There are many situations where infestation by flying insects needs to be controlled. The urgency to deal with flies, mosquitoes, wasps and even moths, varies according to the situation. This can range from the need to have a comfortable home or office to the vital requirement to keep hospitals, and operating theatres in particular, free from infestation. Also, any business or public sector operation that provides food must have this protection in place as a matter of law.

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, 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.

A manager who doesn't appreciate the need to have a fly killer machine may not take the simple precautions of changing uv lamps or glue boards. Even though they may fluke their way through an official inspection, they would not be protecting consumers of the food that they are preparing. If you are a customer of any establishment that deals with food, why not ask them when they last changed the uv lamps or glueboards on their fly killer machines? If you are faced with blank stares then start to worry!

Insect-o-cutor fly killers are made of steel. They are solid products that are recognised by Environmental Health Officers as top-of-the range units. The presence of an Insect-o-Cutor fly killer generally means that customers can rest assured that the food handling establishment takes hygiene very seriously. It usually means that uv lamps and glueboards are changed regularly. Insect-o-cutor means hygiene. Arkay Hygiene, who are the UK's leading wholesaler of these units, means hygiene too!

You may wonder if the same rule applies to householders. Well, yes it does. Those who purchase Insectocutor domestic fly killers such as the glue board unit call the Hygenie, can be counted on to have spotless houses and will serve you clean and wholesome food - I wonder if that will earn me a free dinner!