Window Cleaning News

Click to enlarge. Police smashed through windows on the 23rd floor of a Khalidiya tower block to rescue two window cleaners who became trapped in their cradle 23 storeys up with high winds battering them. The cables holding the cradle had started to weaken.

Amazing rescue: Strong winds, 25th floor, 2 stuck on Abu Dhabi ledge. Asian cleaners saved in Khalidiya from certain death. Abu Dhabi Police have rescued two Asian cleaners from falling from the 25th floor of a building under construction in the Khalidiya area of the city. The workers were in danger of falling down because their scaffold had been damaged by strong winds. Colonel Mohammed Ibrahim Al Amri, director of Emergency Management and Public Safety, said the police moved immediately with an ambulance after the operations room received information about the workers’ plight. The Civil Defence team had to break the glass façade of the building to secure the scaffold because of strong winds. The workers were taken to Sheikh Khalifa Hospital for medical tests which confirmed that they were in good health. Captain Abdullah Al Tamimi, head of customer service and public relations of the Directorate-General of Civil Defence in Abu Dhabi, urged contracting and building maintenance companies to get scaffolds serviced and ropes checked for strength regularly.

Winds accompanying a sand storm which hit the capital caused the scaffolding to swing heavily. The Central Operations Department at Abu Dhabi Police received a report on the incident, bringing the Al Falah rescue quickly to the site along with an ambulance, according to Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Ebrahim Al Ameri, Deputy Director of Emergency and Public Safety Department. After clearing the surrounding area to ensure the safety of the workers and pedestrians, Abu Dhabi Civil Defence had to break the glass window where the workers were located, because of the challenges which the wind posed in moving the scaffolding.

Photo shows a window cleaner removes graffiti from the glass door of the Academy of Arts in Berlin, on July 3, 2012. The slogan reads: “We now have a mixture of Drachma and Euro.” Unemployment in the 17-country eurozone hit a record high of 11.6 per cent in September, official figures showed Wednesday, a sign the economy is deteriorating as governments struggle to get a grip on their three-year debt crisis.

Eurozone unemployment hits new record of 11.6 per cent as economy slips toward recession. Spain had the highest rate in the eurozone; Greece may yet surpass that. Unemployment in the 17-country eurozone hit a record high of 11.6 per cent in September, official figures showed Wednesday, a sign the economy is deteriorating as governments struggle to get a grip on their three-year debt crisis. The rate reported by Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, was up from an upwardly-revised 11.5 per cent in August. In total, 18.49 million people were out of work in the eurozone in September, up 146,000 on the previous month, the biggest increase in three months.

Office staff must get expert to open windows:  Office staff in Wiesbaden have been told to get an expert to open the window whenever they want fresh air after a colleague was hit by a pane of glass that fell from the building – just months after all the windows were checked. A woman employee at the social court housed in the building was hit by the 150-kilo pane of glass as she went into work on Monday morning. “She is a large, fit woman, and was able to briefly hold the window and twist herself away to the side so it only hit her on the shoulder and foot,” Sandra Bolten, spokeswoman for the court told Thursday’s Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper. Just a few months ago all 2,000 windows in the state justice ministry complex were inspected and more than 200 replaced after judges and staff sweated their way through the summer with the windows closed because of construction problems.

Now staff are outraged that the problem was obviously not fixed then – and they are again banned from opening the windows themselves. Employees of the building management firm HSG Zander have been put on call to open windows as and when the government workers ask. Wiesbaden police have launched an investigation into why the window was faulty, despite it being inspected just months earlier, as have HSG Zander. The process could take a while though, a company spokesman said. The complex was built by a private contractor as a Public-Private Partnership, the Frankfurter Rundschau said. Around a million euros are thought to have been saved by contracting the windows from a Chinese company rather than one from nearby Mainz. Siegfried Huhle, head of the local craft guild, said he had watched the construction of the complex two years ago, and that there had been problems with the windows from the beginning. “It was a difficult business from the start,” he told the paper. Now the problem is that the windows cannot simply be sent back to China, he said.

Extreme Window Cleaner Faces Probe: Health and safety chiefs have launched an investigation after a window cleaner was filmed working 40ft up - without a harness or ladders. The video of the video cleaning working on a building in Bath, Somerset, has been uploaded on to YouTube. Passers-by stopped to watch the daredevil climb out of a top-floor window and over a balustrade before clambering around pillars. And on the level below, he inched along narrow ledges above windows, again without safety gear. But health and safety officials at the local council were less than impressed and have launched an investigation. Another probe was started by a restaurant in the building, where a spokesman said: "We were shocked. We take health and safety extremely seriously." Featured before in blog here.

