Window Cleaning Companies Fined & About to Be Fined

Unconscious, Kuypers was rushed to Auckland City Hospital's intensive care unit. She had five dislocated ribs, a hairline fracture in her eye socket and broken bones in her neck, ankle, shoulder and collarbone.

Companies fined over window cleaner's fall: Two companies found to be responsible for a teenage window cleaner falling four storeys have been sentenced in Auckland District Court. Louisa Kuypers, 18, plunged 30 metres while scaling an office building in the Auckland suburb of Newmarket last year. The company she worked for - At Height Ltd - was today fined $9,000 while the company it contracted to - Building Wash Services - was fined more than $20,000.

Judge Emma Aitken said At Height Ltd was more responsible for the accident and originally allocated it a fine of more than $46,000. However, the fine was discounted as Aitken said the fine would effectively bankrupt the company. The 18-year-old made what doctors describe as a remarkable recovery after falling from the top of the Lion Breweries building. An emergency department clinician who helped save Kuypers said he believes wearing a helmet "helped immensely". Kuypers received compensation of $40,000 for the debilitating injuries she sustained during the fall. "Anything's fine. I wasn't really expecting to see more than $5000 so I'm quite happy with it," she said outside court.

Kuypers said her fall was "just an accident". "I was friends with all those guys and I didn't want to see them go down and I didn't want to see the company get hurt. In fact if I'd had it my way nothing would have happened. She is aiming to train as a nurse.

Thrill-seeking teen: For the thrill-seeking teen abseil window-washing was a natural career choice and her father Gilbert Kuypers told ONE News she was so happy in the job she "would have done it almost for nothing". But Kuypers worried about his daughter's safety. "I just dropped her off before the accident and I said, you know, be careful. And she's 'oh yeah, always do that'. And all of a sudden, bang, you know, she's in hospital, and all we're looking at is just a nose and a pair of eyes sticking out of bandages." He still wants answers about how the accident happened. Previous stories here.

Two companies have been fined almost $30,000 and ordered to pay $40,000 in reparation after an abseiling window cleaner suffered serious injuries in a 15-metre fall. The 18-year-old woman, who was employed by At Height Limited, was lucky to survive the fall from the Lion House building in Newmarket in February last year, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) said. The company was sentenced alongside Building Wash Services, which had contracted it for the work, in Auckland District Court on Friday.

The court was told that the victim was told to attach her sling and ropes to air-conditioning ducting brackets on the roof of the building - but the brackets were not fixed to the roof. In the fall, she suffered fractures to her skull, face, collarbone, lower legs and neck, and pulmonary contusions and lacerations to her liver. She spent nearly a fortnight in hospital.

Sentencing the company on Friday, Judge Emma Aitken said the appropriate starting point for a fine was $100,000. However, taking into account At Height's limited finances and other discounts, she reduced the fine to $9000, and ordered it to pay $32,000 to the injured worker. Building Wash Services was fined $20,800 and ordered to pay $8000 in reparation. Both companies had earlier pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety in Employment Act.

In a startling workplace accident earlier this year Louisa Kuypers, 18, fell from a 30-meter height while abseiling as part of her job, industrial window cleaning. Kuypers was washing windows at Lion Nathan offices in New Market, Auckland when she fell and realised immediately that something was wrong when she launched off the roof. The rope, usually meant to tighten up, kept releasing, letting her fall four stories onto concrete. She was taken to Auckland City Hospital’s intensive care unit unconscious and suffering from five dislocated ribs, a fractured eye socket and broken bones in her neck, ankle, shoulder and collarbone. Kuypers was lucky to survive the fall, and is especially lucky she isn’t permanently impaired by her injuries.  She was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, likely saving her from brain injury.

The building she was working on didn’t have the eyebolts that are usually used to thread abseiling ropes through so another form of anchorage was used. Kuypers said of her co-worker, a more experience rope-access worker, “[He] isn’t coping too well. There’s no blame, but he blames himself”. Rope Access Industry standards require two forms of anchorage to be used in this type of work, in case the first anchor fails. In a compliant set-up both anchors would have had to fail – in Kuyper’s case bystanders said only one metal anchor had fallen from the roof with her. The cause of the accident is still being investigated; this accident was the third of its kind in eight months in New Zealand.

The city distanced itself from the situation saying it wasn’t their employee. “The person in the picture you provided is an employee of Citywide Professional Window Cleaning, contracted to clean the windows of the building.”

