Montreal Scare for Window Cleaners

MONTREAL, CANADA - Two workers washing the windows of a Concordia University building had the scare of their lives today when the platform they were standing on jammed around the 15th floor. Suspended over a hundred feet in the air, one of the workers called 911 and Montreal police and firefighters arrived moments later. But a basket attached to the top of a crane was not high enough to reach them, so firefighters had to descend from the roof of the building and join the workers on the platform, said Benoît Fleury, chief of operations of the Montreal Fire Department. The workers were carefully lowered into the basket using a rescue harness and ropes, Fleury said. The window cleaning for the downtown Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts building was contracted out to Distinction Maintenance Service. Company spokesperson Christine Roy said all the emergency procedures were followed and that the two workers weren't harmed. The platform was rented from another company, which Roy declined to name. "There was a mechanical problem with the motor," Roy said. "It's very rare, and all the proper regulations were in place." The platform is still hanging from the building and will not be descended until the company investigates what caused the motor to jam, said Chris Mota, a spokesperson for Concordia University. Following the late morning rescue, the two men seemed "very relieved and healthy," Mota said. "They just seemed like you average guys who risk their lives everyday by hanging out the side of a building," Mota said. "They've got nerves of steal."