Greenpeace Clippy calls for clean Microsoft data centres - "Microsoft's most recent data centre announcements show that is it continuing to build in locations such as Wyoming and Virginia in the United States that are attached to dirty energy," Greenpeace said in a press release. "Microsoft has yet to put forward a plan to power its data centres with clean and not dirty energy." The environmental activist organisation says that Google and Facebook are doing a good job on this front because they've adjusted corporate policy to make renewable energy a priority whenever they pick a new data centre site. But Greenpeace  has problems with other internet giants, including Apple and Amazon. In the past year, it's sent window-washers to Apple stores and scaled the side of Amazon's headquarters, trying to pressure the companies to change their ways.

Men In Kilts, Canadian based Franchisor expands to US East Coast: Men In Kilts, a full-service window cleaning, gutter cleaning, siding cleaning and pressure washing company, officially announced their grand opening in Philadelphia (Bucks and Montgomery Counties), Pennsylvania on November 1st, 2012. Men In Kilts is already Canada’s largest window and exterior cleaning company and is expanding fast into the US, with plans to be in every major market by 2017. Local owners, Herb and Kate Madara live in the Abington suburb, fifteen minutes outside of Philadelphia. Before exploring the world of franchising, Herb Madara worked as a high voltage power lineman. After injuring his knee as a lineman, he decided it was time for a change. His research led him to many business opportunities, and he and his wife ultimately decided on a Men In Kilts window and exterior cleaning franchise.

“I wanted to be in business for myself, but not by myself. The team at the Men In Kilts corporate office and all their franchise owners were so supportive during our research. The further I looked into it, the more I realized the huge opportunity in the window cleaning industry and the whole concept of wearing the kilt is just awesome. Everywhere you go, people approach you with a smile on their face. Everyone wants to know what the kilt is all about, and some even want to take pictures with you,” says Madara. When asked if the crews will still be wearing kilts in the frosty Philly winters, Madara replies, “Of course! We’ll make sure the guys have something warm under their kilts!”

The 48th Chicago International Film Festival announces the winners of its competitions: The Silver Hugo for Best Short Documentary goes to PARADISE (USA). With a moment of calm daybreak followed by harnesses, ropes, and the calculated preparation of a great heist movie, director Nadav Kurtz drops the audience of his short film PARADISE into a meditation through the perspective of three Chicago window washers. Topically a film about men at work, this documentary incorporates fluid camera movements, beautiful photography, steady editing, and a lovely yet understated guitar soundtrack. The subjects discuss marriage, growing old, death, the afterlife, and teaching the next generation while building inhabitants continue downtown – living, working, playing, and going to Starbucks. Director: Nadav Kurtz.

Mark takes on 2,170-mile charity cycle: An epic 2,170-mile ride on a custom-built, folding cycle and nights spent under the stars using the bike bag as a bed, is the task Folkestone Road resident Mark Copeland has set for himself. The former window cleaner, currently unable to work because of a fused vertebrae in his back, is hoping the 40-day ride will raise "as much as possible" for the Cancer Research charity. The 55-year-old leaves Dover on November 15 and will travel by ferry from Dover to Calais and then ride on his self-adapted bike through France and across the Pyrenees in Spain to his destination of Gibraltar. He says he will do a lap around the Market Square fountain "for luck". On the Rock he will spend one day meeting other Cancer Research supporters before stripping down his bike, greasing the ball-bearings and assembling it again for the estimated 20-day ride home.

Mark said: "It's something I have wanted to do for a long time. I made a 20-inch wheel bike and got at far as Halt, just before Dieppe in France, but it hurt my back so much I had to turn around and come back. "Then I made my current bike. It cost £100 from Argos and had 18 gears. I have turned it into 27 gear bike with racing cranks and tri-bars across the front. This means I am across the front and only have to turn my legs. There is no problem with my back if I stay in this position. "I have never done it for charity before. The library helped me to do leaflets and set up a justgiving site."

