Window Cleaning News

Nikol Window Cleaning Wet Wipes: Nikol window cleaning wet wipes, the Hogla-Kimberly Clark brand in Israel, is presented as the best way to clean windows in this print advertising campaign from Israel. Barack Obama, Queen Elizabeth and Nicolas Sarkozy are shown with their faces squeezed against windows. “Stop using newspapers”.

'Say No To Cold Callers' Week. Trading Standards Institute National Campaign: Residents are being urged to use traders whose work has been vetted and turn away cold callers as part of a week-long national campaign. The Trading Standards Institute's National Consumer Week begins today (November 12th) with a 'Say NO to cold callers' theme. Its key messages are:

• Never deal with cold callers, they could be anyone
• No means no!
• If the person on your doorstep or in your house is not leaving when asked, they are committing a criminal offence.

Derbyshire County Council is backing the campaign and encouraging people to use its Trusted Trader scheme which is the largest of its kind in the country with over 1,300 members. Councillor Kevin Parkinson, Derbyshire County Council Cabinet Member for Regeneration, said: "Our Trusted Trader scheme means there is absolutely no need for any Derbyshire resident to ever employ a cold caller. "Over the four years it has been running, Trusted Trader has built up a strong reputation for excellence. "Every single member of the scheme has been checked out by our trading standards officers before joining and Trusted Traders are not allowed to cold call for business. "We want people to be confident that the trader they are employing will do a good job at a fair price."

The Trusted Trader register is accessible on line or by phoning Call Derbyshire on 08456 058 058. Its 1,300 traders have 222 different trades - ranging from accountants, face painters, and oven cleaners, to mobility aid companies, window cleaners, joiners and dog trainers. The County Council produces door and window stickers which advise doorstep tradesmen not to cold call at a property.

Window washer rescued from seventh-floor in Deerfield:  A window washer got stuck on his suspended scaffolding equipment around 3 p.m. Friday afternoon while cleaning a seventh-floor window at 520 Lake-Cook Road, reported Lt. Jim Victor of the Deerfield-Bannockburn Fire Protection District. Victor said the fire department personnel helped him down using a ladder truck. The man was able to climb down without injury. Ambulances also responded, Victor said, because the department didn’t know the scope of the situation. The scene was cleared within 20 minutes.

Hong Kong’s Falling Windows Spark Fears: Dozens of windows have shattered at two of Hong Kong’s high-end residential developments in the past year, calling attention to what experts say is an industry-wide problem with a material widely used to construct skyscrapers around the world. In more than 90 incidents at The Arch and Larvotto, panes of tempered glass—some measuring as large as 16 square feet—have shattered and in certain cases pieces have also fallen out of their frames, raising safety concerns among residents. In the past year, similar incidents have been reported in places from Toronto to Texas.
The culprit behind such breakages, industry experts and engineers say, is nickel sulfide, a kind of imperfection in glass that expands when exposed to strong heat. With enough temperature fluctuations, such impurities make tempered glass vulnerable to spontaneous breakage. While experts say such breakages are inevitable, lawmakers have said they will raise the issue in the city’s legislature, including whether the city’s regulations for testing such glass are sufficient. At the moment, the city requires that all tempered glass be heated to temperatures of around 280C for at least two hours, a process used to detect any areas vulnerable to breakage. Two hours is the standard in many countries, including the United Kingdom, but experts say that longer testing times could help reduce incidents of breakage.

The Arch, which is located in one of Hong Kong’s priciest neighborhoods, has seen nearly 60 windows shatter since 2008, or about 0.4% of its total 14,000 panes of glass, according to developer Sun Hung Kai Properties. The company says it has been investigating the issue since 2010, and that emergency teams have been set up to respond within one hour of any breakage. Workers at both The Arch and Larvotto are monitoring the buildings with binoculars to make sure that any fractures are quickly noted and dealt with. If left alone—for example, if the apartment is unoccupied—the glass runs a higher risk of actually falling out of its frame to the ground below.

Chichester burglar given prison sentence: A window cleaner has been jailed for three years after being found guilty of a burglary in Chichester. Daniel Hobden, 30, of Victoria Drive, was found guilty at Brighton Crown Court on Thursday (November 8) for a house burglary at East Row, in Chichester, on July 19, 2012. The court heard Hobden had been working as a window cleaner at flats in East Row when an occupant of a first floor flat heard a window at his property open and close and then discovered money had been taken. The victim called police and Hobden was arrested on suspicion of burglary after he was seen to attempt to discard money.

