Window Cleaning News

Qatar window washers - Window washers from Nepal rappel down the curved facade of the Tornado Tower in Doha, Qatar. The Tornado Tower, one of Doha's most notable landmarks, is 52 stories high, and was built by Munich-based SIAT Architekten between 2006 and 2008.

Qatar's carbon emissions per capita are the highest in the world and three times as high as the United States'. According to the Living Planet Report, produced by the World Wildlife Fund and the Global Footprint Network, among others, if every human being lived like the average Qatari, the Earth would need nearly five times more resources than it has. As it is, humans are using 50 percent more resources than the Earth can replenish in a year. In other words, humans use the equivalent of 1.5 planets per year. By 2030, humans will use the equivalent of two planets each year.

Window cleaner accused of armed raid on Glasgow pub walks free despite cigarette DNA: A window cleaner accused of an armed raid on a pub has walked free – despite his DNA being found on a cigarette butt at the crime scene. Alan James was cleared at the High Court in Glasgow of robbing the city’s Old Schoolhouse pub of £5000 and mobile phones. Detectives found the fag dout, which tested positive for his DNA. They also said there was a strong smell of smoke in the west end building, where the smoking ban is enforced. But lawyers representing James, 52, argued that as he had been cleaning the pub’s windows the day before, the ciggie could have been trodden into the crime scene on a policeman’s shoe. The court heard that an officer was wearing boots with a heavy tread. There was also no sign of a fag having been extinguished at the scene.

Judge Lord Kinclaven said: “I have the conclusion that even taking the evidence at its highest there was insufficient corroborative evidence of identification to entitle a conviction. “I’m satisfied that the prosecution evidence was insufficient in law to justify him being convicted of the charge.” It was alleged that James and another man, whose identity is unknown, were masked and armed when they entered the pub and tied up employees Charles Morton, Alastair Ingles and Martin Harvey. But James denied being involved in the robbery on August 29 last year.

The court heard two robbers, who wore black balaclavas, struck at 8am as one of the employees was working alone. They threatened him with a knife and demanded cash. When the other workers arrived, they were also threatened. All three were tied up before the raiders escaped. In 1998, James and another man blackmailed bachelor lawyer and East Fife chairman Julian Danskin, who was convicted of filming young naked men cavorting in his office and his home

What has happened to whistling? It has been suggested that the habit seems to have died out. These days, chaps sauntering in the street are more likely to be on their phones or listening to iPods. Last week I discovered one place, at least, where whistling survives: in a men’s changing room. I went for a swim for the first time in yonks and there, as they dressed and undressed, the males were all emitting that good old-fashioned tuneless noise. I suppose it was meant to be a sign of nonchalance as they stripped in the presence of strangers, and also, perhaps a sort of warning signal: “Look out, I’ve got a bare bottom and I’m about to appear suddenly around the corner at the end of the lockers.” Or: “Attention! Soapy nude emerging from shower.” It’s also a warning signal used by window cleaners. They whistle while they wipe, as a way of telling us where they are in the house or which window ledge they are on. It’s also to reassure us, for they couldn’t whistle while simultaneously pocketing our jewels or reading our private correspondence.

I guess the window cleaner also wants to portray nonchalance. His whistling says: “You may feel a bit uncomfortable having me wandering around your house with my bucket, but actually I feel perfectly at home.” Men, doing something technical, which needs concentration, like rewiring a plug or unscrewing a tiny screw, also whistle. This, again, is a warning signal. It says: “This is much more tricky than you realise. Don’t say anything to distract me.” A man who whistles – and surely it’s nearly always a man – is telling people he is quite content in his own company. That’s why it’s tuneless. If he produced a recognisable melody, some stranger might come along and join in and make it a duet. What an intrusion that would be.

City launches probe after skyscraper damaged by window cleaning equipment in high wind - Winds push swing stage chains into glass: After being forced to close a downtown street for more than half a day for window repairs, the city is investigating after several windows on a skyscraper were broken in a windstorm. The windows were smashed by the ropes and chains that held a swing stage - which is used for window cleaning, but was at ground level in this case - that hit the windows when the winds picked up on Wednesday. Emergency crews closed down 5th Avenue S.W. between 6th and 7th Streets by the HP Tower. "From our understanding, the wind pushed some of the equipment related to swing stages and it made impact with the windows. It wasn't a window failure," Marco Civitarese, Calgary's chief building inspector, said Thursday. The city is now looking for documentation on the swing stage operation and will look to see if best practices were being followed. The owner is ultimately responsible for what happens at the building, Civitarese said. He said no other downtown buildings experienced any wind-related issues.