Man on a ledge worries downtown workers (ALBUQUERQUE) - A worker standing on a ledge above the eighth floor at City Hall had people doing double-takes Wednesday. That is because by all appearances he wasn’t wearing a harness. The man was rigging up a platform to clean the windows on a high-rise 107 feet up. Now investigators want to know if he was wearing anything to keep him from plummeting to his death. The city distanced itself from the situation saying it wasn’t their employee. “The person in the picture you provided is an employee of Citywide Professional Window Cleaning, contracted to clean the windows of the building,” said Breanna Anderson, deputy communications director for the city of Albuquerque. “As such, the city is not liable.”

The owner of Citywide Professional Window Cleaning told KRQE News 13 the employee was wearing a harness. He called it a half harness and said it went around the waist and thighs. A photo was sent to KRQE News 13 that appeared to show a worker with nothing around his thighs. That’s when the company declined to comment further. Now OSHA , the government agency in charge of investigating workplace safety issues, is looking into the matter. “The photo that was provided to us indicated the potential for a high gravity hazard. A fall from that height would obviously be very severe,” said Bob Genoway, bureau chief for New Mexico OSHA. OSHA says it is possible the city is not off the hook. “When OSHA does inspections, we look at all employers on site to determine who has responsibility for different aspects of safety,” Genoway said. Multiple sources say the city’s risk management group has already met with the window cleaning company. OSHA says if it finds wrongdoing, the penalties can be up to $70,000 per violation.

Life Falling Through the Cracks: An employee of the Greek Parliament hangs after falling through the glass roof over the Greek Parliament Hall, in her efforts to prevent rain water from entering the building, in Athens, Greece, on Feb. 22. A heavy storm of rain and sleet in the greater Athens region created problems with transportation, flooding streets and interrupting sea transport.

The NZ Window Washer Who Survived

Giant fall but she's fearless: The teenager who miraculously survived a 30m fall on to concrete can't wait to get back into abseiling. For the first time, 18-year-old Louisa Kuypers, a window washer, has spoken about what happened last Friday afternoon, after she launched herself off the roof of an office building in Auckland's Newmarket. "The rope was meant to stretch then tighten up, but I could feel it had gone further. "I don't remember the fall exactly, but apparently people in the office heard me scream."

Unconscious, Kuypers was rushed to Auckland City Hospital's intensive care unit. She had five dislocated ribs, a hairline fracture in her eye socket and broken bones in her neck, ankle, shoulder and collarbone. "There's a pretty small chance of surviving a fall from that height," Kuypers said from her hospital bed yesterday. The roof did not have "eye bolts" where the abseiling ropes would usually be attached, she said. "The guy I was working with isn't coping too well. There's no blame, but he blames himself."

It was the second miraculous escape from abseiling in three months. Mikaela Blayney, 20, fell from the Event Cinema building in Aotea Square in December during an acrobatic performance. But both Blayney and Kuypers said they planned to get back into abseiling. "We're always outside, always abseiling. I want to get back to work," Kuypers said.

Broken Back, Ribs, Ankle, Collarbone, Bruising & A Punctured Lung

Abseiler remembers 'quick drop' - The 18-year-old abseiling window-cleaner who fell four storeys remembers a sense of weightlessness as she plummeted about 30m to the ground. Louisa Kuypers was taken to Auckland City Hospital in a critical condition after falling from the roof of a Lion Breweries building in Newmarket around 2.30pm on Friday. Her condition has since improved to stable, although she remains in hospital with injuries including a broken back, ribs, ankle, collarbone, deep bruising and a punctured lung.

Initial CT scans indicated Ms Kuypers had not suffered brain injuries, and medical experts have labelled her survival extraordinary. Her father, Gilbert Kuypers, spent yesterday morning at the hospital and said because of pain medication his daughter was drowsy and still trying to come to terms with the accident. "She remembered that she just fell off, and it was just a quick drop, and she only remembers the weightlessness feeling of it, and that was the end of it. She just went blank after that."

Ms Kuypers' colleague had just completed an abseil drop, and when she got over the side of the building and put her weight on the equipment, "the whole lot let go". Mr Kuypers said, "I'm very confident when she finally gets a bit more out of the pain management that she will be able to recall more of what's happened." He said only a couple of weeks ago she had to be rescued after a piece of her gear malfunctioned and she became stuck mid-abseil.

