$13.1375 Million To Window Cleaning Survivor

Alcides Moreno: Alcides, a window washer, was working when a malfunction caused the platform to send him and his brother Edgar down 47 stories.

'Antin Ehrlich & Epstein' Helps in Getting Amount of $13.1375 Million to Survivor Who Fell from Roof of Building (New York, NY): The lawyers of 'Antin Ehrlich & Epstein' have helped the survivor to get a claim of $13.1375 Million from the owner of the building. The worker fell from the 47th floor of the building due to the negligence in safety.

Antin Ehrlich &Epstein, a well-known law firm for accident and injury attorneys has helped a survivor who fell from the roof to get the amount of $13.1375 Million. The settlement was done by one of the NYC personal injury lawyers at Antin. Sources have confirmed that the survivor is the window washer. He was cleaning the widow of a 47 story building. Due to negligence in safety by the building owners and the scaffolding company for the worker, the survivor fell from the 47th floor of the building. Though, doctors were able to save the life of the window washer.

Speaking to the media, one of the lawyers of the law firm said, "This case was really important for us. We wanted that the survivor should get justice. Every life is precious. We had the complete evidence that the person fell from the building because of safety negligence."

The lawyers of 'Antin Ehrlich & Epstein' argued about the safety measures in the court and asked to settle the situation if the owner of the building pays the amount of $13.1375 Million to the survivor. The case was settled in New York. Also here.

Alcides Moreno - Window Cleaner Walks For Charity

HUMAN SPIRIT: Alcides Moreno, who survived a plummet at Solow Tower (left), walks in an Arizona fundraiser. Click to enlarge.

He survived 47-floor plunge — and now walks for charity: He’s a walking miracle. Alcides Moreno, the Midtown window washer who survived a terrifying, 47-story plunge when his scaffolding broke on Dec. 7, 2007, has made a stunning recovery.

Moreno, now 43 and living with his family near Phoenix, drives his kids to school and volleyball matches, works out at a gym — and finished a 3.1-mile walk to raise funds for a church food pantry. His time: a respectable 57:26, or 18.30 minutes per mile. “I don’t know why I’m still here, still alive, walking,” he told The Post. “Maybe it’s a gift God gave me. My kids think it’s because I never wished bad things to nobody else.”

Moreno, who settled a multimillion-dollar suit against scaffolding company Tractel Inc., said he’s taking life after the catastrophe — which killed his brother, Edgar, 30 — one step at a time. “I can’t complain. I have my kids and my wife around me. I’m happy — happy to be here,” he said. “I gotta keep going, live day by day. That’s the way I’m healing.”

Alcides Moreno “rode” the scaffold like a surfboard, an updraft slowing his fall. When the scaffold struck a fence, Alcides was thrown onto a pile of cables in an alley.

Alcides defied death on a cold morning six years ago last month. Then age 37, he and Edgar, sent to wash the dark glass face of Solow Tower at 265 E. 66th St., had just stepped off the roof onto the scaffold when it collapsed. Edgar toppled off the 1,250-pound scaffold, tumbling at a speed estimated at up to 124 mph. He hit the top of a brick wall and was killed. But Alcides clung to the aluminum platform, like a surfboard in the sky. It created wind resistance that — aided perhaps by a random air current rising between the buildings — slowed his descent, physicists surmised. It also blunted the force of crashing into a concrete alley.

But doctors and scientists were still stumped. “Fifty percent of people who fall four to five stories die. By the time you reach 10 or 11 stories, just about everyone dies,” Dr. Sheldon Teperman, director of trauma and critical-care surgery at Jacobi Medical Center in The Bronx, said at the time. “This guy absolutely should have died.”

The scaffold bounced on the ground and the twisted metal frame came to rest around a corner of the building.

Firefighters and paramedics found a bloody, banged-up Alcides atop a pile of mangled railings and cables after his 500-foot fall. He was breathing. They gingerly lifted Alcides and took him to New York-Presbyterian, where he received 24 pints of blood and 19 pints of plasma. That’s enough to replace all the blood in his body twice over. He underwent 16 surgeries to repair 10 broken bones, collapsed lungs, damaged kidneys and blood clots in the brain, among other injuries.

On Christmas Day, 18 days later, he spoke for the first time since the accident. “What did I do?” he asked his wife, Rosario. Moreno’s next stop: Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange, NJ, to begin a long, bumpy road to recovery. “I do think it’s a combination of miracle, luck, hard work, great care and great family,” Kessler’s medical director, Dr. Steven Kirshblum told The Post. “What we see is the true triumph of the human spirit.”

Moreno would undergo a regimen of physical therapy to strengthen his legs and regain balance; occupational therapy — for relearning tasks like grooming, hygiene and dressing; speech therapy and mental exercises to rebuild thinking skills and memory. He also underwent psychotherapy to cope with his brother’s death. “I felt really depressed for years about the loss of my brother. He was so huge to me,” Moreno said, his voice dropping. “But I have my family, my kids. I had to let it go and continue with my life.”

KEEPING THE FAITH: Wife Rosario is in disbelief at the hospital days after the December 2007 window-washing horror.

The Morenos have three children: Andrew, 12, Mariah, 14, and Michael, 20, who attends a local community college in Arizona. Moreno, too, plans to take a course to improve his English, saying he never had the chance to go to college. “I finished high school in Ecuador, and there was nothing else to do. That’s why I emigrated to this country — to look for a job.” Moreno can’t work again, at least not in the foreseeable future.

