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| Green Window Cleaning Services owner Jeff Scott and reporter Trish Van Pilsum descend a 15-story condo building in Madison, Wisconsin. |
Investigators: A Window Washer's World: The center of the city shines only because there are a few workers who will brave any height to keep it that way. There are only about 100 high rise window washers in the Twin Cities area, but four have died since 2007. Julie Jennings' son,
Jake, is one of those who died in March of 2009. He was working at the Normandale Lakes Office Park in Bloomington and fell after the line tying him to the building he was cleaning slipped from its anchor. Julie feels that her son should have been better trained. She fears for other window washers who are just starting their careers and doesn't want any other famliy to go through what she has in the last two years. " It is the worst thing in the world. I will never get over it," said Julie.
The other 3 fatal accidents:
"A hundred people and four deaths in four years -- it is an insane number," said Javier Morillo-Alicea, President of SEIU Local 26. "If you applied that to any other industry it would be a scandal." Minnesota OSHA increased the number of inspections on Oct. 1, 2010 due to the deaths. The checks have turned up potentially deadly hazards including:
- Tie backs not being securely fastened to outrigger beams
- Inadequate anchorage systems
- Counterweights not of sufficeient weight
- Washer not protected by a safety belt.
Window Washer Safety Culture in Twin Cities: According to the International Window Cleaning Association, Minnesota has had the highest rate of window washing accidents in the United States since 2007. This fall, the IWCA came to the Twin Cities, hoping to educate fellow washers on safety issues -- but the safety conference was poorly attended. The FOX 9 Investigators called several of the companies that didn't show up. They said they either didn't know about it or were too busy to attend. When asked about training, several window washers told the FOX 9 Investigators they were either trained for only a short amount of time or just had on-the-job training when they began their careers.
Going Over the Wall: FOX 9 Investigator, Trish Van Pilsum wanted to draw attention to the issue of safety, so she found out what it is like to go over the wall -- the parapet wall that is. Jeff Scott, owner of Green Window Cleaning in Madison, Wis., agreed to help Trish experience what window washers go through on a daily basis. He did not train her as he would the cleaners that work for him because that would have taken months of lessons and testing. Instead, he prepared her to repel down the side of a 15-story building in Madison with no cleaning duties. No safety measure was spared. She used a bosun's chair, work line and safety line.
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| Window washers say the set up for equipment on top of the 31-story Ameriprise Financial Center in downtown Minneapolis is one of the best in Twin Cities. |
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| There are several I-bolt anchors atop the 31-story Ameriprise Financial Center in Minneapolis for window washers to attach their lifelines and work lines. |
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| Two window washers descend down the Federal Bank Reserve in Minneapolis. |
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| Jake Jennings died two years ago in Bloomington after falling from a building where he was washing windows. His mother (pictured with him here) wants to see changes that make window washing jobs safer for all workers. There are been a total of four window washer fatalities since 2007 in the Twin Cities. |
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| There are an estimated 100 high-rise window cleaners in the Twin Cities. They make between $14/hour to $21/hour on average. |
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| Washers in Minneapolis use a suspended scaffold --also known as a swing stage -- to clean windows. |
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| Tony Gesino has been washing windows for the last 8 years. |
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| Window cleaning professional Jeff Scott explains the lifeline and work lines reporter Trish Van Pilsum will be using to scale down a 15-story condo building in Madison, Wis. |
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