Since then she had used brand-new equipment, so Mr Kuypers felt the fall was unlikely to have been caused by a gear malfunction. "Maybe the procedures weren't done properly ... the only thing we can say is something obviously has gone wrong. "Whether it's a systematic error, or a gear failure ..." A witness to the accident told the Herald a metal anchor which attached Ms Kuypers to the building fell to the ground with her. The Department of Labour is investigating with the help of Ms Kuypers' employers, At Height, who could not be reached for comment yesterday. 

The accident is the third industrial-rope accident in eight months. A Wellington window washer fell from a building last June and a woman abseiling performance artist plunged 14m down a wall in Auckland's Aotea Square in December. Mr Kuypers said he would be encouraging his daughter to find a new career. But he said she was naturally adventurous and credited her fitness from activities such as kayaking and motocross as helping to save her life. "She's been over the Huka Falls [kayaking] already, twice. So she pushes it a bit." Ms Kuypers has also landed small parts in television shows including Shortland Street and Go Girls.

Her father said he would eventually visit the Lion building to see just how far Ms Kuypers had fallen, but was amazed she had survived the plunge. "There must be a lot of angels out there. And I'm sure they work hard." St John medical director Tony Smith said for Ms Kuypers to survive a four-storey fall was extraordinary. He said sometimes a harness could slow a fall down, as opposed to an unsupported free fall. "I don't know whether that was the case or not, but we can say that her survival in terms of the height she fell was extraordinary. And she's a very, very lucky young woman."

Dr Smith said the fact that Ms Kuypers fell in a way that protected her head from major injury was crucial. An American study of 200 falls showed a person is just as likely to survive a five-storey fall landing feet-first as they are a one-storey fall head-first. A New York doctor who had dealt with a high number of falls said in 2008 that the death rate from a three-storey fall was about 50 per cent.

Dad wants answers over window cleaning accident: The father of a teenage window cleaner who survived a four-storey fall wants answers on how the accident happened. Louisa Kuypers plunged 30 metres while scaling an office building in the Auckland suburb of Newmarket. For the thrill-seeking 18-year-old abseil window-washing was a natural career choice and her father Gilbert Kuypers told ONE News she was so happy in the job she "would have done it almost for nothing".

But Gilbert worried about his daughter's safety. "I just dropped her off before the accident and I said, you know, be careful. And she's 'oh yeah, always do that'. And all of a sudden, bang, you know, she's in hospital, and all we're looking at is just a nose and a pair of eyes sticking out of bandages." After falling from the top of the Lion Breweries building on Friday, the teen is making a remarkable recovery. She is in a stable condition, and talking. But her dad still wants answers about how the accident happened. He says Louisa was working with another window washer at the time of the accident - a more experienced man.

"If the person is senior he should know stuff and if he isn't then he should have been trained. Somewhere, something isn't quite right," Gilbert said. Louisa's employer, a company called At Height, has not responded to calls from ONE New. The Labour Department is investigating the accident - the third industrial rope fall in just eight months, although none were fatal. An emergency department clinician who helped save Louisa says hers is a remarkable case and he believes wearing a helmet "helped immensely". "I don't recall seeing anyone who's fallen quite so far and who has come out so relatively unscathed," Dr Mike Nichols said. It may be another six months before the cause of the accident is fully known.

Man seriously injured after roof fall: A man has been taken to hospital in a serious condition after he fell through the roof of a building early this morning. The man, who is around 20-years-old, fell through the roof behind the Dick Smith building on Karangahape Rd in Ponsonby. Auckland Central acting inspector Danny Meade said one police car was sent to the incident at 4.42am. ''We had been sent by ambulance after a man had fallen through the roof of a building behind the Dick Smith building,'' he said. It is unclear what the man was doing on top of the building. Meanwhile, an Auckland woman who fell 30m while suspended off the side of the Lion Nathan Building in Newmarket earlier this week is in a stable condition. Louisa Kuypers, 18, was abseiling down the building on Carlton Gore Rd when the metal anchor she was attached to is believed to have broken off, sending her plummeting three storeys. The window cleaner was taken to Auckland City Hospital in a critical condition.

NZ Window Cleaner Stable After Fall

Stable: Louisa Kuypers.