A Manhattan Supreme Court judge found Tractel at fault for shoddily installed cables suspending the scaffold from the roof of the high-rise. Solow Tower was also found liable. The case was settled before trial for an undisclosed sum. A source said it was much more than the $2.5 million awarded for Edgar’s family in Ecuador — the brother “died instantly, leaving a wife, mother and father who were only minimally dependent on him,” court records state.

The Morenos, who lived in Linden, NJ, chose to move to Gilbert, a suburb of Phoenix, after a Google search, Moreno laughed, for a community with good schools — and a warm climate. “This weather is good for my bones. My bones feel great,” he said. “Yes, I miss New York — not the weather, though, the people,” he added.

In his new routine, Moreno said, he stretches his muscles at the gym and walks one or two miles a day. He said he still walks slow but conceded that the Turkey Day 5K in 2011, to benefit a Catholic food pantry, was a big accomplishment. When he joined the walk/run, coordinators and the 1,500 other participants had no idea Moreno was NYC’s miracle window washer. “It’s incredible,” said race director Casey Brown. “You can’t even tell anything happened to him.” “I keep it to myself,” Moreno said. 

More on Alcides Moreno:

Walking Miracle

Alcides Moreno

High Rise Window Cleaning & A Free Fall Survivor

Scaffold Collapse Recalls Previous Tractel Disaster

The failure of the window-washing machinery high atop Hearst Tower ended well Wednesday, when both workers on board were rescued by first responders. That wasn't the case in 2007, when a window washing accident sent two brothers on a 47-story free fall. The lone survivor filed suit against Tractel, one of the companies that maintained the scaffolding system. I-Team reporter Chris Glorioso reports on that incident and the possible connection to the latest scaffolding incident.

Scaffold Collapse Recalls Deadly '07 Accident: Two window washers plummeted 47 stories from a collapsed scaffolding on the Upper East Side in 2007. The two workers who were rescued from a collapsed scaffold atop the Hearst Tower Wednesday were not hurt, but a similar incident on the Upper East Side years earlier left one man dead and another with serious injuries. In 2007, two window washers, who were brothers - were working on scaffolding alongside 265 E. 66th St. when the structure plummeted 47 stories to the pavement.

The surviving brother, 43-year-old Alcides Moreno, filed a lawsuit against Tractel, the company that helped maintain the Upper East Side window washing scaffold that fell. After that accident, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued Tractel three serious citations for improper installation of parts that supported the platform’s load.

Marketing literature published online shows Tractel is also the company that provided a window washing scaffold that looks identical to the one that failed Wednesday alongside the Hearst building. Tractel "provided a unique façade maintenance unit” for the Hearst Headquarters, according to the product information. Tractel personnel had not returned the I-Team’s phone message seeking comment at the time of this article's publication.

It is not clear if Tractel was responsible for installing or maintaining the window-washing mechanism atop the Hearst Tower. The two workers who became stranded were technicians for Tractel Harness, according to first responders. The New York Department of Labor regulates window washing scaffolding mechanisms. In 2008, state labor regulators issued Tractel a notice of violation for failing to maintain the scaffold that collapsed at East 66th Street. The initial investigation found the hoist rope was attached to the scaffold with a faulty compression device.

Back in December 2007, when two “window washing” brothers—immigrants from Ecuador—plunged 47 stories from a luxury apartment building on the East Side, we marveled that one of them survived the fall that killed his brother instantly.  37-year-old Alcides Moreno was considered the “miracle  man” who was able to walk again, after grieving the death of his brother, Edgar. At the time, PIX 11 did a special report on the sometimes-fatal dangers of window washing, especially when the scaffold is faulty.  It turns out the high-tech scaffold being  used at the Hearst Tower on 57th Street, where two window washers were rescued Wednesday, was operated by the same, Long Island City company that was fined thousands of dollars in the fatal 2007 accident involving the Moreno brothers.  When contacted by PIX 11 Wednesday, a Tractel Company representative who answered the phone said, “In regards to the Hearst Building, we have no comment.  Please direct your questions to the Fire Department of New York.”

Man trapped in midtown Manhattan scaffold collapse says feared he'd be ‘crash-test dummy’ ‘You see everything happen in front of you. All I heard was the metal snapping,’ reveals survivor Victor Caraballo. Clinging to a broken scaffolding suspended 44 stories above midtown, 26-year-old maintenance man Victor Caraballo feared becoming a “crash dummy.” A day after he and coworker Stephen Schmidt, 49, endured a heart-pounding, 90-minute scare 450 feet up the face of the Hearst Tower, the Bronx man said he was lucky to be alive to tell the tale. “If anything goes wrong, I’m the crash dummy,” Caraballo told the Daily News Thursday of the fear that ran through his mind as firefighters raced to the rescue.
Caraballo, who lives in the Bronx with his mom and two pit bulls, said he has an “ordinary job,” but the horror above W. 57th St. proved his work takes guts. He said he and Schmidt were conducting a test drop of a window-washing rig about 2:45 p.m. when suddenly an average day turned into a thriller. “It was pretty scary at first,” said Caraballo, who works for Tractel Inc. “You see everything happen in front of you. All I heard was the metal snapping.” Despite dangling from the twisted scaffolding, praying for help to arrive fast, Caraballo described the incident in retrospect as a rare “technical difficulty.” “I have gotten stuck plenty of times, but not like this,” he said. “The way this happened it was pretty scary, but you deal with it.”
Still, he couldn’t suppress thoughts that “if it goes, I go with it.” Firefighters from Rescue Co. 1 executed the high-rise heroics with aplomb, cutting a hole in a 44th-floor window of the glass-and-steel skyscraper to pull the men to safety. “When the FDNY sent me the safe line, I knew everything was fine,” Caraballo said outside his Bronx apartment building, happy to be on terra firma and to have the day off. “They responded fast. Everything went good. I was very appreciative of what they did for us.” As soon as he was rescued, he called his mother. “She was a little shaken up,” Caraballo said. “She hates my job to begin with. So this makes her not want me to go back to work.” But Caraballo said he’s not about to give up his job, even for his mother. “Of course it crosses your mind,” he said of the occupational hazards. “But you got to stay positive. You don’t want to think like that.”