The city's new wind monitoring system used by the construction industry was not activated on Wednesday. "There is an interest from, I can say, building officials, building owners and managers are engaged with us towards applying the same type of technology, but we're just making headway into that right now," Civitarese said. Environment Canada did not issue a wind warning, either. Meteorologist Bill McMurtry said the winds were "pretty significant," but did not meet wind warning levels of a steady 70 km/h and gusts up to 90 km/h. At the Calgary International Airport, recorded winds were between 61 and 72 km/h. At Canada Olympic Park, it was 39 to 56 km/h, and 39 to 52 km/h at the Springbank Airport.

Fire crews were dispatched to the scene just after rush hour to secure the shards of glass from the broken windows. The road was closed to cars and pedestrians until just before noon Thursday. Fire department spokesman Jayson Doyscher said there were "several" broken windows. "Securing them (was) the biggest concern just because of the broken glass. It's a safety hazard for anybody going by that building." No one was injured.

Operation bids to tackle benefit fraud: Police are working with East Lothian Council and the Department of Work and Pensions to tackle benefit fraud in the area. Officers from East Lothian Community Action Team worked with housing benefits, Department of Work and Pensions and Trading Standards, carrying out checks on building contractors, gardeners and window cleaners in Gullane, Dunbar, North Berwick, Aberlady, Archerfield, Haddington, East Linton and Gifford. Community Sergeant Andy Doig said: “Benefit fraud is a considerable drain on the public purse, especially in today’s financial climate. This is an ongoing initiative and we will continue to carry out random checks throughout East Lothian to identify those fraudulently claiming benefits.”

Be Wary of Door-to-Door Solicitors: With nicer weather upon us, the Wakefield Police Department is advising residents to be wary of any sales men or women who show up on their doorsteps selling products or services. All solicitors in Wakefield must apply for a solicitor's license according to the town's bylaw. A licensed solicitor will display a small lanyard to note they've been registered with the town. Lt. Calabrese said people tend to go door-to-door to offer paving, window washers, tree work, yard work, chimney repairs, and similiar services. A couple of weeks ago, a resident reported seeing a man driving a red pickup truck with a Maine license plate in a neighborhood going door-to-door to solicit tree company services from New England Tree Company. However, when police followed up with the company, the owner said they were not currently doing any work in Wakefield. Then last week, a home in the neighborhood was broken into during the day. Police can't say for sure if the two incidents are related; however, they are advising residents to be aware. "We would like to know if someone comes to your door asking to get rid of the leaves in your backyard or a chimney person or someone offering to wash your windows, and they're unregistered," said Lt. Calabrese.

'Window cleaning' gang burgled sheltered housing: A gang of teenagers equipped themselves with a ladder and buckets to break into a first-floor flat, Worcester Crown Court was told. After the burglary of the sheltered accommodation in Rowan Court, Worcester, last November Olive Colburn, who was visiting a neighbour at the time, found that £170 had been taken from her flat. One of the thieves, Thomas Raymond, had since handed back £70, but she had been so distressed by the burglary that she was determined to move. The alarm last November had been raised by complex manager Suzanne Parr, who had seen the gang on CCTV carrying the ladder, buckets and sponges, said prosecutor Charles Hardy. Recorder Mark Wall QC said: “Window cleaning at night might well raise suspicions.”

Power Washer Fumes Cause Green’s Farms El Evacuation: Students and teachers at Westport’s Green’s Farms Elementary School were evacuated briefly before 11 a.m. today because fumes from a roof power washer had entered the school through the ventilation system, according to fire officials. “The readings that we received were below any danger limits,” said Assistant Fire Chief John Plofkin. “They were very minimal. I think the big concern was based on the odor.” According to Plofkin, the exhaust from the gasoline powered washer came in through the heating and ventilation duct, “and it started to fill the corridor with the odor.” “The prinicipal was notified, and they pulled the fire alarm to get the people out,” he said. “But all was safe. From the time we arrived until they were letting people back into the school, it only took 30 minutes. We just opened the window and did a meter reading.” Based on the readings, at no time were students or teachers in any danger, he said, and no one reported any ill effects, Plofkin said.

Need Volunteer in the Des Moines area: The Alzheimer’s Association is looking for someone to volunteer to wash our windows, outside and inside, and do some other cleaning. You would need to be able to provide your own window washing equipment and ladder and any other cleaning equipment. Contact Lana Rold at 440-6383 ext. 111 or Lana.Rold@ alz.org.

