Window Cleaning News

Fall from height warning given by former window cleaner: A former West Midlands window cleaner who broke his hip and wrist when he fell from a ladder has added his weight to the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) efforts to eliminate workplace injuries. Ken Bradley, 63, was cleaning the windows of a house in Dudley in July 2006 when the ladder slipped and he fell. "I felt the ladder slip from under me and I grabbed a window to try and stop myself from falling. But I couldn’t reach. I don’t really remember much after that until I woke up in hospital but I do know I was lucky to escape with the injuries I got," he said. Brian Martin, HSE inspector, said that Mr Bradley's accident shows that any fall from height can have devastating consequences. The HSE recently re-launched its slips, trips and falls campaign, which aims to make people aware of the risks of working at height, among other workplace dangers.

Police in the Driffield area are urging possible victims to come forward after police arrested a man for fraud by false representation. Police have arrested a 27-year-old Driffield man in connection with a number of alleged offences. It is alleged a man knocked on several doors in the Driffield area on Thursday 04 February between 1545hrs and 1630hrs, claiming to be the residents' window cleaner and asking for payment. It is alleged some home owners paid the man a sum of money, whilst others became suspicious and refused to pay the man. The 27-year-old man has been released on police bail, pending further enquiries, until a date in February. PC Simon Marshall said: "We have had many victims coming forward with regards to a man alleging to be their window cleaner.

Missing man found: A 33 year old man who had been missing for two weeks has been found safe and well. Police appealed for help in tracing window cleaner Alexander Wileman after he went missing from his home in Albermarle Drive, Wantage, on Wednesday, February 3. Police spokesman Daniel Donovan said Mr Wileman was found safe and well at Victoria Station in London at about 11am today. He is currently being driven to an Oxfordshire police station. Members of the public were thanked for their assistance in trying to find Mr Wileman.

Frost-bound building firms get cash help: Building groups, gardening companies and window washing firms can claim government help to pay workers who have been left without anything to do because of the long period of frost. Social affairs minister Piet Hein Donner has agreed that companies which have been affected by the wintry weather can apply for temporary unemployment benefit (ww) for staff for February and March. Some 400 claims have already been made and thousands are expected, the Financieele Dagblad reports.

Bus riders now shivering on the curb at Fifth Avenue and State Street in downtown La Crosse could have been using a heated transit center blocks away — had its construction gone as planned. But passengers and city officials who’ve waited more than 15 years for the transit center will wait at least another eight months. The Grand River Station, bid for about $21.6 million, is about eight months behind schedule and $2 million over budget, though still within the contingencies for the project. The project has had 24 change orders to date, some small — such as $2,000 for sprinkler revisions or an additional fire valve hose — and some pricier, such as $109,000 to install window washing equipment. Many of those, Hutchens said, are the result of incomplete architectural information from the start.

A Turkish investor has brought the basic ‘Roomba’ model of US company iRobot to the market, selling 500 units in only 45 days. Ali Tan Şerbetçi says the company plans to sell its products in the Middle East through Turkey. iRobot, a United States-based company with a 75 percent market share in the global home robots market, has entered Turkey with its “Roomba” model. The robot, reminiscent of a Frisbee, has a diameter of 30 centimeters and a height of eight centimeters. The robot is able to calculate the layout of a given area and clean it without human intervention. The 'Roomba' reminiscent of a Frisbee, has a diameter of 30 centimeters and a height of eight centimeters. The “Scooba” model, which uses water and detergent, will be on the Turkish market in April and will sell for 1,200 liras. “Scooba was designed for working couples, families with children, those who have pets, elderly people and the disabled,” Şerbetçi said. “It brushes and washes an area of 80 square meters and completes its cleaning without touching carpets and the like.” After Scooba, the company plans to introduce window cleaning and security robots to the market.

Ultra-thin glass coating for buildings on the way to UK: German company says new product is green and suitable for almost any surface. An ultra-thin coating is being promoted as the next big thing for protecting the surfaces of everything from hospital equipment to buildings. Called Liquid Glass, the flexible and breathable glass coating is being marketed by its German maker Nanopool as a coating for wood, stone, fibre, plastic and glass and ceramics.
The coating is approximately 100 nanometres thick (500 times thinner than a human hair), and according to the manufacturer it is food safe, environmentally friendly and can be applied to almost any surface. The coating leaves surfaces easy to clean and anti-microbially protected. Neil McClelland, UK project manager for Nanopool explained some of the principles behind the product, saying, "In essence, we extract molecules of SiO2 [silicon dioxide] (the primary constituent of glass) from quartz sand, and then we add the molecules to water or ethanol." Liquid Glass is on the market in Germany and will soon be available in the UK. It has already been trialled for the protection of monuments in Turkey, including the Ataturk Mausoleum in Ankara.

A plane crashed into a Northwest Austin building that houses federal offices about 10 this morning, injuring several people and sparking a fire that sent plumes of smoke into the air that could be seen for miles. A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said the crash, at the Echelon 1 building in the 9400 block of Research Boulevard, was “apparently a criminal act.” Austin Fire Department Division Chief Dawn Clopton said that the FBI would be taking over the investigation. Joe Williams, co-founder of the company, and Cynthia Reed, her boss, ran to a nearby truck with window washing equipment and ladders. “By some miracle there was a truck that was for cleaning windows and there were ladders,” Olivarez said. “They were putting ladders up against the building trying to get people out,” Olivarez said. “It looked as if they couldn’t get out, like both the floors were on fire. There was smoke protruding out of all the windows. It probably took about four minutes for the entire parking lot to be filled with smoke.”
They began to get out people until fire trucks showed up with their own ladders, she said.

Window Cleaner Knew: A second long-running business in Birmingham’s Brindleyplace has been refused a lease renewal amid claims the landlord could damage the long-term success of the district. Spiritual health shop Zen is the latest tenant to be turned down by the British Airways Pension Fund after hair salon Umberto Giannini was told it too would have to leave. They claimed they were the last to know and even a local window cleaner was aware plans were afoot to “kick all the smaller people out”.

In celebration of Black History Month, University of Rhode Island students and faculty attended the Black Inventors Exhibit on Tuesday, to pay tribute to and learn about the famous inventions of lesser-known black inventors. The exhibit showed that without black inventors, we would live in a world without traffic lights, mops and golf tees. Sandra Lamb, co-founder of the organization, said some of the tools featured, particularly the early technology, are from Africa, which she bought from a flea market in Massachusetts. The exhibit also displayed simple inventions like a window cleaner and a lemon squeezer.

For Mayor: Don Marsh: I'm Don Marsh, and my wife and I have been married for 32 years and raised both our children here. I am the owner of Marsh Window Cleaning, and I've spent the last 29 years serving the private sector in a position where what matters are positive results that can be seen with the naked eye. This is the kind of bottom-line-driven governing and transparency that I will bring to City Hall.

Giuliani also spoke about 9/11, said youth council member Garrett Weeks, and told the audience it was a day where a lot of people showed their leadership skills. One example he cited was an event that took place on an elevator in the World Trade Center. The power went out after one of the hijacked planes slammed into Tower One, Giuliani said. This caused the elevators to stop working. Six men were on one of the elevators. Most of them were executives with the exception of window-washer Jan Demczur carrying his bucket and a squeegee. As the men were trying to figure out how to get out of the elevator, Demczur realized they could use the pole on his squeegee to pry open the door so he directed the men in helping him. The elevator opened to a thick wall. Demczur took the lead again and took the sharp edge of his squeegee handle to scrape away the wall. After digging through three layers of drywall they were able to free themselves from the elevator. Demczur is not only considered a hero, but a leader as well.