Spotlight On Fatal Falls from Height

Stephen Wainwright.

Closure for Ilkley mum 7 years on from son’s fatal fall: The mother of a window cleaner who fell to his death seven years ago yesterday said she felt a sense of closure after planting two trees to remember her son. Pat McPherson said it had been seven “heartbreaking” years since Stephen Wainwright died after falling from a fifth-floor balcony while cleaning windows at a block of flats in Wells Road, Ilkley.

But yesterday, Mrs McPherson planted two trees at Ilkley cemetery in honour of her popular son, who had been cleaning windows for 20 years when he died in March 2005. She said it was a good opportunity for friends and family to remember the 44-year-old Leeds United fan, after attempting to set up a memorial with the club over the years.

However, it was not possible and now Mrs McPherson said she was happy to plant the cherry blossom and acer trees in the cemetery grounds thanks to money donated from Mr Wainwright’s friends and his family over the years. “It’s been seven heartbreaking years,” she said. “All his friends collected money for him and they’ve been very good and still come round to see me now. “He had friends from the ages of 14 to 80 and the number of people who got in touch after he died has been amazing. “He would have liked this.”

Mr Wainwright was born in Otley and moved to Ilkley with his mum when he was six years old. He was a former pupil of Sacred Heart School and St Mary’s School, Menston. He later studied art at Keighley College. He liked being a window cleaner because it kept him outside. An inquest into Mr Wainwright’s death heard it was likely he had either been leaning on railings inside the balcony trying to clean a kitchen window or was on the outside of the balcony holding on to the rail.

Indonesian Maid Falls to Her Death in Singapore: An Indonesian maid fell 13 storeys to her death last Saturday while reportedly cleaning windows. The 23-year-old fell from her employer’s home in Pasir Ris Street 71. Residents told Chinese newspaper Lianhe Wanbao that they heard a loud thud and saw a wooden bamboo clothes pole next to her body. Her employers declined to comment. A police spokesman said they were alerted to the incident at around 4:45 p.m. that day.

The maid was pronounced dead at the scene and the police have classified the incident as an unnatural death. Investigations are ongoing. Last month, a 28-year-old Indonesian maid fell seven floors from her employer’s Jurong East condominium after reportedly losing her balance while cleaning windows. Between 2006 and 2010, 27 maids died as a result of falls from heights. The figure includes accidental falls and suicides.

Faced with a spate of falling deaths in the 1970s, New York City undertook a campaign over education and regulations that reduced the number of deaths from 40 to 50 annually to just four by 1980.

Emirates act on window deaths: Sharjah saw four children plunge to their deaths in the space of two weeks in late November-early December. Two more followed in Abu Dhabi, one at the end of January 30 and again four days later. The three-year-old girl who plunged to her death in January from a fifth floor apartment at Airport Road in Abu Dhabi had nearly met her fate four weeks earlier, when she was rescued by a policeman who noticed her leaning out of a window in her home. Adults are not immune from the problem either: Last week, a 23-year-old Ethiopian cleaning woman met her death after falling. “Many people don’t use air conditioning, starting in December or November,” Michal Grivna, who teaches in the UAE University’s department of community medicine, told The Media Line. “When there is cooler weather they tend to open the windows instead of using air conditioning.”

At least two of the emirates are now doing something to address the phenomenon. Abu Dhabi’s Municipal Affairs Department announced on March 13 that it was giving homeowners six months to meet new standards of safety. These include rules that windows and balconies must not allow openings in excess of 10cm (4in). Locks and protective measures must also be in place for windows and openings that are less than 1.5m (5ft) above the apartment floor. A week earlier, Sharjah issued similar instructions, including a requirement that building owners increase the balcony height to at least 1.2m instead of 1m and that windows should be child-proof so that without the aid of an adult they could not be opened wide enough for a child to climb out. 

Fall: Alcides Moreno & wife Rosario.

Miraculous survival stories: Window cleaning brothers Alcides and Edgar Moreno fell 47 stories when the cable securing their cleaning platform snapped in 2007. They had not been wearing safety harnesses as they washed the New York apartment building’s windows and after falling 500 feet Edgar, 30, was killed instantly. Married father-of-three Alcides, then 37, was left in a coma with multiple fractures of his ribs, right arm and both legs as well as damage to his spinal cord. Alcides not only made a full recovery but was able to walk again. Dr Philip Barrie, from New York-Presbyterian Hospital, said: “If you’re a believer in miracles, this would be one. I’ve seen it all – or at least I think I have – until something like this happens.”

