Window Cleaning News Round-Up

A WINDOW cleaner cheated death when he fell 10ft from his ladder and brushed spiked railings at a Cambridge hotel, UK. The 42-year-old suffered a flesh wound to his leg but an ambulance worker said: "If he had fallen at a different angle it could have been a lot more serious. "The man was working as a sub-contractor cleaning windows at the De Vere University Arms Hotel when he appears to have slipped from his ladder. "He was awake and alert but complaining of numbness in his legs. "A spokesman for the hotel said: "We are investigating what happened and will be working closely with environmental health. "We have all the necessary risk assessments in place, and are satisfied it was a genuine accident." "We will also be speaking to the person who was injured and the company he works for to ensure they also had the correct safety procedures, such as non-slip shoes, in place." Note: This event was reported to have occured in Regent Street, London (incorrect).

In Virginia, USA: One side of a window-washing rig slipped from its anchoring near the top of a downtown Richmond office building this morning. The worker in the rig was able to right it and lower himself to safety. Richmond firefighters were called to an 11-story building at the James Center complex at Ninth and East Cary streets shortly before 10 a.m. for a report of a rig dangling near the roof. Firefighters closed off a portion of Ninth Street while the worker righted the misaligned side of the rig and slowly lowered himself to the sixth floor, a process that took about 30 minutes. At that point, the worker left the rig behind and rappelled safely to the ground. The worker was identified as Alejandro Alvarado, an employee of Universal Building Services.
LONG BEACH - As if leading the government of the fifth-largest city in California weren't enough, Mayor Bob Foster now does windows, too. On Monday morning in the lobby of City Hall, Foster demonstrated the use of new environmentally friendly cleaning products that soon could be used in all city buildings. Pictured: Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster cleans a City Hall window with a Sun Valley Green cleaning product under the eye of company founder Teresa Cochran. Foster announced a pilot program to give the firm's green cleaning products a trial.

And finally, monks in Bangkok, Thailand were reported to have cottoned on to the benefits of using water fed poles.....