Saturday 9 October 2010

New York Window Cleaning Fall


Window washer hurt in four-story plunge while doing his job: A window washer was in critical condition after he plummeted four stories from a SoHo building and landed on his head Friday, cops and witnesses said. The unidentified worker was sitting on the window sill leaning backward to clean the outside glass above Greenwich St. near Spring St. about 3:45 p.m. when he lost his balance and plunged head-first to the ground, cops and witnesses said.

"He was reaching out to clean the window and he leaned too far," a source said. "He almost fell on somebody," said witness Danny Ramirez, 22. "There was a lot of blood," Ramirez said. "He had like a hole in his head." Other workers from the Domino Window Cleaning squeegee crew raced to help their injured friend. "He was bleeding pretty bad," Ramirez said, adding that one of the workers wrapped a towel around the man's head as they waited for EMS to arrive.

The man, who was not wearing a safety harness, was transported to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition. It was not immediately clear if he had violated any work codes. Officials from the city's Department of Investigations were on-scene yesterday. "He's a good worker, very good," said a man who identified himself at the scene as a manager of the window washing company.

He said the victim had been an employee for about four years. Calls to the company were not returned. Three years ago, window washer Alcides Moreno, 40, plunged a jaw-dropping 47 stories from an upper East Side skyscraper and survived. Moreno was working with his brother, Edgar, on a scaffold attached to the building when the platform collapsed. Edgar landed on a fence and died on impact. Alcides is still fighting to recover from the fall.


Update: Window washer is in grave condition after four-story plunge from building - The window washer who plummeted four stories from a SoHo building and landed on his head was in grave condition Saturday, police said. Igor Vnuk, 32, of Sheepshead Bay, went down about 3:45 p.m. Friday while cleaning glass above Greenwich St. near Spring St. He lost his balance and plunged headfirst to the ground, cops said. Vnuk was not wearing a safety harness, officials said. It was not clear if he had violated any work codes, but officials from the city Department of Investigations said they were looking into the fall. Fellow workers at the Domino Window Cleaning company told police Vnuk was leaning backward on a window sill before he lost his grip. One co-worker wrapped a towel around his bloodied head while they waited for emergency workers to arrive.

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