High Rise Window Cleaning & A Free Fall Survivor

The Vindow Viper (by Daniel Walters): Hanging on a string above the streets of Spokane, pictured is West Coast Window Cleaning employee John Peterson as he clings to the side of the Spokane Arena. How much would they have to pay you? Andy Oliver’s dangling on a rope, 15 stories up, 220 feet in the air, suspended from the top of the U.S. Bank building. But the window is four feet away — too far to reach with his squeegee. So he pushes himself away from the overhang, turning himself into a pendulum, and swings toward the building’s face. There, he finds a place to a hook in a line. All for a clean window.

For the past year, Oliver has been a high-rise window washer for West Coast Window Cleaning, the company with contracts to clean the majority of the high-rise windows in Spokane. Their clients include the Bank of America, the Spokane Arena, Spokane International Airport and Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center. Cleaning those buildings — the Bank of America building is 20 stories tall — means looking down, down, down, and making the choice to step off the roof. “I think the smaller buildings scare me more,” Oliver says. “The ground is so close.” Fall off the B of A building, and splat, you’re dead. But fall three stories and — if you’re unlucky — you’ll survive.

Oliver’s final test to be hired was a simple one. “He told me to jump off the side of a building,” Oliver says. Do that, and he’d have the job. He had a harness on, of course. But many guys balk, says fellow high rise-washer Michael Katzer. They take one look over the precipice and freeze up. The job is more “frightening” than “dangerous.” If the harnesses are hooked up properly, window washers are safe. Even if the main line gets stuck, they can use the second rope to tie a knot around their carabiners and slide down the rope. For larger buildings, the motorized “swing stage” — a hanging scaffold platform that can lift a truck — is even safer. But it can be a startling job. The rope may slip slightly if it’s not tied or if, Oliver suggests, the other guys feel like playing tricks on you.

If they aren’t careful, and the window is too old, they could come crashing through the glass with their feet. (It’s happened.) If they forget to let the rope down all the way to the ground while lowering themselves, they could — whoops! — free-fall the final six feet. The suction cups they use to pull themselves further to the left or right could pop off, sending them swinging back and forth. It can be an interesting job. While cleaning at Sacred Heart, one window washer caught a glimpse of an open-chest surgery before the surgeons shut the blinds. Sometimes, the office workers on the other side of the glass they’re cleaning will press notes against the glass: “HEY THANKS FOR WASHING THE WINDOW. IT LOOKS GOOD.”

It can be an annoying job, too. Some of the skylights sag heavy with pigeon poop — sometimes nine inches deep. There are the summer days, when the glass heats up so hot steam hisses off the window. There are the winter days, when ice scrapers join the squeegees and sponges and when windshield wiper fluid is added to the bucket to prevent the mix from freezing as soon as it hits the glass. There are the blustery days, when a 25-mph gust can swing window washers across the face of a building — compelling them to scramble for a foothold to avoid being blown around the corner. (They call it quits when the wind, rain or thunder gets too bad.) But for all that, Oliver loves the work. “You don’t have to deal with anybody [up there in the air],” Oliver says. “It’s a unique job.” It makes for a great conversation topic. It provides an unmatched setting for contemplation. And you can’t beat the views.




Man jumps 40 storeys to land on a car and survives: He suffered just a broken leg, a shattered ankle and a collapsed lung after his 10.44am leap from atop the West End Towers on West End Avenue at 63rd Street. "I can't believe this. My car saved his life," said Guy McCormack (pictured), 40, a worker at a nearby construction site who had borrowed the 2008 red Dodge Charger from his wife. Mr McCormack, of Old Bridge, New Jersey, told the Daily News he is convinced that rosary beads he kept inside the Dodge saved Mr Magill's life. Mr Magill fell more than 121 metres - and reached a maximum drop speed of about 203km/h - before crashing onto the roof and rear window of the vehicle, which was parked along the west side of the building.

Man survives 40-storey leap - Still no answers to why 'happy, fun loving' 22-year-old actor jumped from 39th floor of building: The view from the 39th floor is as breathtaking as it is deadly.

Thomas Magill (pictured), 22, sneaked into his former West End Ave. apartment building prepared to die. He stepped onto a penthouse balcony on Tuesday and jumped off - only to survive after he crashed through the back window of a sports car on the street below. "I couldn't imagine anyone surviving a fall from this height," said Conor McKenna, the resident of the 39th-floor apartment where cops think Magill took his near-deadly leap. "When I heard he was still alive, I was shocked," said McKenna, as he stared down at the busy street where people appeared to be the size of ants. "It's a long way down." Magill plunged 400 feet at nearly 100 mph before he slammed into the red 2008 Dodge Charger, landing with a boom and sending glass in every direction. Stunningly, he was upgraded to stable condition yesterday at St. Luke's Hospital. "Everything went well," doctors told Magill's parents.

Detectives told McKenna they found his apartment door open and believe Magill strode through the living room before reaching the balcony, on which a barbecue grill and potted plants sat undisturbed yesterday. "It's surreal to know someone used your apartment to do this," McKenna said. "The fact that he survived is something special." Magill, who graduated from Fordham University last year, has undergone a series of surgeries. Doctors inserted rods in his legs, rebuilt an ankle and stopped massive internal bleeding. He fell feetfirst, shattering much of his lower body and landing in a twisted heap. He survived without serious head injuries. It was nothing short of amazing, according to a doctor familiar with such cases.