Cynthia Joyner Memorial Fundraiser a community success: A three-minute phone conversation between Daniel Howerton, owner of Clearvue Window Cleaning Service, and myself on April 28 became the best day in the history of Westridge Grill. Daniel and I discussed getting a service package together from local businesses to raffle. We discussed oil changes, painting services, pressure washing, window cleaning, lawn maintenance, car stereo devices and food certificates. We made several phone calls the following few days and we only had a few businesses with us. By May 1, we had more than 50 items for our raffle and began getting larger items. With the help of Chris Collie, owner of C & C Industrial, I decided to get an auction together. The next day, customers that have known Cynthia Joyner over the years at Westridge heard that we were doing a fundraiser and began buying items to raffle. With customer donations and business donations, we had over 150 items to raffle or auction. We also had memorial T-shirts for sale, as well. We sold out of them, but we have more being printed. The Cynthia Joyner Memorial Fundraiser on May 3 was very successful. On behalf of Cynthia’s family and myself, I want to thank each and every person that helped us put this event together.

RESCUE CALL: Window washers were stuck near the 26th floor of the Seneca Niagara Casino when their scaffold malfunctioned at 1:26 p.m. on May 10. Firefighters were preparing a rope rescue system from the roof when the scaffold became unstuck and the window washers were able to lower themselves down.

‘No Filipina committed suicide’ (Kuwait): The Philippine Embassy in Kuwait brushed off a report published on local dailies about a Filipina who committed suicide as untrue. The Head of the Assistance to Nationals Unit at the Philippine Embassy Dalidig Ibrahim Tanandato upon reading the news on the local dailies on Thursday dispatched embassy attaché Muamar Hassan to check with the police authorities in Jabriya and verify the report about the housemaid who allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself with a rope in her sponsor’s home in Jabriya. “According to police authorities in Jabriya, there was no report about a Filipina who hanged herself to death,  however, there was a  Filipina household service worker who jumped off the second floor of her employer’s house in Jabriya last May 22 and was rushed to the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital. Her case number is 270/2012,” informed Tanandato.

Based on the information gathered by Hassan, the 40-year old Filipina household service worker who hails from Antique Province in Southern Philippines suffered minor bruises in various parts of her body and her medical record shows that she sustained mild hemorrhage in her brain due to the fall.

“Mar Hassan visited the Filipina HSW at the hospital and according to her, she did not commit suicide. She was cleaning the windows alone on the second floor when she heard someone, some voice telling her to jump, prompting her to jump,” pointed out Tanandato. The Filipina HSW informed the embassy attachÈ that she has no problem with her employer as everyone in that household has been good to her. She has been with that household for six years now. Meanwhile, Tanandato appealed to the local media to exercise due diligence in verifying reports before publishing them.

Milagrow launches robotic window cleaner: It is an auto glass cleaning robot that returns to its starting position when the cleaning is done. Milagrow Window Cleaning Robot comes in two units; one is responsible for the cleaning and the other takes care of navigation. "The units are kept together by Neodymium permanent magnets that you can adjust to suit the thickness of different windows, from 5mm to 28mm. It has options of manual cleaning, using a remote control, or auto cleaning by setting it in a zigzag motion in 1-click," said a company spokesperson. Milagrow Window Robot sends an alarm beeping sound when the cleaning session is through or if it needs recharging when the batteries are low. A fully charged unit can clean window panes for up to two hours. It can clean a square meter of glass in ten minutes, said the company. At the launch, Rajeev Karwal, Founder Director of Milagrow said: “By launching the world’s first window cleaning robot in India we are demonstrating our commitment to our vision. More such products will be launched by our company in the immediate future.”

Raining Glass: A stretch of Simcoe Street shut down due to falling glass reopened on Tuesday morning after a 12-hour closure. The glass fell from the two outer window panes of the 30th or 31st floor of the RBC Centre at 155 Wellington St. W. around 7:30 p.m. Monday, crashing onto Simcoe Street. No one was hurt. There’s no word yet on why the glass fell out, a spokesperson for property owner Cadillac Fairview Corp. Ltd. told CityNews.  Two damaged panes have been removed and crews are working to remove a third pane, and all window panes were inspected again. Cadillac Fairview and RBC Centre will be investigating to find out what caused the glass to dislodge. Glass fell Tuesday from the fifth floor of a condo under construction at 15 Legion Rd., police said. On March 24, glass fell from a top floor of the Trump International Hotel and Tower on Bay Street, prompting police to clear nearby streets. Two separate class-action lawsuits were filed, also in March, in response to glass falling from downtown condominiums last summer.