Condition improves for four-storey fall victim: An 18-year-old abseiling window cleaner who fell four storeys off an Auckland building has improved overnight, according to her mother. Window cleaner Louisa Kuypers was suspended off the side of a Lion Breweries building in Newmarket when she fell about 30m to the ground around 2.30pm yesterday. An ambulance took her to Auckland City Hospital in a critical condition. She has improved in hospital overnight, and was today in a stable condition, a hospital spokesman said. Her mother, Josie Kuypers, was working a 12-hour shift at Waitakere Hospital when she was phoned with news of the accident. She taxied to Auckland City Hospital still in her uniform to see how her daughter was. "Going in the taxi, I had no idea what was happening. I'd just heard that she'd had an accident, so that was a bit freaky. I was trying not to panic.''

When she arrived, the teenager appeared to be in pain and could only moan, she said: "She wasn't really with it. I think she knew we were there, but she was pretty out of it still.'' After falling an estimated four storeys, Louisa has fractured ribs and a suspected fractured collarbone. She has large bruises across parts of her body where she landed, Ms Kuypers said. A laceration on her head appeared to be only superficial, and doctors said Louisa had no brain injuries, she said. "To think she fell all that way and only fractured a few bones.''

Louisa's father Gilbert, two brothers Michael and Chris, and boyfriend Nick Son gathered with Ms Kuypers at the patient's bedside last night. Ms Kuypers and Louisa's boyfriend were going to stay all night, but decided she was just sleeping. She said her daughter was still too "out of it'' to talk when she left last night, and could only make noises. It was still not clear what happened before the fall, she said. "Hopefully today we'll find out a bit more.'' Ms Kuypers woke at 5.30 this morning to phone in and check on her daughter after the night. After the good news today, Ms Kuypers is getting ready to pick up Lousia's boyfriend and grandmother, Lois, to spend the day in hospital.

She has been fielding non-stop texts and phone calls from family and friends eager to see how Louisa was, with one friend offering to fly up from Wanganui yesterday. Ms Kuypers credited her daughter's fitness and strength from outdoor activities as aiding her recovery. Witnesses were "horrified'' and left shaken after seeing the window cleaner fall while on the job yesterday. The Department of Labour is investigating.

Cleaner's plunge shock for mother: It was second time unlucky for the mother of a young abseiling window cleaner who survived a four-storey plummet on Friday. Louisa Kuypers, 18, had been suspended off the side of a building tenanted by Lion in Newmarket, Auckland, when she fell about 30m to the ground. She is in Auckland City Hospital in a stable condition, improving from critical on Friday. Her mother, Josie Kuypers, said yesterday it was the second fall involving a young female abseiler inside two months and she had assumed it was her daughter both times. The first time, at the Metro Centre in early December, it turned about to be another woman.

She said Louisa was one of only a few women her age who abseiled as part of their profession, so friends and family always worried when they heard there had been an accident. "She's always done lots of crazy things, kayaking and caving." When Kuypers first saw her daughter after the accident on Friday, she appeared to be in a lot of pain and could only moan. The teenager managed to sleep on Friday night, and woke in an improved state. She has broken ribs and a suspected broken collarbone. She has large bruises across parts of her body where she landed, Kuypers said. A laceration on her head appeared to be only superficial, and doctors said Louisa had no brain injuries, she said.

"To think she fell all that way and only fractured a few bones." Meanwhile, the accident brought back memories for the woman who survived in December, Mikaela Blayney. "I thought 'oh no, not another one'. And she's so young as well, I felt so sorry for her." Blayney is making a steady recovery and will this week "learn how to walk again". She has been seeing a physio after breaking a metatarsal bone in a foot. She will also begin dental work this week to place crowns and one implant on all of her back teeth. Meanwhile, Lion staff have been offered counselling after the "disturbing" event on Friday, said external relations director Liz Read.

Repeated industrial rope falls 'not good enough': Safety standards are being examined after a teenage window cleaner survived a four-storey fall from an Auckland building yesterday. Eighteen year-old Louisa Kuypers was cleaning windows at the Lion Nathan Building in Newmarket yesterday afternoon when she fell 30 metres from the roof of the building. She was admitted to Auckland Hospital with severe injuries and is now in stable condition. The accident is the third industrial rope accident in eight months and has prompted the industry to ask whether safety standards are being followed well enough.