Arnold Greenberg, a Founder of Snapple, Dies at 80: Arnold Greenberg, who began his career selling pickles and herring from a New York City storefront and went on to become a founder of Snapple, the international beverage giant, died on Friday in Manhattan. He was 80. A resident of Delray Beach, Fla., who also had homes in Manhattan and Southampton, N.Y., Mr. Greenberg had been ill with cancer for some time, his family said. In 1972, Mr. Greenberg, who was by then running a health food store in the East Village in Manhattan, joined forces with two old friends, Leonard Marsh and Hyman Golden, to sell fruit juices to health food stores. A part-time concern — Mr. Greenberg retained his store and Mr. Marsh and Mr. Golden kept the window-washing business they ran together — the juice business performed modestly in its early years. Pictured, Arnold Greenberg, right, with Ivan Lendl.

MI boys soccer coach Steve Newman passes away at age 58: The Mercer Island High School athletic family lost one its kind souls. Steve Newman, the likeable longtime Mercer Island High School boys soccer coach, passed away on Friday morning at age 58 from an apparent cardiac arrest, according to his older sister Valerie (Newman) Sils. Newman owned his own business, Steve's Window Washing, for 35 years and had small businesses and home residences as his clients. The Newman family will have a memorial service during the first week of November at a site to be announced on Mercer Island. "He was just a real genuine guy," Sils said.

West Reading man killed Kosovan gangster in cash row: A Kosovan gangster who made a fortune robbing parking meters was executed when he demanded a £250,000 debt from a criminal associate. Cima Sogojeva, 27, was shot and stabbed by West Reading man Lundrim Gjikokaj, 30, after arranging a meeting at the victim’s flat to hand over the money. Jurors at the Old Bailey heard how Mr Sogojeva, who made hundreds of thousands of pounds stealing from parking meters in London, had threatened to hurt Gjikokaj and his family if he did not come up with the cash. He was found in a praying position in his living room with three bullet wounds and stab wounds to his head and neck. Following his arrest, Gjikokaj, from Western Elms Avenue, claimed it was “just a coincidence” that he had visited the victim only minutes before his death.
But jurors convicted him of murder after a trial at the Old Bailey last Thursday. Judge Nicholas Browne, QC, jailed him for life with a minimum of 28 years. The court heard Mr Sogojeva arrived in the UK in 1998 and had an English girlfriend as well as a wife and child in Kosovo. Bobbie Cheema, prosecuting, said he claimed to be a window cleaner but was involved in “a very lucrative form of theft from parking meters in the London Borough of Westminster”. In 2008 Mr Sogojeva, having lost £177,000 when police raided his safety deposit box, gave Gjikokaj a large amount of money for safekeeping. A few months later in July 2008 he asked for it to be returned. Jurors heard Gjikokaj was already £100,000 in debt and had probably gambled away Mr Sogojeva’s cash. He regularly visited casinos in Reading and on one occasion blew £64,000 in a single visit.

Smith: Partisanship creates division, block progress - There’s too much outside money in politics and the result is elected officials who listen to the wishes of their contributors rather than to the needs of their constituents, says Jeff Smith. Name: Jeff Smith, Age: 57, Party: Democrat, Hometown: Eau Claire, Family: Wife Sue, two daughters in college, Education: Eau Claire North High School, Professional background: Former, longtime owner of Bob Smith Window Cleaning. “I’m not a career politician,” said Smith, remembering a complaint he heard from a man while campaigning before the last election. “I said, ‘I’m not a career politician. I’m a career window washer,’” recalled Smith, who was first elected to the Assembly at age 51 and until recently ran the business started by his father.

Vancouver Window Cleaning currently owns the only Skydrowasher in Canada. Skydrowasher is a robotic window-cleaning device manufactured by Sky Pro, that provides a safe and expedient cleaning method for large commercial buildings.

Compared to traditional window-cleaning methods, which involve a person precariously suspended several stories above the ground, a robotic window cleaner is 100% safe while also cleaning more efficiently - and considerably faster. Unlike human window washers, Skydrowasher leaves no streaks as it both washes and rinses windows with filtered water.

Vancouver Window Cleaning are Vancouver window washers responsible for cleaning some of Vancouver’s largest buildings; it guarantees clients 100% satisfaction and offers a price match guarantee on a comparable service. The company uses only environmentally friendly cleaning materials and its highly experienced technicians use only filtered, ultra-pure water, leaving windows spotless and streak free when performing high rise window cleaning Vancouver.

“Our business success is built upon the repeat customer,” says Director of Marketing Brendan Huff. “Our commitment is to our clients – we provide end-to-end quality service. We retain our customers by providing superior service and using better technology. We are the only window cleaning company in the country to have a SkydroWasher– a state-of-the-art cleaning method that is both safe and expedient.”