"The only way to survive is to not land on your head," said Dr. John Boockvar, who operated on window washer Alcides Moreno after he survived a 47-story accidental fall from an East Side skyscraper in 2007. "You want to land feetfirst, or maybe on your side, which would spare your head and major organs," said Boockvar, a neurosurgeon at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. "You also need something to cushion the force of the impact - in this case, even the backseat would help." "The key for [Magill] will be tosurvive the next two weeks, and get through any complications from the orthopedic injuries, like infections, embolisms, pneumonias," Boockvar added. "He gets through that - he has a real chance to make it."



Magill, who grew up on Staten Island and attended LaGuardia High School of Music and Art before majoring in English at Fordham, recently starred in an Off-Off Broadway production of "Into the Woods." Though hoping for a career in theater, Magill was working as a salesman at Club Monaco, friends said. "I spent time with him this past weekend, and he was his usual happy, fun-loving self," said a friend who asked that her name not be used. "All of this is just really out of character for him." Detectives are not certain what prompted Magill's desperate leap and did not find a suicide note, police said. The owner of the $14,000 Charger turned down his insurance company's suggestion that he sue Magill for totaling his car. "That's the last thing I need to tell this kid, that 'I'm suing you,'" said Guy McCormack, a construction worker. "You look at it, but you can't believe the guy went through the roof of the car," added McCormack, who wants to meet Magill. "It's out of a movie."

Painful road to recovery: Window washer Alcides Moreno, who cheated death in a 47-story plunge in 2007, knows from experience that Magill and his family will have a tough road ahead of them. Magill escaped brain injuries, but sustained plenty of other damage. "It's not just him. It's what the family will go through, especially because he tried to jump," said Alcides' wife, Rosie Moreno, 39 (pictured). "The family is going to suffer a lot." Three years after surviving the fall from an upper East Side skyscraper, Alcides Moreno, 40, still suffers from serious mental problems.

Moreno can carry out simple tasks like walking the dog and playing with the kids. But he's forgetful, and his wife says he is not the same as before the fall. "He's not doing well. My husband still has mental problems. He forgets things," Rosie said. "I don't think he'll be the same. He's only 45% there." Yesterday Alcides Moreno was playing with their children in the backyard of their Linden, N.J., home. He retreated into the home when he spotted reporters and refused to comment, citing a pending lawsuit.

Alcides Moreno and his brother, Edgar, were working on a scaffold attached to a building on E. 66th St. when the platform collapsed on Dec.7, 2007. The pair fell to the ground - about the same distance that Magill plunged from an upper West Side building Tuesday. Edgar Moreno struck a fence, and his body was cut in half. He died on impact. Alcides Moreno wasn't expected to live either and was in a coma for several weeks after the terrifying fall. He needed 24 units of blood, had a catheter inserted in his brain and underwent at least 14 operations in the first month. Eventually, he started talking and even walking. Still, his wife insists that real recovery is a long way off.

R.I.P. Bryan Prairie + Window Cleaning News

R.I.P. Bryan Prairie: Man confirms window washer who died was his son: Bryan Prairie took the window-washing job to support his family, his father said. The window washer who fell three stories to his death at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park had taken the job this summer while looking for work as a nurse, his father said Friday. Bryan Prairie, 24, of Plymouth, was dead by the time rescue personnel arrived after he and a co-worker fell from scaffolding along the 40-foot-tall building about 3 p.m. Thursday. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office has not released the man's name, but Bill Prairie confirmed Friday that the dead man was his son.
Prairie was working for Consider It Done Cleaning to support his wife and 5-month-old son, his father said. The young man, who graduated from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D., had just passed his nursing boards in July after earning degrees in biology and nursing. The other man who fell was alert and talking soon after the accident, and was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.
In a statement issued Friday, a co-owner of the New Hope-based window washing company expressed sympathy over Prairie's death. "We were afforded a great opportunity to have him be a part of our little family, and we are heartbroken that he is gone," wrote Chris Bemis, who started the company about 10 years ago when he was in high school. Bemis did not identify the other worker, but said that he was in his 20s and described him as a "dear friend of mine" who has been in the business with him since the start.
The company has a spotless safety record, Bemis said in an interview Friday. "We've never had an incident," he said. "Never had a claim on our general liability. We've never had a broken bone. We've never even had a broken window." Consider It Done has cleaned windows at Park Nicollet for about three years, Bemis said, and "nothing has ever, ever, ever happened." Sign the condolences book here or here.

GANA to Provide Resources to WIndow Cleaners: Window washers should be prepared for a number of new glass resources that may be coming their way. Greg Carney, technical director of the Glass Association of North America (GANA), noted during the GANA Tempering Division Construction Subcommittee that GANA continues to communicate with the International Window Cleaning Association (IWCA). Carney added, “I’d say our discussions today are in a positive light.” This topic was once again under discussion during GANA’s Fall Conference, taking place this week at the Embassy Suites in Kansas City, Mo.
Carney noted that the IWCA has formed a task group for the sole purpose of meeting with GANA to talk about the issues at hand. This spring, Carney met with IWCA representatives and discussed several potential joint activities. Among those activities were: potentially developing a glass information bulletin (GIB) on best practices for fabricating heat strengthened and fully tempered glass; developing requirements for recommended window cleaning program; evaluating alternative cleaning methods jointly; updating the GANA glass cleaning documents to differentiate between using scrapers and using a small razor blade upon glass. I’d like to see us have the first conference call to talk about these issues,” Carney commented to the division members, who seemed to agree on this point. The GANA Fall Conference continues through this afternoon.