A Wellington window washer fell from the fifth floor of a building last June and an abseiling performance artist plunged 14 metres down a wall in Auckland's Aotea Square in December. The industry needs to sharpen up its act, ONE News heard from Thomas Croft, an industrial rope expert. "We're happy because nobody's died but it's getting a little bit close at the moment. Three in a short time period, it's just not good enough," he said. Newmarket office workers say Kuypers had just started scaling the top of the Lion Breweries building when she dropped, along with a metal anchor used to attach herself to the roof.

Industry standards require anyone doing this work to use two anchors or two lines - one as a backup in case the first fails - and the farthest a person should fall is 60 centimetres. "For somebody to fall that far in a compliant system means that both anchors would have had to fail, which is highly unlikely," said Croft.

Auckland Window Cleaner Falls Four Storeys

Woman critical after four-storey fall: A woman who witnessed a teenage window cleaner plummet four storeys in Auckland this afternoon is struggling to come to terms with what she saw. The 18-year-old was abseiling on the side of a Lion Breweries building on Carlton Gore Rd, Newmarket, when something went wrong at about 2.30pm. Lion external relations director Liz Read said the incident was "incredibly disturbing'' for everyone at the scene. "It was incredibly shocking and we just can't believe that the woman has survived the fall. It's just devastating. "We're just focusing on supporting our workers now, and we're obviously very keen to know about her condition as well.'' Ms Read said Lion did not own the building but leased it from another company, which had hired the window cleaner. The Department of Labour is investigating. One witness, who did not wish to be identified, said it appeared a metal anchor at the top of the building, which the girl's rope was attached to, had broken.

CRITICALLY HURT: A teenage girl is helped into an ambulance after falling three storeys from an Auckland building today.

Teenager critical after fall: An Auckland office worker has told of the horror of seeing a teenager falling three storeys to the ground in front of her eyes. The Diners Club call centre manager, who only wanted to be known as Theresa, was on the fourth floor of her Newmarket office when she heard a colleague gasp around 2.30pm and turned to witness the accident. "I was talking to a colleague and she went 'oh my God', and I turned around and we saw her falling," the 30-year-old mother of four said.

The 18-year-old was abseiling down the Lion Nathen Building on Carlton Gore Rd when the metal anchor she was attached to is believed to have broken off, sending her plummeting about 30m to the ground. Theresa said she ran to the window where she saw a witness walk up to the young woman's body then leave. "I ran down there to see if she was breathing. There were a few people standing around her doing nothing.

They were saying, 'don't touch her'... I thought, 'God she might be dead', but I had to check to see if she was breathing so I kneeled down beside her and felt for a pulse on her arm," she recalled. "I couldn't feel one, but two others starting rubbing her back and we could see she was breathing. "She didn't gain consciousness but started to try and move herself. "She started making noises so we knew she was alive."

Louisa Kuypers, 18, is in a critical condition after falling four storeys in Newmarket today.

Another man had called 111 and Theresa spoke to emergency services who told her to make sure the young woman wasn't moved. They arrived about 10 minutes later. Theresa said it was a long wait and she initially feared they had gone to the wrong address. "I was quite worried, her breathing was becoming more shallow and she was changing colour." Theresa said the young woman had serious head injuries and "serious bleeding". She was taken by ambulance to Auckland Hospital and has critical injuries.

Another witness Wi Bian Goh, an IT Operations & project Co-ordinator at Diners Club, said staff rushed to the window after the young woman fell. He said the young woman appeared to have had her teeth smashed out, as "her mouth was full of blood" and blood was also gushing from a head wound under her helmet. A Department of Labour spokeswoman said they had been notified of the incident and would be making enquiries.

Lion leases the four-storey building. Lion external relations director Liz Read said staff rushed to her aid. "We were there helping until emergency services arrived," She said. "It's obviously a terrible accident and people are extremely concerned for her condition." Police attended the scene and described the young woman's injuries as severe. "There will obviously be an investigation and we'll contribute what we can based on what people see, however I can not comment on what may have caused the fall."

Jones Lang Lasalle own the building. No one from the real estate company was available to comment at this stage. It is the third serious fall by an abseiler in nine months. A performer miraculously survived a 14-metre fall in central Auckland in December. Mikaela Blayney, 20, was abseiling during a Vertical Pedestrians show in Aotea Square when she fell to the ground while hanging from the side of the Metro Centre. She suffered fractures in her jaw, cheek bone, and leg.

