DeathWish: HomeOwners Clean Their Own Windows

Martin Lewis (pictured) aka the "Money Saving Expert" from British T.V. & his popular web-site made news after it was rumoured to get people to save money on window cleaning? He also took a pounding on his facebook account over the last day from window cleaners for suggesting to save money & householders to clean their own windows.
Martin issued an update "It was, I think, making a general point about the impact of businesses of saving money, which then talked about how it'd impact window cleaners. The Chinese whisper effect wrongly turned that into me having said - cancel your window cleaner - All cleaned up now."

MARTIN NEVER EVEN MENTIONED WINDOW CLEANERS ON THE SHOW!

Another case of businesses saving money can be found in the bottom story along with the following story about a Sutton Coldfield woman who narrowly escaped death.

Sutton woman falls 15ft in 'cleaning accident': An air ambulance was sent to Sutton for the second time in a fortnight when a woman fell from a window while reportedly cleaning. The woman plunged 15ft onto concrete at an address in Morningside. She suffered a head injury and two broken legs. The air crew, despatched from Cosford, joined a regular ambulance at the scene, with medics stabilising the 35-year-old victim before airlifting her to Selly Oak Hospital.
A spokesperson for West Midlands Ambulance Service said: "Crews arrived to find a 35 year old woman lying on a concrete driveway with a head injury and two fractured legs. "The woman was reportedly cleaning her windows when the incident happened. "Crews immediately commenced emergency treatment at the scene, administering pain relief to the woman and immobilising her with a neck collar, spinal boards and leg splints. "The woman was then airlifted to Selly Oak Hospital for further assessment and treatment."
She fell at around 9.30am on Sunday. Last week the Observer reported that a man was airlifted to hospital after impaling himself on ladders. The 43-year-old was also transferred to Selly Oak, with the apparatus still sticking out of him. He spent one night on a ward before making his way to Good Hope Hospital, in Sutton, to see the birth of his third child.

Four Oaks dad airlifted to hospital after ladder injury: A Four Oaks businessman was airlifted to hospital after he was impaled on a ladder – just two days before his wife was due to give birth.
Hairdresser, Simon Matthews, 43, of Little Sutton Lane, slipped and fell from a set of ladders at his home on Monday, puncturing his chest in two places on the supporting bracket. "I know I was lucky," said the dad of three. "The metal went straight through the muscle, but it was inches away from being fatal." A 999 call was made and emergency services, including a land ambulance, fire crew and air ambulance arrived on the scene. "The fire crew were great, they had to cut me free of the ladder before I was taken to hospital," he said. The air ambulance landed on nearby St Joseph's School's playing fields and transferred Mr Matthews to Selly Oak Hospital for emergency treatment.
He praised the crew for their professionalism. "They were incredible," he said, "In a situation like that you just want to know what is happening and they were so reassuring and told me what I wanted to know, they were just brilliant." He added: "Near to where I was being treated in the hospital were British soldiers who had been injured in Afghanistan. "To see those young soldiers was an extremely humbling experience."

BRISTOL — City Building Official Guy Morin learned too late to take a ladder seriously. Morin, who recently came back to his City Hall office after seven weeks recuperating from a bad fall, said he made the mistake of not paying attention while standing on a 27-foot ladder at his house.
“I was cleaning the gutters out,” said Morin. “I was almost done.” But the ladder slipped out of his reach, slid along the fascia board of his house and he fell 14 feet, landing on mulch and ground cover. “You don’t have to be up that high to get hurt,” said Morin.
He dislocated the bones in his foot and his tendons became entangled, requiring surgery. “I was just hanging in midair. I came down on my left foot,” said Morin. “It was like Chevy Chase in ‘Christmas Vacation,’ without the lights.” Morin, who said he was right in front of his picture window when he fell, said his wife was inside at the time. “She heard the ladder slide. She looked up and I was dropping,” he said. “We laugh about it now. At the time, she was upset.”
His injury kept him in the hospital for three days, said Morin, in bed for two weeks and out of work for almost two months. He’s got three screws in his bones and now wears a walking boot for support, but hopes to get out of it soon. “It’s still a little swollen,” said Morin. “I’m just happy that I’ll be able to walk again. I was pretty lucky.”
He said he’s acquired a couple unwanted nicknames: “Gimpy” and “Hopalong.” “I’m ready to get rid of those,” said Morin. After becoming chief building official three years ago, Morin said he stopped the common practice of Bristol’s inspectors climbing up on ladders to check out a roof.
“We do that on a very limited basis now,” said Morin. “Most of the time, the ladders weren’t that safe. I didn’t want anybody hurt.” Most residential roofs can be inspected from the ground because nearly all are slanted and visible. Commercial roofs are more often flat, and accessible from a door, he said. When inspectors do have to go up on a ladder, said Morin, they make sure the ladder can carry their weight and that someone below is holding the ladder steady.
Morin sees the irony in his own mishap. “I grew up on ladders. I just got too complacent,” he said. “I knew it wasn’t up there securely, but I went up there anyway.” The accident left Morin with one more household task to finish: selling that ladder.

LADDER FALL DEATH AND PROSECUTION: DC Kennedy Homes Ltd has been ordered to pay £15k in fines and prosecution costs following the death of construction worker Ian Smith, 64, who fell from an unstable ladder. Manchester Crown Court heard that Mr Smith was working on a project to build six new semi-detached houses on 19 December 2007 when he fell 5m to the ground. Investigation found that work was carried out on the first and second floors of the house, before the stairs had been fitted. The ladder used to access the second floor was not secured and rubber feet were missing from the ladder. Polly Tomlinson HSE Principal Inspector said: “This was a tragic incident that could easily have been prevented if DC Kennedy Homes had put more thought into the safety of its employees. The ladder Ian Smith used was dangerous as the rubber feet were missing and it wasn’t tied to the wall to stop it slipping. “But more importantly, Mr Smith should never have been expected to use a ladder in the first place. If the work had been planned properly, the stairs would have been fitted before work was carried out on the first and second floors of the house. Instead Mr Smith had to use a ladder to access the second floor, putting his life at risk. Other employees were also put in danger by the unprotected open edges.
“I hope this case will act as a warning to other house building companies to improve their safety standards, to prevent more people dying at work in the future.”