Window cleaning uses less water than taking a shower: While the Comox Valley is in Stage 2 water restrictions few residents are aware of how this affects businesses. As stated on the Regional District Website residents cannot wash sidewalks, driveways, parking lots, exterior windows, or exterior building surfaces; however, businesses in the valley are exempt from this bylaw.
Dwayne Robertson, owner of Shine-Eze Window Care, continues to work during this period, but has adjusted his business to restrict his water usage. On average Dwayne's crew of six uses 8 to 10 gallons of water a day - about the same or less than an average shower and far less than what a business such as a restaurant would use in a day. Dwayne also offers siding cleaning as part of his business but suggests customers not to have it cleaned during the summer months when water usage is a concern. In light of the Stage 2 restrictions Dwayne urges you to stick with the professionals when cleaning windows.

Different Angle: Ads are here to stay, like it or not: Sometimes I wonder if the way they advertise on TV bothers anyone else. For example, you’re engrossed in a really good movie and it comes to the most touching part and suddenly a stupid ad comes on. There are a string of ads that seem to last forever, then about five minutes of the movie and then another bunch of ads. What makes it even worse, some channels keep showing the same ones over and over until you want to scream. I’ve started muting the ads and reading the paper or working a crossword puzzle. The worst thing I do is switch over and watch another channel, get interested in that program and miss a crucial part of the movie, or maybe even the end. Even I have to admit they really have variety when it comes to commercials. They have singing ones, dancing ones, talking dogs and cats. There are talking birds for a window cleaning ad and a dog skateboarding for another.

City of Miracles: New Yorkers make comebacks after terrible tragedies -Heavenly recovery: Watching Alcides Moreno's three children gently chase him around his backyard, it's hard to imagine he plunged 47 stories from a Manhattan building less than two years ago.His recovery has been long and painful and might never be complete. But his doctors and family agree: The fact that he has come this far is astonishing. "It can be a lot sometimes, but looking at him, alive with his children, he's still our miracle," said Moreno's wife, Rosario. Moreno and his brother were washing windows along E. 66th St. when their 3-foot platform inexplicably went hurtling 500 feet to the ground.
Edgar Moreno was killed in the accident. But Alcides Moreno, 38, was sitting up and semi-conscious when rescue workers arrived. He suffered injuries to his brain, abdomen and chest, broke both his legs and an arm and fractured his ribs. Doctors at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell performed 16 operations on Moreno during his six weeks there, and many more followed. While he has come so far since the accident, Moreno still struggles.
"He's just trying to live a normal life," said Rosario Moreno, who supports the family with her job as a team leader at Union County Superior Criminal Court. "He has a hard time concentrating. Sometimes, you need to repeat stuff to him and at times he can't say some words."
Moreno takes medication for depression, his wife said, and has temporarily stopped going to physical therapy even though he has more surgeries ahead on his ankle and legs. Still, his wife and kids feel blessed to have him home. "He's not the same person," Rosario Moreno said, "but he has the same determination to keep going."

My journey deep into the heart of Glenn Beck country began when I caught a glimpse of the sobbing commentator on TV while waiting for a plane. I thought he was a televangelist at first, but it seems that he is instead a true patriot who can't suffer the reckless destruction of his beloved country by a racist African American president, among others, without tears.
"Join a Glenn Beck Meetup Group near Los Angeles," said one site, which listed fan clubs and details about tea parties and other gatherings in the name of liberty and freedom. "I'm a hard-working American guy that wants to be able to worship Jesus Christ, go shooting, say what I want and enjoy life," wrote the Santa Clarita group organizer, Jason Hole. "By the way," he added, "our government is preparing for civil unrest right now. I've seen documentation that states people will be considered terrorists if they wear blue jeans and talk excessively about the constitution. You're thinking I'm a kook, right? Look it up and you'll find it to be true."
When I called Hole, who works as a window washer, I could hear his squeegee in the background. "Glenn Beck is expressing what everybody is feeling," he told me. And what is that, exactly? That the country has moved away from the core values of the Founding Fathers. Hole said that he had "studied under" a guy he met at a gym and that this teacher opened his eyes to the abuse of federal authority, which President Obama will only make worse. Hole said Obama has a "socialist, communist, fascist agenda" that must be stopped, because we're headed for tyranny and "fleeing from everything in the Constitution." He also said that when taxes are taken out of his paycheck, "that is stealing."
I pointed out that he had driven to work on roads paid for by those taxes, but he wasn't about to be diverted. He said he opposed a public option as part of healthcare reform, but said he was planning to switch to another private healthcare plan because of disappointment with his current provider, which isn't covering the care he needs. And what about the tears? Does Hole believe Beck is weeping or pandering? "I think you're right about the crying," Hole said. "The guy is an actor." There's another thing Hole doesn't like about Beck, he admitted. "Beck has said that anyone who has questions about 9/11 should be in prison." Beck, he explained, doesn't believe it was an "inside job" involving U.S. agents. And Hole does? "I know it was an inside job," he said.