A parked car broke the fall of an abseiling window cleaner who fell several stories from a building in central Wellington in June. The man, in his 30s, fell from the 5th floor of an office building from the rope where he was working at 12.18pm. He suffered leg and lower back injuries.

Window Cleaning News

A window washer works on the logo for Daiwa Securities Co. outside the company's branch in Tokyo. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. topped Mizuho Financial Group Inc. as the biggest manager of Samurai bond sales as the cheapest yen funding costs relative to dollars in almost two years prompted record sales by Korean companies.

A team of window washers work their way down the National Bank Towers on Queen St in Auckland. The building has twin towers of 17 and 22 levels with a refurbished podium lobby.

Amputee wins £160k compensation from Richmond Council: A grandfather who needed to have his fractured leg amputated after he fell into a hole in a park has won £160,000 in compensation. Edward Tuffrey, 67, was walking his dog in Suffolk Road Recreation Ground, Barnes, when he suffered the life-changing accident. The former window cleaner went through years of agony when medics discovered a metal plate in his leg had snapped and caused an infection. Mr Tuffrey, who lived in Barnes Avenue, Barnes, said he cried when doctors broke the news they needed to amputate. He said he was pleased with the financial settlement from Richmond Council, but added: “I would rather have my leg back. “It has been traumatic. What price do you put on a body part?” He fell in the 10in hole and fractured his leg in three places as his dog played in the park on May 21, 2006.

Doctors inserted a metal plate but it later broke, causing huge complications. Mr Tuffrey said he had nine pins in his leg for nine months and then had it in plaster for a year, but it did not heal and the hospital decided three years ago to amputate. The father-of-two, who now has an artificial limb, said: “It was terrible for my wife as she had to put up with it as well. “I’ve always been an active sort of bloke. I worked for myself as a window cleaner for 25 years. “It’s been going on for five-and-a-half years and we’d just had enough. As you get older there’s only so much you can stand with the stress. “Money doesn’t compensate for the trauma we’ve been through but we want it to finish so we can get on with our lives.” Mr Tuffrey, who has now moved to West Sussex, said he and his neighbours had repeatedly complained to Richmond Council about holes in the park. He was shocked to find them still there when he visited this week.

Brisbane businesses warn against group buying: It's the latest and greatest craze in online shopping but Brisbane businesses are warning that group buying deals and online coupon sites are sending businesses broke, and driving customers away. Group Buying: it's one of Australia's fastest growing industries estimated to be worth $400 million by the year's end, but the unregulated industry has both consumers and businesses off side. The sales pitch to businesses is that their business is guaranteed exposure and new customers through the door, and consumers get discounted goods and services. Win, win right? Wrong. With the endless supply of discounted services available on group buying coupon websites, it might seem like the consumer can't lose but burnt Brisbane businesses say the fast growing group buying industry is sending local businesses broke with dodgy marketing strategies and high pressure selling techniques.

A local window cleaning business owner, who wished to remain anonymous because he's still honouring customers for a deal that may send him out of business, says he's increasingly concerned for his livelihood after signing up to one of the smaller deals sites earlier this year. "My business is only 3 years old and we have never run an overdraft or borrowed money from the bank except for the loan on our work vehicle and were very proud of the fact that we started with nothing to create a small business that was steadily growing, but over the last few months I have watched our bank account empty as we service these deals over full paying customers. "We participated in a deal with a company in May this year and under their guidance, foolishly sold 300 deals for a two hour window cleaning service at $49 each. Of that, we received I think $35.63.

He says the deal company used high pressure sales techniques, pushing him to agree to sell as many as possible. "From start to finish the process was wrapped up in a couple of days by their team with the emphasis being on the urgency of this deal needing to go live by a set date or missing out for months. He says the most frustrating part as a business owner in the transaction was having no clear communication with the company throughout the process. Although his deal expires this week, the business owner is continuing to honour the voucher sold to customers into the New Year, hoping that he will retain some ongoing customers from the experience, but he remains on edge about the state of his business. "With a wife on maternity leave, a 3 month old, looming mortgage and all the business expenses, closing and going down to the Centrelink office is a very real possibility for me. His warning to new businesses considering coupon and discount deals through the various sites is "if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is."

