Window Cleaning News + Gutter Cleaning Fall

Leave it to the Gutter Cleaning Professionals! A Rexburg man was cleaning out his gutters this afternoon, when he fell off his ladder, and hit his head on a window seal. The man's wife called for help after she heard a loud crash outside. He received some gashes and was transported to the hospital. First on the scene, Officer Lyndon Barron asked, "Do you remember anything?" "Yeah. I guess, I don't know," the man responded. "What happened?" Asked Officer Barron. "I don't know," replied the man. "Did you just fall right here off the ladder?" Asked Officer Barron. Law enforcement says you should always call for paramedics, especially when there's a head injury.

St George's Church, Middlesbrough, UK: This was the Gaumont cinema which once stood opposite St George's church, this building has also disappeared from our landscape. You can even see the sweet shop on the corner advertising Fry's Chocolate, which must have been convenient for patrons of the cinema. Also there is a barrow parked on the pavement with a very long ladder, probably belonging to a window cleaner. Click picture to enlarge.

Years ago, Sherman’s Sports in downtown Hendersonville employed a young man to wash the store’s front windows. While he was washing the windows, the man asked Louis Sherman, the store’s owner, if he might be excused from work for a spell. Sherman agreed and the window washer headed for the Henderson County Courthouse. “He and his girlfriend went across the street and got married,” says Francee Sherman. “And when they were done, he came right back to washing windows.” It’s one of Francee Sherman’s favorite stories from the decades she has spent helping run the store that her late husband Kalman’s father founded more than 85 years ago on Main Street.

Deaths at construction sites in Bahrain have doubled in four years, according to the latest Labour Ministry figures. Thirty-five workers have already lost their lives in accidents this year, compared to 36 during the whole of last year, 29 in 2007, 21 in 2006 and 18 in 2005. Of those killed, most fell from buildings under construction, we-re hit by falling construction materials or became trapped in workplace machines, said occupational health and safety head Abbas Salman Matooq. He warned the number of worksite fatalities will rise by the end of the year unless companies stopped flouting safety rules and regulations. "They hire cheap labour and purchase cheap equipment to cut costs," Mr Matooq told the GDN. "Construction accident inspectors work hard to enforce construction safety laws by distributing safety brochures that are printed in several languages for the workers' safety. "But we have noticed that no one follows these rules and that's the reason so many accidents happen." Mr Matooq said a risk assessment test should be carried out at any site before construction work began. "Training for labourers is a must and all the contracting and construction companies are asked to hire safety officers," he said.
Labour regulations state companies that employ 100 workers must hire a safety officer, while those with 50 or less should train a supervisor or foreman to monitor safety issues. "We don't advise anyone to leave the labourer alone at the worksite, without supervision," said Mr Matooq.
"But on inspection, we noticed that many supervisors come in the morning for sometime, explain work to the labourers and leave, which shouldn't be allowed. "The foreman or supervisor must stay at the site until the work is complete. Mr Matooq revealed 1,000 construction sites and labour camps had already been inspected this year. But he said part of the problem was that Bahrain was short of occupational safety engineers with only four carrying out daily inspections.
"We are facing trouble, as there is a shortage of inspection officers," said Mr Matooq. "There are only four inspectors and we have to visit many construction sites in a day and write a report about them. "The job also includes conducting investigations (after an accident or fatality) and giving safety lectures to workers. "At least 40 safety inspectors are required to inspect of all the worksites in Bahrain." Mr Matooq said most of the workers killed this year were from India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan.
"Two Bahraini workers also died this year, including one, who fell from top of a water tank in Electricity Ministry in Umm Al Hassam," he said. "The other drowned when he was trying to cross a wooden bridge between two ships and fell into the sea. "It took place at the Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Port and the man was the captain of one of the ships." The GDN reported on Saturday that a Labour Ministry probe had been launched into two worksite accidents that killed one worker and left another seriously injured. Indian Pokkillatha Ali Sulaiman, 51, fell to his death from the second floor of a building in Isa Town on Friday. It happened at 10am when he was cleaning a window at the Traffic Directorate. Mr Sulaiman leav-es behind his wife and two children. Hours earlier Bangladeshi Farooq Imam Kabeer suffered serious injuries after a jack fell on him from a building under construction in Shakhoora. It happened at around 8am as the 25-year-old was fixing the jack to make stairs.