After he had been found guilty the court heard Hobden had been previously convicted of more than 12 offences of house burglary. He was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. Detective constable David Midgley of the West Sussex crime investigation department said: “This is an example of a quick-thinking homeowner assisting police to bring an offender to justice. “The sentence handed down also shows just how seriously the courts view individuals who choose to commit crime in our homes. I believe this sentence sends out a strong deterrent to would-be burglars that if you commit crime in Sussex you will be actively pursued, arrested and prosecuted.”

Father blamed handbags theft on toddler daughter: A father of four, who blamed the theft of expensive designer handbags on his two-year-old daughter, has avoided prison. Window cleaner Spencer Russell stole £10,000 worth of clothes, shoes, and accessories, from a home his wife was paid to look after while the owner was away. Russell, of Melbourne Close, Banbury, stole from the house in Souldern, near Bicester, between July and November last year. And the 47-year-old put stolen items up for sale on Internet auction site ebay, Oxford Crown Court heard last week. But when homeowner Barbara Camm spotted items missing he said his daughter had taken them to play dressing-up. And when he returned some handbags, he planted dummies and sweet wrappers in them. He later admitted the crimes and on Friday was given an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for a year.

Recorder Julian Knowles said he had spared Russell an immediate jail term because he was in now work and had a family to look after. But sentencing him, he said: “You rooted through Mrs Camm’s property on a regular basis, sorting out what tasty morsels you wanted to sell for yourself. “Rather pathetic excuses were given that perhaps your two-year-old daughter had put them in your car.”  He added: “This was a nasty, underhand, unpleasant crime.” Russell was also told to do 200 hours of unpaid community work and to pay his victim £500 compensation.

Mike Bolek, 59, passed away at Hospice House on Nov. 4, 2012. He died from an unusual and aggressive form of prostate cancer and the family encourages others to get tested sooner rather than later. Mike was born in Ravenna, Ohio, on March 14, 1953, to Stanley and Ludmilla (Zagar) Bolek. He was raised in Phoenix, Ariz., and graduated from Camelback High School. After graduation he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corp and served 13 years. He was attached to the USS Midway during the Vietnam War, usually attached to the Air Wing, but also served as a drill instructor and recruiter. In the late ’80s he moved to Coeur d’Alene to raise his family. He worked for the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office for six years. Also successfully established Arise and Shine Window Cleaning Service, a family owned and operated business.

Cleaning of tiled walls and hard floors with a pressure washer is a popular choice for contract cleaners and facilities managers because it is fast and highly effective. However, one drawback of using high pressure for this kind of task is that a lot of splashing can occur and the water used for cleaning is left standing on the ground. As well as the obvious recontamination from foot or vehicle traffic, standing water creates a potentially severe trip hazard. Kärcher's highly innovative FRV 30 hard surface cleaner provides a superb solution to this. The device attaches to a pressure washer to clean floors and walls quickly and very thoroughly, and features a Venturi system that automatically pumps cleaning water away - meaning that the object being cleaned dries more quickly but with no extra power or water being used. 

Because no waste water is left standing, the FRV is ideally suited for use indoors in tiled areas. Whether used indoors or out, it dramatically reduces the downtime of the area being cleaned or simply the time taken to manually clear away the water. As well as reducing cleaning time, the FRV 30 consumes no extra power than the pressure washer it is attached to: it uses the power of water to create its vacuum. The FRV 30 can be used with hot or cold water pressure washers at temperatures of up to 60°C.

Shining light Stephen offers great window of opportunity: People from all walks of life are getting behind the Post's 5 Tons of Tins campaign. Collection boxes have been distributed to more than 50 businesses, shops and pubs. The project seeks to collect five tons of tins to fill the city's food banks this festive period. Window cleaner Stephen Brazier is the owner of Reflect Cleaning Solutions and will be taking two boxes for customers to fill with tins with him in his van. The 43-year-old said: "We've got a large customer base and we want to collect as much as we can. People will hopefully have their tins ready. "It's an incredible idea for people in a desperate situation and it's really good that there are people concerned about it. "A tin or two is nothing to most of us but it could be a dinner for someone. A couple of tins here and there will really add up." Stephen has stuck an advert for the campaign on his van and will promote the scheme to customers.

People camp overnight for SJ food pantry - San Jose, California:  People in need are camping overnight at a San Jose food pantry. Sacred Heart Community Service is giving away thousands of food boxes for the holidays. At Sacred Heart the line continues to grow. People are sleeping in the cold and some are even waiting in line with their small children. One couple we spoke to came prepared. "We brought blankets, and food, snacks, and a tent. See what we do for our kids?" said one woman. They're all waiting for a box of food for the holidays. Starting Friday morning, people in need will be able to reserve a box for Thanksgiving and another one for Christmas. Families will also be able to sign up for toys for the little ones. Sacred Heart anticipates giving away over 7,000 food boxes and over 16,000 toys. 

