Airborne Dangers for Window Cleaners

Maintenance worker plunges to his death in bee attack - GEORGE TOWN: Panang, Maylaysia: A maintenance worker plunged to his death after being attacked by a swarm of bees at the Federal Building in Anson Road at noon yesterday. Othman Yusof, 53, fell 20m to his death from a gondola while trying to remove a beehive. One of his colleagues also fell and fortunately survived the fall, while another clung onto the gondola but was stung more than 100 times. The injured men have been sent to the Penang Hospital and are said to be in critical condition. Othman and the colleague who fell were found on the second-storey porch of the 15-storey building.
It is learnt that the three were earlier tasked to check out a beehive, measuring about 0.9m in length, perched on the ninth floor of the building. But before they could reach it, the attack occurred. George Town OCPD Asst Comm Azam Abd Hamid said the workers were on their routine cleaning work when they stumbled on the beehive. “They were just doing their cleaning job before the tragic incident,” he said. ACP Azam added that the case has been classified as sudden death. Perak Road Fire and Rescue Department chief W.S. Skein Citbanchong said firemen rescued the third worker by breaking a glass window on the eighth floor to get to him. ‘‘He was weak and in a lot of pain when we pulled him in,’’ said Citbanchong.




Rare falcons choose high life at Lowry Hotel: Manchester's fledgling community of peregrine falcons certainly have a taste for the high life. For a pair of the rare birds have found a new city centre home - at the five-star Lowry Hotel. Previous nesting sites have included the city's Arndale Centre and town hall, but now the birds have moved upmarket by picking the swanky Lowry Hotel, a favourite haunt for visiting A-list celebs. I hear eagle-eyed window cleaners at the Salford hotel spotted the unexpected guests up on the roof.
Sales manager Helen Hipkiss says: "Eugene McDermott, who is our facilities manager, was alerted to the fact we had a large bird living on the roof of the hotel by our window cleaners. "He thought it may be a peregrine falcon, which are a protected species. The doormen and concierge team noticed that the bird was flying around and possibly there is another one in the vicinity. "We called the RSPB who put us in touch with conservation experts Natural England who came down and confirmed that it was indeed a peregrine falcon.
"It's quite a young one so they think it's one of the chicks from the nesting sites that are already in the city centre." Staff reckon the birds have been there for a month now and if they stay Natural England will consider training webcams on the nest site so that the images can be relayed on to Manchester's big screen, as happened so successfully with the existing falcon community. In the meantime, staff are hoping the falcons will choose to become long-term residents at the hotel, and are even thinking of naming the birds.

Also see previous blog on the same subject.