Arizona: ID theft capital of America - Shawn Dugan, 50, a window washer, ex-convict and methamphetamine addict, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in January for a five-month crime spree, during which he made fake checks using his customers' account information, which he then cashed using false IDs, or simply inflated the amounts of legitimate checks he received.
Dugan, whose plea agreement for fraud included dropping an aggravated ID theft charge, was turned over to police by his employees — whom he paid with fraudulent checks. In Dugan's case, police found false IDs, check stock, checking-making computer software, and other people's bank account information in his home. In the end, Dugan was ordered to pay more than $17,000 in restitution to four individuals, six banks and five businesses. In at least one case, the victim was not only reimbursed for the amount of the fraudulent check, but the $363 in insufficient funds fees the bank charged her.

Window cleaner in insurance claim con: A SCARBOROUGH man made a fraudulent insurance claim for a non-existent burglary at his East Ayton home in a bid to fight the recession, a court heard. Philip Milner, 39, now of Shelton Road, was paid out £3,000 on his insurance policy but police investigations eventually revealed the truth. The self-employed window cleaner, appeared at York Crown Court for sentencing, after he previously admitted a charge of fraud.

9/11: The Twin Towers Friday, BBC Knowledge, 20:30: A powerful two-part documentary about the bombing of the Twin Towers on September 11 2001. The programme, which coincides with the eighth anniversary of this attack, comprises news footage and the stories of the survivors, some of which we have never heard, like the window cleaner who saved people by loading them on his lift. It is compelling stuff, exploring an event that forever altered the way we live.

A Walk in the Clouds

Skyscraper window washers take a walk in the clouds: The pay’s good, you get great views of the city and constant challenges. If this sounds like your dream job, you should either become a Wall Street big shot or a far riskier option a Manhattan skyscraper window washer. In spite of recent scaffolding accidents, hundreds of Hispanics take the risk of hanging hundreds of feet above the ground to make big buildings glisten. “The first months, my knees were shaking,” says Daniel Peña (pictured), a Puerto Rican who’s been in the business 20 years. Recently, he’s been cleaning up the windows of Columbus Circle’s Time Warner Center. It took him two years to finish the job. “When you’re high up, wind gusts are so high your scaffolding trembles and you need to stop the work until it’s over,” says Peña. “You get used to being up there, but some people are cut for this work, some are not.” Last week, a cherry picker holding two window washers at a downtown Manhattan building tipped over, killing both men. Police identified the victims as 35-year-old Robert Fabrizio of Las Vegas and his cousin 37-year-old Darin Fabrizio of Milford, Penn. According to SEIU Local 32BJ, the largest building service workers union in the country, the Department of Buildings has sanctioned some 700 window cleaners in New York. It’s estimated that more than half are Hispanics. One of them was Ecuadorian Edgar Moreno, who died last December after his scaffolding suddenly collapsed and he plunged 43 stories to the sidewalk when he was washing windows on an upper East Side skyscraper. His brother Alcides, who was with him, miraculously survived. “What happened with Edgar was a tragedy,” says Peña about his ex coworker. “Both him and his brother were very professional.” Peña, who worked with Moreno for a while, says they had become close friends. “In this job your partner can’t be your enemy. You have to trust him 100%” says Peña. “And I trusted Edgar.” Although risky, cleaning building windows can be profitable. Unionized workers earn some $50,000 a years, an out-of-reach sum for other cleaning workers, and get some of the best occupational accident medical benefits payment in the industry. “This kind of job can be dangerous but many Hispanics take it because the pay’s good,” says Oscar Paredes Morales, executive director of The Latin American Workers Project. “But some employers take advantage of undocumented workers and press them to work without proper security measures,” Paredes adds. According to a recent federal investigation, Hispanics workers suffer more fatal accidents than other ethnic group. “Employers are responsible for the well being of the workers, providing proper training and a rigorous equipment maintenance,” said State Labor Commissioner Patricia Smith. Asked about the Moreno brothers tragedy, she said, “our agency is doing everything under our control to prevent this kind of accidents in the future.”

Alcides Moreno

Window Washer Lives to Tell About Fall From 47 Floors Up. New Video here.