Candy Smith is like an air traffic controller at an ever-busy airport behind her desk at Bren-Mark Window Cleaning in Valparaiso. “She keeps things taking off and landing with minimal issues,” said her boss, Don Markovich, who owns the business with his wife, Brenda. “I think most successful businesses have someone like Candy as their glue.” I heard this same word, “glue,” again and again from readers who nominated their “Doris-like” employees. It’s no different for Smith, whose current title is operations manager after climbing the company’s ladder (literally and figuratively) for 12-plus years.

“At 18, Candy started out here as a window cleaner, but Brenda knew when she interviewed her that she was special,” Don told me. “Every job Candy has had, she has shown responsibility. And she has taken on more responsibility whenever needed.” That’s another common word repeatedly used to describe these types of go-to employees — responsible. As well as accountable, dependable and even inspirational. “Our business requires a tremendous amount of attention to detail. No one knows more about individual customers, scheduling, routing, billing, and so on, than Candy,” Don said.

Smith, who’s an animal lover, a runner and a bit of a hippie, doesn’t get paid hourly or salary. Instead, she is paid on a percentage of overall sales. “This is in part due to her ability to do anything necessary to run the business,” Don explained. “I don’t know of any other businesses that pay a manager strictly on a percentage of sales. This is our way of sharing our success with the person most responsible for it — Candy.” Pictured, Operations manager Candy Smith with the office cat, Shammy, at Bren-Mark window cleaning in Valparaiso.

Most Wanted burglar jailed: A burglar on a police most wanted list has been jailed for two years. Window cleaner David Dunigan would knock on people's doors and when he got no response would break in.  A court heard yesterday how some of his victims were elderly. Dunigan, 24, was responsible for four burglaries and three attempted burglaries over a four week period this summer. He was jailed for two years after he admitted four burglaries and asked for three attempted burglaries to be taken into consideration. Chelmsford Crown Court was told Dunigan, from Old Heath Road, Colchester, was acting as a window cleaner knocking on doors at the time.

Isn't Halloween great fun? Well actually no. Apart from the inconvenience of having to keep answering the door to begging, scrounging kids who intimidate by the threat of giving you a treat, there are also the squad who leave a treat irrespective by throwing eggs at your windows. As the window in question is some 15 feet up and can only be accessed by ladder it will now cost me £15 to call in the window cleaner. Halloween? Personally I’d ban it. Tim Radcliffe, Holmfirth, Disillusioned voter.

TRAINING: With the help of Training Capt. Sam Fasciano, left, Niagara Falls Firefighter Pat Accetta dangles from a second-story window after hooking up his SCOTT EZ-Scape Firefighter Self-Rescue Accessory at the Wheatfield Training Facility on River Road in Wheatfield. The hook and break system is meant to be used as a last resort and all firefighters who enter buildings will eventually be trained to use them. In 2005, six New York City firefighters battling a warehouse fire, became trapped and fell five floors to their deaths. After that tragedy, the state mandated that every firefighter be equipped with a rope and hook that would enable them to get out a window and reach safety.

It's a skill both Fontanella and Fasciano hope city firefighters never have to use. But, after days of practicing at the Wheatfield fire training towers, both commanders are confident their trainees will know what to do in the event of trouble. "We've adopted a motto," Fasciano said. "One of our former captains, Al Evans, used to carry it on a card in his helmet. It read, 'Let no man's ghost come back and say, 'My training let me down.''

Fontanella recalled his first day as the training chief, when he was called to a bomb scare at the CSX railroad yard. "You had a possible bomb, sitting in the middle of 65 railroad cars filled with chlorine," he said. "If there had been an explosion, it would have been devastating." The next day, Fontanella needed the expertise to go rescue two window washers stuck outside the 25th floor of the Seneca Niagara Casino hotel. It's that wide range of challenges that every firefighter needs to be ready to handle.

Energy firm launches innovation support service: A Scottish energy efficiency technology company has started its own innovation support service offering entrepreneurs and inventors assistance and mentoring. Direct Savings, which has its headquarters in Livingston, West Lothian, has launched the initiative to uncover "golden nuggets" of ideas that have not been developed to their full potential. The support may involve interest-free loans to a start up, intellectual property advice, marketing support, product development or helping to develop industry contacts around the world.

