesses that work with food are required to protect themselves from insects and other sanitation issues. Fly screens are required for any business that is involved in food preparation and production. This is not just cafes and restaurants, but factories and other businesses that produce ingredients for food, or other products that will be involved in the food industry.

Factory fly screens

Many types of factories need to be kept to certain standards of hygiene. It is not just food related businesses that need to keep clean, but also businesses that produce anything which needs to remain clean, including chemicals, pharmaceutical products and more. These sorts of factories can often become overly warm, making them an uncomfortable working environment to be in. Fly screens on windows and doors can help keep factories both cool and hygienic.

Care home screening

Care homes and retirement communities need to be kept clean and hygienic. Flies and insects are not just dirty, but can also contribute to the spread of injuries and disease. Older people who are living in assisted living, or care home facilities need a clean and safe environment to be comfortable. For businesses that are running such facilities, it is important to ensure that everyone is both safe and comfortable. Being able to safely keep windows and doors open can help cool the building, while ensuring it is hygienic.

Fly screens are an increasingly essential part of keeping a business efficient and hygienic. Fly screens might benefit your business to keep them clean and cool. To learn more about our range of fly screens, check out our range of potential screening options, or get in touch to discuss what might be best for you.

How do Fly Screens Improve your Kitchen Hygiene?

Chef cooking on a hob

What do you want from a kitchen? It’s a simple question with a complicated answer. A good kitchen is not just about the equipment you need to cook – it’s also about its cleanliness and hygiene. A kitchen can be as well equipped as you like, but if it is not able to keep itself hygienic, no-one will want to eat food that has been prepared in it. This is not just a case of desire – commercial kitchens have certain requirements of hygiene that they are required to stick to. Fly screens can help make any kitchen more hygienic, and are essential to be compliant with safety regulations in commercial food preparation.

What are Commercial Kitchens Required to do?

There are legal requirements for all businesses that are involved in the production of food. This is not limited to kitchens, but also includes food ingredient manufacturers and warehouse or storage facilities that store food.

The Food Safety Regulations of 1995 state that:

‘Windows and other openings must be constructed to prevent the accumulation of dirt. Those which can be opened to the outside environment must where necessary be fitted with insect-proof screens which can be easily removed for cleaning.’

As such, if your business is involved in the production of food, you are required to have insect screens.

What is a Fly Screen?

A fly screen refers to a variety of screening materials that cover a window or door. They allow you to open the window or door, while still preventing the entry of insects, dirt, debris and leaves. A fly screen can be fitted to almost any type of window or door – even windows that are non standard shapes and sizes.

How do they Improve Hygiene?

Kitchens are not just kept clean through chemicals and cleaning products. These are means of fixing a problem, not preventing it from happening. While some mess being made is inevitable in a kitchen, you can prevent unnecessary mess from entering your kitchen initially.

Can I use Fly Screens in a Domestic Kitchen?

Fly screens are not a requirement in a domestic kitchen in the way that they are a commercial operation. However, they are still a popular option to improve domestic kitchen hygiene. If you live in an area where there are lots of insects – such as if you are near a river or wetland – then you might need fly screens to keep your kitchen hygienic. Alternatively, if you live in an area with a lot of birds or even bats, you might need a screen to help keep your kitchen clean.

What are my Fly Screen Options?

There are a number of potential options for fly screening in kitchens. Which of these will be right for you depends on a number of factors:

  • The shape of the window you are covering
  • The appearance of the window that you are covering
  • The location of the window that you are covering.

At Safety Screens, we are the market leading experts in supplying flyscreens for kitchens. We have the experience and skills to ensure that you can screen your windows, whatever your specific situation.

We can offer screening solutions either directly to your customers for them to install, or via our installation service. Our skilled technicians are ready to help you keep your kitchen clean and hygienic.

Our installation technicians represent your business Nationwide, in both unbranded uniforms & vans, even our documentation can be branded to your specification. This allows you to broaden your pest-control offering, without having to cover the Country yourself. We even cover the Scottish Highlands and Isles.

To learn more about our fly screens, and how you might organise one being fitted, get in touch today.

How to Keep Flies Out of the Conservatory in Summer

Woman sitting on a chair writing in a journal

In the warmer months of the year, it can be satisfying to have your doors and windows wide open to allow breezes to help cool the house. This is particularly true of houses that have conservatories and French windows. These spaces can get very hot very easily in the summer, so you need to be able to keep the doors and windows as open as possible to keep the space pleasant to be in. However, for many people around the country, this is made impossible to live with through the presence of flies. Flies getting into your conservatory can make the experience of using the room unpleasant. So, how can you prevent flies from getting into your conservatory in the summer?

Why are there lots of flies in the conservatory?

The first thing to consider is why you have flies in your conservatory. This is not just a question of ‘how do they get in’, so much as it is an issue of ‘why do they want to come in’. Flies are not intelligent creatures. To them, your conservatory is a more comfortable, safer version of outside. It is likely warmer, less windy and has a greater amount of the types of things they like to eat. That means that your conservatory is an attractive proposition to flies.

 

How to deal with flies in your conservatory

One approach is to kill all of the flies that manage to get into your conservatory. The classic rolled up newspaper might be the old fashioned approach to dealing with flies, but it has been surpassed in efficiency. The fly swatter can deal with individual flies quite effectively. However, it does require some effort. Slightly easier is fly spray. Fly spray is an easier approach, though still requires you to chase individual insects, and can produce unwanted chemical after-effects. Finally, fly paper can kill insects without you needing to do anything, although it is unattractive and can smell.

 

How to stop flies getting into your conservatory

They best way to deal with flies in your conservatory is not to have to kill them, individually or otherwise. It is to prevent flies from getting in in the first place. How can you stop flies getting in your conservatory, and what difference can it make?

External traps

One of the easier ways to stop flies from coming into your home is to give them something more interesting and attractive to focus on outside of the conservatory. A fly trap is an effective way to attract and trap insects before they enter your home at all. While you can purchase a range of fly traps ready-made, it is also easy to produce your own. Simply take a large jar, and part fill it with sugar water. Then, place a cone of paper point down into the jar, without touching the water. Flies will enter the cone to get to the sugar water, but not be able to escape back through the cone, trapping them.

 

Internal sliding patio fly screens

The most effective way to prevent flies entering your conservatory is to have sliding fly screens fitted. Sliding Patio screens from Safety Screens can protect your conservatory or French window from insects, no matter how wide open you have your doors. Insect screens allow all the fresh air to enter your home, but do not allow insects to get in. Sliding screens from Safety Screens combine ventilation with pest prevention – and can even guard against pet claws with a durable pet mesh option.

To learn more about the options available to you for internal screening, view our detailed product pages, or get in touch to discuss what types of screening might be right for you.

 

What are the different types of flyscreen windows?

white Sliding patio screen door fitted to conservatory

As the weather warms up, we start to want to open the windows. For plenty of people, this comes without any downsides. However, for many people, this allows flies and other insects to enter the building. Fly screens can help reduce and even stop the number of unwanted visitors entering your rooms – and keep your building hygienic at the same time.

What are flyscreen windows for?

Flyscreen windows have one simple purpose – to prevent flies and other insects from entering buildings. However, there are multiple reasons that you would need to do this. While flyscreens can be important domestically – particularly if you live near water courses or marshy areas – they are most important for businesses. Pest control legislation states that any business involved in the food industry needs some form of insect screening. This is not only restaurants and cafes, but the rest of the supply chain as well. Flyscreen windows are an essential part of staying compliant with the regulations.

Standard Flyscreens

A standard flyscreen window fits across the interior of your existing window. It has a strong, durable frame made from aluminium. This frame is kept in place with a combination of hinges and turn buttons to ensure that the screen is firmly in place. However, the screen is also easily removable for cleaning. A nylon Brush makes the seal around the outside secure against almost all flying insects.

Sliding Flyscreens

A sliding flyscreen window is a simple way of screening your windows, while still allowing for you to access them easily for cleaning. They are made of two independently moving sliding screens. They slide along a sturdy outer framework of hard wearing aluminium. Our sliding flyscreens can move horizontally or vertically. For larger windows, triple sliders are also an option.

Retractable Flyscreen  Windows

A retractable flyscreen for your windows is suitable for all sorts of use – from business to domestic use. They are great for wooden or uPVC windows, as they can blend seamlessly into the existing window without causing damage or obstruction. They are easy to operate, and have a smooth action. Anti-wind mechanisms ensure that the mesh remains inside the guides – even when under pressure.

Canopy Box Flyscreen Windows

Sometimes, internal screening is not possible. This means that only external screens can be fitted. As a result, you might have a problem with opening your windows at all – making the screen unnecessary. In order to still be able to open your windows, but maintain the required screening, we can fit a canopy box insect screen to go over the area of the window. This will be large enough to allow you to still open the window safely.

Flyscreen Windows from Safety Screens

We are nationwide experts in fitting a wide range of different flyscreen windows – on all sorts of windows. If you are a pest-control company, and need to broaden your offering into preventative measures such as screening, get in touch to see how we can help. However, we don’t just offer business screening – our work is also suitable for home & domestic use.

Get an easy quote today with out quick online quote tool.

How Effective are Sneeze Guards, and Do I Need One?

Desk sneeze guard with no gap on a table

Sneeze Guards

During the Covid-19 pandemic, people went to greater lengths than ever before to put up physical barriers between employees and customers. While in larger chains and businesses, you might have seen permanent structures put in place, for many smaller companies, the traditional sneeze guard became more essential than ever. Their increased prevalence might have lead you to believe that sneeze guards are simply a precaution. However, they are an effective safety measure – and for many businesses, an essential part of compliance.

Where Might I Need a Sneeze Guard?

All sorts of places need sneeze guards. Fundamentally, you can use a sneeze guard anywhere you want to protect staff from customers.

Restaurants and bakeries – Food on display should be protected against sneezes and other potential hygiene issues. This is particularly true of buffets and other types of service where food is left exposed to customers.

Cash registers – Staff working at cash registers and tills are face to face with customers for a long period of time. With potentially hundreds of customers producing germs, a sneeze guard can help keep staff safe and reduce the chances of disease transmission.

Reception desks – Greeting customers, visitors and guests needs some degree of protection. In the same way as staff at a cash register can be at risk from germs, so can staff who work at reception desks.

Pharmacies & doctor’s offices – Public hygiene is essential at medical facilities. Sneeze Guards can help protect not just staff, but essential cleanliness such as medical storage.

Schools – Schools continue to be faced with the problem of the transmission of COVID-19, even as the pandemic subsides in other aspects of society.

Gyms & fitness studios – When people exercise, they sweat and breath more heavily. This produces a range of potential hygiene issues. Sneeze Guards are not only used to stop sneezes, but the transmission of all types of potential infections.

How effective are Sneeze Guards?

Sneeze Guards have been proven to be an effective means of stopping some types of infection. In the same way as a face mask, they provide a physical barrier to water droplets. We produce these droplets from our noses and mouths without realising it – but they are responsible for much of the transmission of disease.

Sneeze guards have been found to be up to 70% effective at stopping the spread of particles across a room. This has been tested in a simulated cough scenario, where around 70% of particles were found to have been stopped by the screen. Research by the UK Government , has also found that Sneeze Guards can be found to reduce the risk of transmission of air-borne water droplets from exhaled breath at shorter distances – such as 2 metres. However, the research does suggest that screens do not provide as much protection at longer range.

To learn more about the Safety Screens range of sneeze guards, and how they might help protect your workforce, get in touch with us today.