Window Cleaning News

Safety counts. Even an apparently simple job, like that of cleaning the windows, can involve life-threatening risks if not done with the right precautionary measures, as this picture of a maid in a high-rise in Sharjah shows.

Housemaids put their lives in danger: Gulf News reader requests home owners to be more careful... I saw this sight in Al Majaz area of Sharjah and was left shocked! This housemaid was cleaning the window of an apartment and had stepped out almost entirely. She was standing on the ledge and trying to clean the windows that she couldn’t reach from inside. I was worried that at any moment she could fall and an accident could occur. I was in a state of shock. It took her almost an hour to clean just one window.  I request all home owners to please not ask housemaids to do such jobs. If God forbod anything bad happened, the owners would get in to trouble. Please be more responsible.

Omahan charged in connection with shots fired at window washers: A 34-year-old Omaha man has been charged with felony assault after allegedly shooting at two window washers who were working at his estranged wife’s place of business. Ryan J. Zimmerman (pictured), who is in the process of being divorced, is accused of firing at least five shots at two men while they were working from a lift on the ConAgra Foods campus on Nov. 10, said Lt. Darci Tierney, a police spokeswoman. The men, who were not injured, identified Zimmerman as the person who shot at them about 5 p.m. They said he also fired on them from inside his vehicle and once more from the end of a campus drive.

Investigators determined that the lift the men were using had been struck by a projectile, Tierney said. Officers arrested Zimmerman at his home on Monday, confiscating seven rifles and three handguns. ConAgra was granted a restraining order Thursday to keep Zimmerman off its properties. In recent months Zimmerman also has been charged with three counts of violating a protection order and two counts of domestic violence by disturbing the peace. In the ConAgra incident, Zimmerman also is charged with two counts of using a firearm to commit a felony and one count of discharging a firearm near a building. He was released Friday from the Douglas County Jail on $5,000 bail. Also here.

'Tis the season for housekeeping:  Turkey stuffed? Check. Pumpkin pie baked? Yes. House cleaned? Oops. Many cleaning businesses, some in a lull after the busy summer season, today are in a holiday dash, answering last-minute requests from harried customers. “We do typically get a rush before the holidays and we try to accommodate,” says Dee Stahl, owner of a Merry Maids housecleaning franchise in Minden. “I'll be cleaning Thanksgiving week.” Stahl employs eight cleaners but she says during a hectic time like the week of Thanksgiving, she and her office manager and office assistant all pitch in with the cleaning to meet the demand. Fitting in a week's worth of routine cleaning jobs into three days is enough to send Stahl and her office personnel out the door with bucket and broom in hand. Stahl says she gives priority to her regular customers who make up 80 percent of her business. “I try not to book any one-time cleans the week of Thanksgiving,” Stahl said. “I schedule those the week before or the week after Thanksgiving.”

Carpet cleaners, too, see an uptick in demand around the holidays and during the slowdown after summer. (Carpet cleaners run a hose from outside to inside the house while they clean so most homeowners hire them during warmer weather.) “It's always a busy time of year for us. Just before the holiday, we get an influx of calls,” said Adam Carlsen, general manager with Evergreen Caret Care, the Reno-based company that covers a 70-mile radius area between Reno and Truckee, Fallon, Lake Tahoe and Carson Valley. Carlsen says it's a predictable pattern. During the holidays, the company goes back to running its full fleet of 16 trucks cleaning an average of 70 homes a day, the same schedule as during the height of summer. He says most of the customer calls for Thanksgiving will come in Monday, but that won't be a problem and is, in fact, a one of the company's competitive advantages. “We book most of our calls the day of or for the next day,” he said. “We haven't turned people away and that's part of our success.”

Even window cleaners see an eleventh-hour jump in demand around the holidays. “My biggest problem is people forget and call at the last minute to get it done,” said Chris Thompson, owner, Silver State Window Cleaning, a 23-year-old service for both residential and commercial customers. “Thanksgiving is the end of the busy season and the two weeks beforehand we're flooded with calls.” Thompson said his peak work time runs from April to the November holiday, when the weather is still nice enough for window cleaning. During the summer, he has a full crew of nine to 10 workers, which gets reduced to about seven cleaners once the cold weather settles in. During the winter, Thompson and his company work primarily for commercial customers that need to keep their windows sparkling year round, covering Carson City to Smith Valley and Reno to Lake Tahoe. Some window cleaners turn the cold weather holidays into a new line of business.

Reno Tahoe Window Cleaning, owned by Chris Poulis, employs nine to 10 men, each working 70 hours a week, both washing windows and hanging Christmas lights. The light-hanging business, which he runs and advertises as 1-877-XMASGUY, takes off from mid-October to mid-December and continues for the month of January when his crew return to take down the lights. “We slow down a little on windows, but it's our busiest time of the year right now,” said Poulis.

Gatland learning to walk again after freak fall: Warren Gatland still vividly remembers the moment he feared he would lose a leg. Life for the former All Black hooker turned successful international coach changed dramatically on Easter Monday this year, just after 8am. Gatland had woken early on a pristine Coromandel day, deciding to clean the windows at his family bach at Waihi Beach. The job was almost finished. One dirty window remained, just slightly out of reach. Gatland wouldn't be satisfied until the job was complete, so he edged closer and climbed onto the ledge of the house's deck. The rugby world was to quickly learn what happened next. As his feet shuffled along the railing, Gatland stretched to push the long-handled hose-brush higher. Suddenly he lost balance and toppled backwards. In that one terrifying moment, life as the Welsh rugby coach knew it then was turned upside down. Rugby was put in immediate perspective. He says his family was his immediate thought as he tumbled through the air.
Falling three metres on to concrete, Gatland broke both heels in the freak accident. "Straight away I knew I'd done a lot of damage," Gatland recalled. "You're cleaning the windows at the beach and you fall off and you think ‘if things had of gone bad I could have lost my leg'." As Gatland lay prone on the ground in agony, his wife, Trudy, was upstairs, unaware. Fortunately, some locals saw the accident and rushed to his aid. "There was a couple walking past. They came over to me and said ‘are you all right?' I said ‘no' and they called an ambulance. "I was rushed to Waikato Hospital and pumped full of morphine on the way there to kill the pain." Both ankles were fractured, his right particularly severely shattered from the impact of the fall. The initial advice was non-surgical intervention due to the major risk of a crippling infection from an operation. "If you get an infection in your foot or leg they are quite difficult to heal and there is the potential to lose your leg," he said.
After being given the all-clear to return to Wales, a shock setback made Gatland confront that scary prospect. "Unfortunately I had a small fracture blister that hadn't healed and it got infected. It was pretty messed up in terms of the heel and the swelling for a few months. I had a bit of nerve and tendon damage that you get from such an injury." Six weeks ago Gatland's progress stalled. He required two skin grafts - from his instep and calf - during surgery. He was back on crutches. Back to square one.

High Access expands services to London: A firm that specialises in maintaining and cleaning tall buildings has expanded into London after snubbing a takeover approach from a major utility business.

High Access, based in Openshaw, Manchester, was founded 10 years ago as a window cleaning company with a team of abseilers who could access hard-to-reach spots on tall buildings. Since then, it has diversified to provide pointing, re-glazing and cladding replacement services and has invested in truck-mounted hydraulic platforms that can reach up to 46 metres high. Window cleaning now only accounts for around 20 per cent of revenues, with the rest coming from its building maintenance services. High Access, which has 40 staff, expects sales to increase from £2m in 2011 to £2.6m this year and is forecasting revenues of £3m for 2013 as it expands. Pictured are Niel Bethell and director Peter Metcalfe of High Access.

The firm has opened a London office as it seeks growth in the capital and the south east. Co-founder and managing director Neil Bethell said: "We are also hoping to open a depot in London in the early stages of next year, which would see £250,000 of investment and create six jobs initially." He said the company was approached by a potential buyer on the condition that it expanded into London. Mr Bethell said: "We turned them down and decided to do it ourselves instead." High Access has meanwhile invested £175,000 in a new hydraulic platform, giving it a total fleet of 24 vehicles. It works on buildings at Spinningfields in Manchester, and has customers including Savills, and Jones Lang LaSalle. High Access also operates a fleet hire business for its vehicles which are not in use. Its hydraulic platforms were hired by US television station ESPN to film golf at St Andrews in Scotland.