Michael Donald, business development manager, says the firm is open-minded and keen to hear pitches from people of all ages. He said: "The win-win situation would be for us to find another energy efficient product we can bring to the market. "But we are opening it out wider so it could be a window cleaner requiring an interest-free loan of £1000 to start up a round but they don't have the business plan to go through the public sector process. "I really believe there are some real golden nuggets out there in the schools sector where they are creating products. "Those might get sold in the local area then die a death but I believe some of them could have greater potential. "We want to unearth the talent that is already there and will look at things on a case by case basis. "We want to help those people who have great ideas that could potentially change the world, but have no practical way to bring them to life."

Postcard from London, The View from the Shard: "It’s the best view in the world," promises Anders Nyberg, as we stand at the foot of the Shard, London’s newest landmark and, at 310m, the tallest building in western Europe. As CE of The View from the Shard — the building’s top-floor viewing gallery — he is hardly impartial, but what he lacks in objectivity, he makes up for in experience, having run the viewing galleries at Chicago’s Willis Tower and Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. "In Dubai, you have the Gulf on one side, the desert on the other — just the two aspects. In Chicago, there’s the lake, but not much out west. Here there’s such depth and richness." Along with a group of other journalists, I am being given a preview ahead of the gallery’s opening on February 1. As we assemble in the lobby there is excited chatter about the spectacle waiting up top. On a clear day, says a PR officer, you can see 64km: to the sea at Southend in one direction, or Windsor Castle in the other.

My anticipation has been building since long before this morning — for months and years, in fact, as I’ve watched the glass tower push up out of the crowded, ancient streets until it became visible from what seems like every point in, and around, the city. Long familiar prospects — from Hampstead Heath, Richmond Park, even the lanes of Surrey — have been changed by this attention-seeking new arrival; so what must the view from the top be like? Before they get to see it, visitors will pass through a multimedia exhibition on the ground floor. This is still under construction but will, we’re told, have screens showing scenes of city life, famous London quotes and some bizarre-sounding animations of celebrated residents: Dickens and Shakespeare rowing on the Thames together, Karl Marx and Margaret Thatcher on a tandem, Boris Johnson shining Ken Livingstone’s shoes.

Then come the lifts, the first rising to the 33rd floor, the second from there to level 68, each taking 30 seconds. Both feature what must be the world’s most exclusive lift music, a specially composed "uplifting" score performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. "On a clear day, you can see the whole of London," says the PR as the lift rises and my ears pop. The doors open and we hurry up the final flight of steps leading to the 69th floor — and the view. It is not a clear day. Clouds swirl around the glass walls. Windsor Castle is nowhere to be seen; we can just about make out Elephant and Castle, an ugly roundabout less than a mile away. Tickets will be timed (and limited to 200 every 30 minutes) but guests can stay as long as they like. Nyberg expects the average visit to last an hour, but I think he may have miscalculated. There’s activity too — Tower Bridge opening to allow a tall-masted sailing barge through; a plane passing at eye level; abseiling window-cleaners many floors below. If I hadn’t been ushered out by one of the builders, I could have stayed all day. 

OSHA and the International Window Cleaning Association renew Alliance to protect workers from industry hazards. Source: U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA): WASHINGTON -- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration renewed its Alliance with the International Window Cleaning Association (IWCA) to address slips, trips, falls from heights, and the safe use of high-reach access equipment such as ladders and scaffolding in the window cleaning industry.

'Falls are among the most common causes of serious work-related injuries and deaths in the window cleaning industry,' said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health David Michaels. 'We look forward to continuing our work with the IWCA to provide workplace training and education to help ensure that workers are aware of on-the-job hazards and reduce injuries throughout the industry.'

During the two-year agreement, the Alliance members will develop effective training and education programs for window cleaning contractors with low literacy and limited English speaking workers on the recognition and prevention of workplace accidents cleaning windows and solar panels. New and existing materials will be translated to help train and educate Spanish-speaking workers, who comprise about 50 percent of the industry.

IWCA is a non-profit trade association representing more than 500 national and international member companies that employ more than 10,000 workers. Through its Alliance Program, OSHA works with businesses, trade associations, unions, consulates, professional organizations, faith- and community-based organizations, and educational institutions to prevent workplace fatalities, injuries and illnesses. The purpose of each alliance is to develop compliance assistance tools and resources and educate workers and employers about their rights and responsibilities.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance.