Bird Droppings in Parking Garages and Under Strip Center Canopies: Cleaning Them Safely

Pigeons roost on garage beams and under storefront canopies, and what they leave behind is a health question before it is a cleaning question. Here is what the federal workplace safety agency says about cleaning droppings, and what Florida and federal rules say about the nests, with links.

We are a pressure washing company, not lawyers or health professionals. This is a plain-English summary of public guidance and rules, with links. Ask the agencies, or your own advisors, how they apply to your property.

Why droppings are a health question

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), part of the CDC, explains that histoplasmosis is an infection caused by a fungus called Histoplasma, and that the fungus “lives in the environment, particularly in soil that contains large amounts of bird or bat droppings”^[1]. People get it by breathing in the microscopic spores^[1]. NIOSH lists “disturbing large piles of bird or bat droppings” among the activities that put workers at risk^[1].

In a parking garage, the piles build up on the deck below a roost: under beams, pipe runs and light fixtures, and in the corners of stairwells. At a strip center they build up on the walkway under the canopy and on top of the sign band. The dry, crusted layer is the one NIOSH is most concerned about, because it turns to dust when it is disturbed.

What NIOSH says about cleaning it

The agency’s guidance on controlling the hazard is short and specific^[2]:

• Do not sweep it dry. “Avoid shoveling or sweeping dry, dusty material.”^[2] A leaf blower or a dry push broom is the wrong first move.
• Wet it first. “Instead, carefully spray it to reduce the amount of aerosolized material.”^[2]
• A surfactant helps. “Adding a surfactant to the water might reduce further the amount of aerosolized material.”^[2]
• Disinfectants are not a shortcut. NIOSH notes there are no Environmental Protection Agency-approved products registered specifically as soil disinfectants^[2].

NIOSH also puts “disrupting or cleaning up large accumulations of bird or bat droppings” in its high-risk category for respiratory protection^[3]. For high-risk work it points to a powered air-purifying respirator or a full facepiece respirator with 100 series filters^[3]. It says gloves “should be worn when removing large amounts of droppings”, recommends eye protection, and says disposable protective clothing and shoe or boot coverings should be worn whenever regular work clothing and shoes might be contaminated^[3].

For a property manager, that is the checklist to hold any crew to: wet before you move anything, keep the dust down, and protect the people doing the work. Pressure washing is a wet method by nature, which is why it fits this job better than sweeping.

Before

After

Left: before. Right: after. The top deck of a parking garage at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in downtown Sarasota that we cleaned. That job was tire marks and general grime; it is shown here as an example of our garage deck work.

Before you touch a nest

Droppings usually mean a roost, and sometimes a nest. Two rules matter here.

Florida. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s rule on non-listed migratory birds covers birds on the federal list of migratory birds that are not separately protected under other Florida rules^[4]. For those birds, taking birds, nests or eggs is prohibited without a permit or authorization, except as allowed in Commission-approved guidelines^[4]. An active nest is one “containing eggs or flightless young”^[4]. The rule says onsite destruction of an inactive nest, one that does not contain eggs or flightless young, “is permitted by the Commission but may require Federal authorization”^[4]. The rule was last amended February 17, 2020^[4].

Federal. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act protects a long list of native species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service publishes the list of birds the Act does not apply to, and it includes “Rock Pigeon, Columba livia”, the common city pigeon^[5]. The same notice excludes the Old World sparrow family, “including house or English sparrow”^[5]. Those are the two birds most likely to be roosting in a garage or under a canopy, and they are not federally protected.

If you are not sure what bird built the nest, or whether it has eggs or young in it, treat it as protected and ask the Commission before anyone removes it. Cleaning the droppings off the deck or walkway does not require touching the nest.

The water shortage and the storm drain

Sarasota and Manatee County are under a water shortage order through March 31, 2027. The order’s own FAQ allows pressure washing to remove “mold, mildew and other potentially hazardous material that cannot be removed by mechanical means”, and NIOSH’s advice is not to remove dry droppings mechanically at all. Whether a particular job qualifies is a question for your local utility. Our guide to pressure washing in the water shortage has the order’s wording and the enforcement contacts.

Where the wash water goes also matters. Our wash water guide covers what Sarasota and Manatee County rules say about storm drains.

What a property manager can do

• Look up. Beams, pipe runs, light fixtures and the top of the sign band are where roosts form. The pile on the deck below tells you where.
• Do not let anyone dry-sweep or blow it. NIOSH’s first rule is to wet it down.
• Ask the crew about protection. Respirators, gloves, eye protection and disposable coverings are what NIOSH describes for large accumulations.
• Leave nests alone until you know the rules. Inactive nests of pigeons and house sparrows are the easy case. Everything else, ask first.
• Fix the roost, not just the deck. A cleaned deck under an active roost is dirty again in weeks.

Garage decks, stairwells and storefront walkways under canopies are part of our parking garage pressure washing in Sarasota and our strip center pressure washing. Both are part of our commercial pressure washing in Sarasota. Our Sarasota Memorial parking garage write-up shows a full garage job, and our guide to strip center walkways and slip hazards covers why a slick walkway is a liability.

Sources

1. CDC / NIOSH: Histoplasmosis and Work
2. CDC / NIOSH: Histoplasmosis, Elimination and Engineering Controls
3. CDC / NIOSH: Histoplasmosis, Personal Protective Equipment
4. Florida Administrative Code Rule 68A-16.003, Non-Listed Migratory Birds, Nests, and Eggs (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission)
5. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: List of Bird Species to Which the Migratory Bird Treaty Act Does Not Apply, Federal Register, April 16, 2020