Workplace accidents in Quebec are in decline despite recent tragedies (Montreal) - It’s tempting to conclude from the astonishing events a week ago, when explosions at two Eastern Townships factories within 24 hours killed employees, that serious workplace accidents in Quebec are growing. They’re not. In fact, reported Quebec work-related fatalities have mostly decreased in the last few years — while accidents in general have been slashed by 36 per cent, from 143,000 a year in 2007 to 91,030 in 2011. And, added Jacques Nadeau, spokesperson for the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CSST), Quebec has the fourth lowest accident rate in Canada, far ahead of Ontario or British Columbia. The death rate for work-related accidents in Quebec in 2009 was 5.16 per 100,000 workers. In Ontario, it was 8.06, and 5.74 in British Columbia. “And the 5.16 in Quebec came down from 6.43 in 2005,” Nadeau added. But that does not mean that the situation is rosy. For one thing, these numbers do not include work-related fatal illnesses that eventually kill employees. “Some guy will work in height (on a crane, a half-finished building or window-washing). He’s got a great, very secure, very effective harness — brand new. It’s literally his lifeline. Except that he leaves the harness in his truck while he’s working up there.”

After Campaigning from the Pulpit, Right Wing Churches Must Lose their Tax Exempt Status: Many Christian churches serve a useful purpose, do not campaign from the pulpit, and contribute to their communities, and maybe they should be commended for doing what Jesus commanded.   However, they should not be treated any differently than any other American who volunteers, donates, or helps their community and still pay taxes. The Constitution is explicit about two things; religion must be kept separate from the government, and every American is equal, and until every church, temple, and preacher is held to the same standards as a carpenter, waitress, or window washer, America will remain steeped in inequality and communities, states, and the federal government will be deprived of much needed revenue. America gives enough preferential treatment and entitlements to the rich, corporations, churches, and the oil industry, and in the spirit of equality, it is time for Americans to demand that the government ends all subsidies and insist that churches, like the wealthy, start paying their fair share.

ALBANY — Former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi, whose precipitous fall from power was one of the major scandals to hit state government in recent years, will be out of prison in time for the holidays. Hevesi, 72, was granted parole after a hearing Wednesday at the Mid-State Correctional Facility in Oneida County. After his scheduled release on Dec. 19, he's expected to return to his home in Forest Hills, Queens. "He served 19 months and did so without complaint and lament and accepted responsibility and is anxious to go home and see his family," said Bradley Simon, Hevesi's lawyer. But Hevesi's longtime adviser, Hank Morris, was refused parole, with officials saying they feared he might commit more crimes if he was let go. Both decisions were announced Thursday. Board members also acknowledged Hevesi has health issues and concluded that he was unlikely to commit any more crimes. Hevesi has previously been described as a model prisoner and, in a hearing a year ago, said he worked as a window washer on his ward, cleaning dozens each day.

James Ciccotti, bridal-shoe designer: I'm here seven days a week. I can't imagine someone else doing what I do. It's not that I can't trust somebody else; I'm just so used to doing all aspects of my business, right down to the window washing. I could pay a guy $10 to do it, but he's not gonna wash the window the way I'm gonna wash the window.

A window cleaner has been spared jail after a “terrifying pub brawl” in which his father was seriously injured. Burnley Crown Court heard how father-of-two Daniel Sharples (31) had struck the first blow in a fight with members of a family with whom there had been a long-standing feud in the trouble at the New Black Bull in Padiham on September 23rd. Sharples, said to have been “fuelled by alcohol” had then been part of a large melee at the premises and continued the incident by returning to the scene. The defendant, who is self employed, had earlier admitted affray before Pennine magistrates and had been committed for sentence.  Sharples, of Kings Drive, Padiham, was given 30 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, with 180 hours unpaid work.

His father Ivan Sharples (49) was seriously injured in the brawl and suffered broken bones and head injuries. He was left with a fractured skull. Mr Richard Taylor (defending) told the hearing he was ashamed of his behaviour when he saw it on the CCTV recording. He was a hard-working man, was building up his own business and was keen to carry on doing that.

Sentencing, Recorder Andrew Long said the melee must have been terrifying. The judge told Sharples: “You know the consequences of what can happen when people start to fight because of what happened to your father that very night.” The judge added the defendant had been out of trouble for seven years and had been living a law abiding and productive life.  Recorder Long said: “I hope you are able to put this matter behind you and return to your law abiding life.” 