Even in hard times, there's help in starting a biz: Mike Mikeworth, project director for the WTIN, is man who has worn just about every hat in the business world, including previously working in workforce development for the 19-county West Central Texas Council of Governments, being an employee of Frito Lay, and owning his own small business, Clean Image window washing service. He knows what it means to be laid off, and he knows what it’s like to start a business from scratch. His started his window washing business in 2009 with $300 in old equipment given to him by a friend with a similar business. He brings all that knowledge to the table at the West Texas Innovation Network , which is funded by a Texas Workforce Commission grant, area foundations, and economic development agencies in the 19-county WCTCOG region. One of the projects sponsored by the WTIN is a monthly Mentoring Forum that pairs local business owners with aspiring entrepreneurs.

The Way We Are: Autism in 2012, published by The National Autistic Society (NAS) to mark its 50th birthday. Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how a person communicates with, and relates to, other people. It is a spectrum condition, with some people able to live relatively independent lives but others needing a lifetime of specialist support. People with Asperger syndrome, a form of autism, are often of average or above average intelligence. The survey shows young people with autism often share the same hopes and aspirations as other children. Among the young respondents were aspiring actors, musicians, chefs, racing car drivers, doctors, pilots, Manchester United players and police officers. Others wanted to be Lego builders, window washers, scrap yard owners, writers for Dr Who and computer games inventors. They talked about their aspirations to be happy, get married, have friends and get the jobs they wanted.

Back to basics: In the aftermath of the property boom, there is a lot of value to be had in the property management market, but agents need to reflect the changed environment in their charges, Brian Keenan, Managing Director of Keenan Property Management (KPM) tells Lorraine O’Hanlon - Since founding his property management company in Dublin 15 years ago, Brian Keenan has seen the rise and fall of the property market.As a result of the straitened economic circumstances, services such as landscaping and window cleaning are now becoming “a luxury of the past” for many property owners, but Mr Keenan says that KPM has gone back to basics in this regard, placing an emphasis on value. “We recognise the fact that customers are having difficulties paying service charges and a lot of these service charges are maybe in a development for the last five, ten years and in many cases, especially new blocks that we are taking over, the previous managing agent has not really worked to reduce the ongoing costs and service and many of these costs are reflective of the Celtic Tiger years,” he says. “This industry had done very well out of the good years, the whole boom in property and everything else, and it needs, as an industry, to recognise the fact now that people have serious financial difficulty and they need to be driving the cost down and taking silly charges out of the whole equation.”

Things we learned about selling a billion-dollar tower (specifically, Scotia Plaza) from Canadian Business: When Scotiabank announced in January that it would sell its red granite skyscraper, analysts speculated it would go for well over a billion dollars. If they’re right, that would be the most ever paid for a single office complex in Canadian history (and would make CIBC’s $618-million sale of its Commerce Court complex in 2000 seem puny). So, why exactly is Scotia Plaza worth so damn much? A recent Canadian Business feature both profiled the tower and explained exactly how one goes about selling a billion-dollar building (hint: it’s not quite the same as selling your house). Selling a landmark tower is more work than your average real-estate deal. There are dozens of people involved on both the buying and selling sides, including a bevy of experts to assess environmental, structural and financial concerns and future demand for the space. Commercial brokerage giant CBRE, which is handling the sale with Scotia’s real estate group, will prepare a confidential market document likely to run more than 50 pages—if you don’t include leases, which add thousands more to the file. Plus, there’s primping to be done: new furniture for the lobby, or an extra window cleaning, for instance.

How to Stop Birds from Flying into Your Windows: Ever found a beautiful bird dead outside your home? Chances are it smashed into your window and never recovered. For every dead bird you find, just imagine how many were snatched up by a cat or pulled into the brush by some other critter. Worldwide, window collisions kill close to a billion(!) birds every year. After habitat loss, the greatest threat to wild birds may be glass windows. NYC Audubon started Project Safe Flight in 1997 to address the issue in New York City. Daniel Klem, an ornithologist at Muhlenberg College, estimates that close to a billion birds are killed every year by flying into glass. A study he conducted, with NYC Audubon, found 1.3 birds killed per hectare per year in an urban setting, which works out to over 90,000 birds per year in New York alone.