"Some of them have part-time jobs where they used to have full-time jobs and they're really struggling right now, especially with so many years of the recession, they're assets are drying up very, very quickly," said Jay Pecot from Sacred Heart. Julian Loredo is thankful he'll have food for the holidays. He says he's had a hard time making a go of things. His window washing service never got off the ground. "Nobody wants to pay nothing. I mean, I even went down to as little as $10 to do a power wash on a mobile home and they didn't even want to pay $10," said Loredo.

'Save our car park' plea by Waterfoot traders: Almost 1,000 people have signed a petition opposing the redevelopment of a car park in Waterfoot. Traders and residents in the town outlined their fury at a packed meeting in the Rossendale Mencap Gateway Club. Social landlord Green Vale Homes and Rossendale Council have held preliminary talks with a view to transforming the empty Mytholme House complex in Burnley Road East into 21 houses. But campaigners argue the demolition of a 33-space free car park on the site would have a serious impact on footfall in the town centre as it is used by hundreds of shoppers each day. Around 80 people attended the meeting.

Window cleaner Ronnie Harvey said there was ‘unanimous opposition’ to the proposals. He said: “We’ve seen how businesses in Cloughfold have struggled because of double-yellow lines outside their shops. “Waterfoot is probably thriving more than any other town in Rossendale. If they lose that car park, shops will close. “There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s always full. We all want something done about the building but leave the car park and children’s playground alone.” Mytholme House has been vacant for five years and has become a hotspot for gangs causing vandalism.

Serious and organised crime and anti-social behaviour were the focus of Strathclyde Police's Operation Myriad: The two-week initiative, which ended on October 26, also saw almost 70 litres of counterfeit vodka taken off the streets of East Kilbride and officers also targeted window cleaners who were operating without a licence. Strathclyde Police teamed up with organisations such as the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA), Trading Standards and South Lanarkshire Council to carry out road blocks.

Small firms want changes to sick pay rules: Small firm bosses say they should not be made to foot the bill if workers take unnecessary risks with their health and end up claiming sick pay, the Telegraaf reports on Friday. The paper says the economic downturn means small firms are increasingly unwilling to take on new staff partly because of the requirement they fund sick pay for workers who become injured outside work. ‘To ensure small firms continue to generate jobs, we have to break through the taboo which says there is no difference between work-related and private risks,’ Mark van der Horst, the chairman of the small firms' association MKB in Amsterdam, told the paper. In total, some 850,000 people work in the sectors where employers are urging change, the Telegraaf says.

‘A window cleaning company with three employees cannot carry the extra cost of losing a colleague to injury,’ Frits Huffnagel, chairman of the Fokwa small firms association said. The situation in the Netherlands with regard to risk is skewed, Huffnagel said, pointing out that employers would be responsible for paying staff who were injured while taking part in a riot. However, the FNV trade union federation dismissed the plan as ‘unsavoury’. ‘No-one goes on a skiing holiday to break a leg,’ a spokesman said. In Dutch law, employers are responsible for paying sick workers at least 70% of their salary for two years. Many pay deals include a top up to 100% in the first year.

GOBLES, MI -- Cheerleaders from Gobles High School, with help from a few volunteers, have followed through on a promise to store owners in downtown. Before the Gobles football team went to the playoffs, the cheerleaders went door to door asking store owner to let them show support for the Tigers by writing motivational messages on storefront windows. "We were trying to motivate our boys," Alexis Pierson said about the messages cheering on the Tigers.

Now that the team has lost, having been eliminated from the playoffs last week by Pewamo-Westphalia, Gobles cheerleaders spent more than an hour going window to window Wednesday cleaning off what they had written. Many of the stores had to trust that this year's group of girls would clean up afterwards. A different group of students did the windows last year, Pierson said, adding "they didn't wash it off and all the stores got pretty mad." After all was said and done, the community came together to support their Tigers and the store owners had their faith in the students reassured for the future. 

 I would be willing to trade it for a free gutter cleaning  or a nicely framed copy of the United States Constitution.

And finally....  The woman who has a phobia of toilets: A woman from Wales is so scared of toilets she flees when one is flushed -fearing she will be swallowed up after developing a phobia in childhood. Ney Decino, 20, has an irrational fear of toilets and struggles to go to the bathroom without a family member to flush for her. Her phobia is so bad she must work close to home so she can use the only toilet she feels safe on. Decino has been scared of using toilets since the age of four when she saw a talking toilet in 1990s Hollywood film Look Who's Talking Too. In the film the character The Toilet Man, screams he wants the child's urine while posing with big eyes, sharp fangs and a creepy voice which has stuck in Ney's head ever since. She has set up a Facebook group to help fellow sufferers and admits her phobia is silly, but cannot escape from the power it holds over her life.