A pest sighting log is the sheet a business keeps so that every mouse, cockroach or swarm of flies its staff see between pest control visits gets written down, passed to the pest company, and followed up. This one is short enough for a line cook or a warehouse lead to fill in on a phone in under a minute. Fill it in here and download a PDF without creating an account, or speak while you walk, and the document writes itself.
Why the site keeps its own log
A technician sees the building for an hour a month. The people who work there see it every day, at night, at opening, when the dock door has been open all afternoon. Most of what matters about a pest problem is seen by staff first, and if it is not written down it is lost by the next visit.
Food safety auditors and health inspectors also ask for it. A log with entries, each followed by what the pest company did, shows that the site notices problems and acts on them. An empty log at a site with activity on its devices raises more questions than a full one.
What a good entry looks like
Each line should let the technician walk straight to the spot:
- When: the date and roughly the time. Night sightings point to different pests from day sightings.
- Where: specific enough to find it — "under the dish machine, back left", not "kitchen".
- What and how many: a guess is fine; a photo is better.
- Alive, dead or signs only: droppings and gnawing count.
- What you did: cleaned up, covered or threw out food, told the manager.
What not to do
Do not spray store-bought insecticide or move the pest company's devices. Both can scatter the pests and make the technician's job harder, and products used in a food business are regulated. Clean up, protect food, take a photo and call it in.
If the same pest is seen in the same place twice, say so on the entry. A repeat in one spot is flagged in the report, because it usually means there is a way in or a food source nearby that someone needs to find.
Closing the loop at the next visit
The last section is for the technician: did they read the log, what did they find where staff saw activity, what did they do, and what does the site need to do. That turns a list of complaints into a record of problems handled, which is what an auditor is looking for.
Common questions
Who should fill in a pest sighting log?
Anyone who sees a pest or its signs: cooks, cleaners, warehouse staff, front desk, maintenance. Make the log easy to reach and tell staff that reporting a sighting is never a problem — a hidden sighting is.
What counts as a sighting?
A live or dead pest, droppings, gnaw marks, nesting, a smell, flies around a drain, insects in a bag of flour. If you are not sure, write it down and let the technician decide.
Do I have to tell the pest control company about every sighting?
Tell them about anything in a food area, any rodent, and anything that repeats. Many service agreements expect the site to report activity between visits. The log records when and how you told them.
How long should we keep the log?
Keep it with your pest control service records for as long as your audit scheme, health department or company policy requires. Many food sites keep at least the last year so trends can be seen.
Can staff treat a pest themselves?
Do not. Clean up, protect food and report it. Pesticide use in a business is regulated and should be left to the licensed company or to people your state allows to apply it.