Conman strikes twice in village near Winchester: A doorstep conman has twice stolen £40 from a pensioner in Colden Common. He pretended to be a window cleaner but only cleaned the ground floor and said he would return to finish the job. No-one returned to finish cleaning the windows. Police are appealing for information and warning residents about the incident which happened last Saturday morning at Sunningdale Mobile Home Park. Later that afternoon the same offender returned and told the victim that the supports on his mobile home were rusty and would need to be repaired or replaced.
He told the victim he would do it for £300 which was dropped down to £60 and finally to £40.  The victim handed over the £40 believing the offender had the supports in his vehicle. Having taken the money the offender disappeared, driving off in his vehicle. The man police want to speak to is described is white, between 35-45 years old, with short dark hair, clean shaven and wearing a black suit, white shirt with a black tie and knee length brown boots. PC Jonathan Duggan said: “I would like to warn residents, especially elderly and vulnerable members of the community, against the dangers of people cold calling.  I must stress that under no circumstances should money or bank details be handed over to cold callers.”

Cruel conman tricks OAP twice: A conman twice stole £40 from a pensioner in Colden Common. He pretended to be a window cleaner but only cleaned some windows and said he would return to finish the job, but never did. The incident happened last Saturday morning at Sunningdale Mobile Home Park. Later that afternoon the same offender returned and told the victim that the supports on his mobile home were rusty and would need to be repaired or replaced. He told the victim he would do it for £300, which was dropped down to £60 and finally to £40. The victim handed over the £40 believing the offender had the supports in his vehicle. Having taken the money the offender disappeared, driving off in his vehicle. The man police want to speak to is white, between 35-45 years old, with short dark hair, clean shaven and wearing a black suit, white shirt with a black tie and knee length brown boots.

Guisborough trader made thousands selling fake designer goods: A trader supplied his estate’s teenagers and schoolchildren with fake designer gear - earning tens of thousands of pounds. Stuart Davie, 51, from Guisborough, was caught with counterfeit Rolex watches, Barbour jackets and Nike trainers which he admitted he had been selling in the town for years. He bought them in bulk from wholesalers in Manchester, and more than 100 boxes of products were seized from his home and from a storage container in North Skelton in raids on August 31 last year. Prosecutor Harry Hadfield said that Davie had no registered income between 2005 and this year, and he had filed no tax returns and paid no tax to HM Revenue and Customs. But the proceeds of counterfeit goods had allowed him to pay £39,000 into his bank and on credit card payments between 2006 and last year, and in 2008 he obtained a second mortgage of £68,000 to pay off his former wife after their divorce. The repayments were met. Mr Hadfield said the taxman and legitimate manufacturers were Davie’s vicitms. He said that Davie had a good lifestyle and he was buying a home abroad, financing foreign travel, and paying a mortgage which he falsely obtained by claiming to be a window cleaner.

Local business brightens up Broughton St. with window cleaning: (SAVANNAH, Ga.)-  Within a half day, water, a squeegee, some muscle, and a willingness to "give back," turned dingy, clouded windows into gleaming, crystal clear types along Broughton Street in downtown Savannah. Employees with Fish Window Cleaning in Savannah cleaned the neglected windows of properties along Broughton Street that do not have tenants.  The company offered this service for no charge to anyone. "We decided that we wanted to do something to brighten up Broughton Street for the holidays," said Tom Rokosz, owner of Fish Window Cleaning Savannah. "Savannah windows over a while if they're not maintained get dusty, pollen, lots of stuff on them and people start writing little comments on them and everything," said Rokosz.  "We wanted to make Downtown look sharp." "Giving back to the community, especially this time of the year--your efforts should be applauded," said Wednesday's guest co-host David Mihuta to Rokosz.

O'Hare workers plan to protest proposed cuts (Chicago) - Union workers will gather  at O’Hare Airport Wednesday to protest a new contract that could cost hundreds of workers their jobs.  United Maintenance is taking over custodial services at O’Hare on December 15th, leaving more than 300  airport janitors and window washers in limbo. City officials say United Maintenance won the 5-year contract with the “lowest responsible bid.” The new jobs are non-union.  Current workers who are re-hired will lose seniority and could start over at the lower, entry-level pay of $11.90 per hour plus benefits.

This is the final instalment of our business quotations series. Perhaps fitting, then, that we end with wealth. The creation of wealth is, after all, the ultimate purpose of business. “If I was as rich as Rockefeller I’d be richer than Rockefeller, because I’d do a bit of window cleaning on the side.”

Ronnie Barker (pictured), comedian (1929–2005).