Cleanliness May Foster Morality: A simple spritz of a fresh-smelling window cleaner made people more fair and generous in a new study. The researchers figure cleanliness fosters morality. They conducted fairness tests, with subjects completing tasks in a room that was either unscented or one that was sprayed with a common citrus-scented window cleaner. Follow-up questions found the participants didn't notice the scent in the room. "Researchers have known for years that scents play an active role in reviving positive or negative experiences," Galinsky said. "Now, our research can offer more insight into the links between people's charitable actions and their surroundings." The study, led by Katie Liljenquist at Brigham Young University, will be detailed in the journal Psychological Science. Liljenquist and Chen-Bo Zhong at the University of Toronto had previously shown that people who have committed sins feel urged to clean themselves physically. A separate study last year at the University of Plymouth in England found that a vigorous hand wash or shower could cause a person to be less judgmental.

Eric Duran laughs when he's reminded that he does windows in both Spanish and English, so to speak. The proprietor of Duran Window Cleaning is also coordinator of Club de Lenguas, a Spanish conversation club. "I have loved learning about languages since I was about 10 years old growing up in Indianapolis," said Duran, 50, who has lived in Bellingham since 1996. "Now I give private Spanish lessons, and I once taught languages in Mexico. I love helping people learn the beauty of the Spanish language and Latin culture." Duran seeks out speakers with an interest in Latin heritage to attend club meetings, and does his best to accommodate all levels of Spanish speakers, especially enthusiastic beginners.

Burj Dubai: The final height of the tower will be revealed when Burj Dubai opens later this year. The last cladding panel numbered 24,348, weighing 750kg, was placed at a height of more than 662 metres. Panels of more than 18 strength specifications and 200 sizes have been used, all of them double-glazed and factory-sealed. Certain panels are yet to be installed. The total curtain wall area stands at 132,190 square metres. The developer had also said that keeping the tower façade clean will be the next engineering challenge. "To guarantee that every corner of Burj Dubai sparkles, 18 window-washing units are built into the tower, including nine track-mounted telescopic cradles, each with an extendable jib arm for cleaning, which reaches more than 20 metres," said the statement. In September, Emaar sent this newspaper a statement saying the last of the cranes atop Burj Dubai would be taken down in a few weeks. The cranes were originally supposed to come down by end-August. Currently standing at more than 800 metres, Burj Dubai is at the centre of Downtown Burj Dubai, a 500-acre mega project described as the new heart of the city of Dubai. The final height of the tower will be revealed when Burj Dubai opens later this year. The development value of Burj Dubai is more than $1 billion (Dh3.67bn). The design inspiration for the mixed-use development has been drawn from the desert flower. Jan 2007. Level 110 (tallest structure in the Middle East and Europe)
March 2007. Level 141 (world's tallest building): July 2007
Level 150 (world's tallest free-standing structure): Sept 2007
Level 160 (world's tallest man-made structure): April 2008

Echtinaw, 50, and single, was born and raised in Rochester, served in the Navy, attended Oakland University and worked as a newspaper reporter until he moved to Alma in 2001. He has two business here, "Rod Cannon Photography" and a window washing business called, "I Feel Your Pane." From his point of view, the biggest issue facing the city is "how to maintain city services or cut them wisely during a time when revenue is dwindling," he said. "My core beliefs for government are fiscal responsibility to the point of frugality, getting government out of the way of economic activity, and common sense." He said he believes the city is well run and that infrastructure spending - sewers, water mains and roads- is important. He also wants to improve the business climate by getting the government out of the way as much as possible. When asked what areas would he look at if the city had to make cuts, Echtinaw couldn't say. "I'm not comfortable answering that," he said. "Nothing jumps out at me. It would be painful for somebody."