The "miracle" window washer who survived a 47-story fall from a New York City skyscraper said today in an exclusive interview on "Good Morning America" that he's grateful to be alive and that the Big Apple is his home. "This is home forever' Alcides "Miguel" Moreno, an Ecuadorean immigrant, told Diane Sawyer. It was a moving coda to an extraordinary story of survival, one that continues as the unimaginably lucky Moreno grows stronger each day. Moreno and his brother plummeted from the city skyline in December after their scaffolding snapped. His brother died. Through tears -- and a little laughter -- Moreno talked about how good it was to be alive, lovingly referring to his devoted wife and family. "I'm thinking, talking about my life," he said, "I have children." The hospital originally described Moreno's condition as a "complete disaster," that included several broken limbs and severe internal injuries. Doctors were unsure if Moreno would ever walk again, and when he could return home. But Moreno, 37, continues to surprise doctors, performing a miraculous recovery, returning home and even walking again. On a cold morning, Moreno and his younger brother, Edgar, woke up at 4 a.m. to go to work together, washing windows as they had done for the previous 12 years. But on that Dec. 7, 2007, the cables holding their scaffolding snapped and dropped the brothers, at up to 125 mph, to the city's concrete more than 550 feet below. Edgar, 30, died instantly. Moreno managed to hold on, riding the scaffolding like a surfboard to the ground. Astonished rescue workers found Moreno alive. He was even sitting up, holding his hands to his chest. "No one actually believed he's alive, falling from this height," paramedic Michael Kremenizer said.
Doctors called it a miracle. "I don't know what adjective you'd care to use, unprecedented, extraordinary," said Philip Barrie, a doctor at New York Presbyterian Hospital. "If you are a believer in miracles, this would be one." Moreno suffered a broken arm, two broken legs and severe injuries to his chest, abdomen and spine. A small army of doctors drilled a hole in his brain to reduce swelling, pumping 24 units of blood into his battered body before eventually inducing him into a coma. It came to be known by the local media as "the legend of the fall." Not only did Moreno survive, but he eventually woke up. On Christmas Day, Moreno emerged from the coma, reaching for his wife. At a news conference, his stunned wife, Rosario "Rosie" Moreno, did not know what to say. "I don't know what to tell you. I'm still at awe," she said last year. "I'm still in shock." Only four months after the accident, Moreno checked out of Kessler Rehab Center in New Jersey. And, miraculously, he left walking on his own two feet. Gesturing to the right side of his body, Moreno said, "I land[ed] on this part, you know, all this part." And even though he still has pain, he says it is "much better." As his body heals, Moreno has continued to regain more of his memory. "That means a lot to me, when I start to remember my neighbors. Once I remember my house and the city where I live," Moreno said. While Moreno has fond memories of his younger brother, he also now has memories of his brother falling. "Yesterday, I remembered my brother and I was crying a little bit," he said. "That was the only thing since this happened that I remember." Although Moreno was a U.S. citizen before the accident, his brother, Edgar, was not. The paperwork arrived after his death. Continuing to defy conventional wisdom, Moreno is making significant progress. Now, only six months after that terrifying morning, he is walking completely on his own. His recovery is one that he says he could not have done without wife Rosie, who kept constant vigil on a tiny couch next to his hospital bed. "This is home forever," Moreno said. "I mean, look, I have me a Puerto Rican girl." She may be Puerto Rican to his Ecuadorian, but Moreno declared proudly that their home is the life they have built together, with their three children: Michael, 14; Mariah, 8; and Andrew, 6. Now, he cheers at Mariah's soccer games, enjoys family barbecues as the summer melts away and spends Sunday mornings at church, where friends welcomed him back from a miracle that no one could have imagined.

Another reason for keeping clear of cradles!

Related News: "Gusting winds left a pair of window washers stranded 35 storeys in the air at Place Montreal Trust. Their work platform started swinging so hard from side to side that "at one point, it was perpendicular to the building and was blowing in the wind," said Jeff Smith, an office worker in the downtown building. Smith and his co-workers watched on the edge of their seats with a "front row view" as the cleaners clung to the platform for nearly a half hour, Smith told CBC Radio. They eventually gained access to the building on another floor through a broken window, he said."

Walking Miracle

AFTER THE FALL - 47-STORY GUY WALKING TALL.

He's a walking miracle. Pictured above: Alcides Moreno, who fell 47 stories after his window-washing rigging broke, walks his puppy, Bruno. Window washer Alcides Moreno, who amazed doctors by surviving a 47-story plunge from an Upper East Side high-rise in December, is now astounding his neighbors, as he looks like any other guy out walking his dog in his New Jersey neighborhood. A limp and a long scar and gash on his left calf are the only signs of the horrific fall that killed his brother, also a window washer. "Thanks to God," he said as he left his Linden home with his wife, Rosario, and their 2-month-old pug, Bruno, on their way to a post office.

"It feels good to have him home," said his wife, who kept a vigil at his bedside. But Moreno's stunning recovery has been overshadowed by grief for his brother. "It's no celebration," he said.
Moreno, 37, and his brother, Edgar, 30, were scrubbing glass at the top of an apartment building at 265 E. 66th St. on Dec. 7 when cables connecting their 16-foot-long aluminum scaffold to the roof failed. The brothers fell 500 feet to the ground - more than enough to kill them. Doctors say falls from three or four stories are fatal half the time. But Alcides Moreno survived - his plunge slowed by the flat scaffold platform's wind resistance and the possibility that it slammed into the ground corner first. With serious injuries to his brain, chest and abdomen, several fractured ribs, a broken arm and both legs smashed, Moreno was rushed to New York Hospital, where quick work by doctors and nurses saved his life. During his three weeks in the hospital, Moreno underwent 16 operations and numerous blood transfusions. On Christmas Day, he shocked doctors by speaking for the first time since the accident. "I did what?" the father of three asked as he came out of a medically induced coma and heard his wife gently chiding him for stroking a nurse's face. Moreno spent six weeks in the hospital before being moved to a rehab center in January. He went home a few weeks ago, though he still goes to rehab three times a week.

The Ecuador native is suing the building owner and management company and the scaffolding firm, which, he says, "acted with gross negligence" when it built the platform he and his brother were working on. "I still feel it's impossible," his friend and neighbor Walt Melnyk said of Moreno's recovery. "I did not expect to see him walking. He's a tough guy."