All bird species are vulnerable, although migratory songbirds are the main victims. Most are killed instantly, but others succumb when they are stunned and fall prey to gulls, rats, or other predators. We have rescued over 1,200 birds, persuaded buildings to retrofit their more dangerous windows, and published Bird-Safe Building Guidelines to help architects and designers develop solutions in new buildings. Private homes as well as skyscrapers endanger birds. Most home owners have heard the unpleasant thump that means a bird has hit a window; many have also found bird carcasses near their windows. Birds do not see the glass as a solid barrier; they see reflections of trees or sky or a fly-through to open space beyond. This should come as no surprise, since even people occasionally walk into glass doors. For a person it is merely embarrassing, for a bird it is often fatal. Homeowners can reduce the collisions and save bird lives in a number of ways: - Bird feeders (three feet from a window), installing a pattern on a window,  placing vertical tape strips (at a maximum of 4 inches apart or horizontal strips a maximum of 2 inches apart), ABC BirdTape, window paints & gel clings. Also check out Birds fatally blinded by glass on Pa. buildings.

The Somerset County Office Building has windows — lots of them. “I don’t know how many windows it has, but the courthouse has 133 and the office building has more,” said Dan Gindlesperger, head of the county’s maintenance department. Surprisingly, the county doesn’t have a problem with birds hitting the windows. “I don’t remember it ever happening,” Gindlesperger said. “I don’t know why.” Greg Chiappelli, director of corporate communications for Somerset Hospital, said the hospital doesn’t have many bird deaths either, possibly because the majority of windows have blinds in them. Not so, Dr. Daniel Klem Jr., professor of biology and Sarkis Acopian professor of ornithology and conservation biology at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, said in a telephone interview. Birds are dying, but either scavengers are carrying them away or the birds hit windows then go into nearby vegetation and die where they are not seen.

“What it takes to find out how many birds are dying is an active and systematic way of looking for them,” he said. “A guy I know lived in Detroit and moved to Denver. He asked people in the Audubon Society about birds hitting windows there and they said it’s no problem. So he called up window washers. They said yes, they pick up dead birds all the time. It is happening everywhere.” He estimates that as many as a billion birds die each year in the United States because they flew into windows. “Forget about the Exxon Valdez oil spill, pesticides and windmills,” Klem said. “They are pikers compared to windows. More birds are killed at sheet glass rather than any other human-associated avian mortality factor.” He has been studying this for more than 30 years. The problem with plate glass is that it is invisible to birds. “And people love to buy bird seed and place bird feeders outside of their windows,” he said. “That kills birds. The best predictor of the strike rate is the density of birds in the vicinity of glass, the vegetation, water and feeders.”

If you want to have a bird feeder, he suggests you either place it less than three feet from the window or more than 15 feet away. Don’t rely on an individual hawk silhouette because birds don’t detect it as a threat unless the silhouette is moving. You can hang a soccer-goal-grade net several inches in front of a window or in new construction install the glass slightly out of the vertical to aim reflections downward. Multiple decals or hanging strings in windows may help. New technologies include a special type of glass called “fritted” that is etched with closely spaced rows of small circles that birds can see. There is also glass that has elements in the ultraviolet light spectrum that humans can’t see but birds can. The American Bird Conservancy is testing prototypes of bird-friendly glass at a bird-banding station near Pittsburgh. “Glass manufacturers are the long-term solution,” Klem said. “Nobody wants to kill innocent birds — they are beautiful creatures.”

Drug addict snatched Blackburn boy’s phone: A heroin addict who snatched a 13-year-old boy’s mobile phone has been jailed for 13 months. Patrick Leggatt convinced the teenager and his friend to help him look for a puppy in Blackburn town centre which had apparently run off. The 36-year-old then asked the youngster for the time, but as he pulled out his mobile phone to find out, Leggatt snatched it from him and ran off. Police recovered the phone from a window cleaner who had bought it off Leggatt for £30 hours after the theft. Leggatt admitted he had immediately spent the money on heroin.

 

William W. Twardy of Crompond Dies at 83: Twardy was born on Jan. 26, 1929 in New York City to Wasyl and Catherine Twardy. He married Anita Ignatik on June 21, 1952. He was a longtime member of the Window Cleaners Union and started working in NYC. Starting in 1959, he was working in Peekskill for Reliable Window Cleaning until he retired in 1993. The man was known to family and friends as a world-renowned clammer earning the nickname name Clambo.

RIP Levittown historian and WWII veteran Steven "Sonny" Buczak recently passed away at the age of 87. Buczak also started a window cleaning company after his return from the war, and his mother Mary Buczak sponsored 200 displaced Ukrainians. "They had to have an American sponsor and a job - Steve employed them in his cleaning business, cleaning over 600 homes in Levittown," Kirby said. For Buczak's service in the Air Force during WWII he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the highest medal the air force gives.