According to another local business, the experience is fast becoming more common than not. She says knows of several Brisbane businesses that have closed down after offering the services. "What a lot of people don't know that these voucher companies are owned by multi-corporations and in my opinion it's the big businesses way of making small businesses slash their prices to a stage where it hurts them so much that it's driving them out of business. "I've heard of at least four or five other businesses that have closed down after offering these services. Ms Stephenson says the sales pitch to small businesses is pushy, and small business can often fall into the trap of not knowing what they're signing up for. "I get phone calls from these places (online group buying sites) and they tell you the deal you're offering isn't good enough, and you've got until the end of the day to make a decision. "I know at the end of the day it will return about $4 an hour to my company and you can' even pay staff with that, let alone the cost of the service. "A lot of the companies being approached don't know that.

Tributes have poured in for a ‘fun loving family man’ who lost his fight against cancer at the age of 41. Craig Hudson, known to his many friends as Ken, died in Kirkwood Hospice after a long fight against liver and pancreatic cancer. His family and friends have spoken fondly of a man who would always put others before himself, and loved nothing more than a Saturday night spent with his wife Erica, stepson Sam, 14, son Annan, six, and three-year-old Jess. “He was a real hands-on dad and a family man,” Erica said. “He loved being at home with me and the kids, chopping wood for the fire.”

Oliver Shaw, friend of more than 15 years, met Craig in his younger days when he enjoyed travelling up and down the country to attend ‘raves’. “He lived life to the full. He was a different person when I met him but he met Erica at the right time when he was ready to settle down,” he said. “I will remember the way he would stop whatever he was doing to help anyone and he would never ask for anything back.” Craig was diagnosed with liver and pancreatic cancer in July this year. The pain forced him to leave the construction trade, so he started his own window cleaning business covering Upper Batley and Tingley. After his diagnosis, Craig’s friends and family rallied around and raised an astonishing £16,000 to pay for alternative therapy at a clinic in Southampton. He was also involved in fundraising efforts for fellow cancer sufferer Bev Dransfield. Craig died at the hospice on October 21 and his funeral was attended by 400 people.

Canned goods for clean windows: A Marquette business is trying to make the sunshine a little brighter while helping to feed a hungry neighbor. The Window Store on Washington Street is giving away their own brand of window cleaner.  Simply bring in 10 non-perishable items for the TV6 Canathon and you can get a can for yourself. The cleaner works for glass of all varieties, including for your home, car and even camera lenses. Employees say they're just doing their part to get people into the store and donate some food. "I think it's important that we get people out to help people in times of need. The holiday season is a great time, and food pantries do great things for the local community," said Window Store president, David Martin. You can drop off your cans and get your free window cleaner through the end of the month.

Sonya Thomas, a 5-foot-5 Korean woman who recently ate 183 chicken wings in 12 minutes, proudly hoisted her trophy after consuming 5.25 pounds of turkey. A 10-pound roasted turkey sat in front of each eater. Ten minutes to binge. At the end, the turkey would be weighed. The winner would take home $1,581, a belt and a bronze turkey trophy with a removable cleaver. No formal blessing was said prior to the dinner bell. But "Crazy Legs Conti," (pictured center) a window washer, nude model and sperm donor from the East Village, said he felt blessed to be a competitive eater. He's ranked 20th in the major league eating circuit and is currently the reigning sweet corn champion. At a recent contest in Singapore, he ate 115 wontons in eight minutes, falling short to the Black Widow's winning number of 130. "This is a communal meal," Conti said as he practiced yoga on the sidewalk in front of The TimesCenter on West 41st Street, minutes before the competition. "Thanksgiving, it's one of the few times you sit down for the express purpose of eating and the company. These are my favorite people in the world. I am fortunate." Conti and Booker delivered 81 turkeys to the City Harvest charity on behalf of sponsor Wild Turkey. Conti grew up in Boston, and he said he admired Jim Rice and Carl Yastrzemski for their charitable efforts. "The fact that Major League Eating has hit the point where Badlands and I were on a truck, driving around to donate 81 turkeys to families that needed them, it was awesome," Conti said.

HOUSTON: This is the 54th night Houston occupiers have stood their ground. They claim there are between 50 and 100 of them every night. A day after a shooting there, two days before Thanksgiving and weeks before it likely gets really uncomfortable outside, we wanted to know just who they are. By his account, JJ Freeman was the only thing on Monday afternoon between the gunman and the Occupy Houston camp he calls home. "I keep everything I own in this crate. This is my daughter Padme," Freeman said, showing us photos. "She turned 14 months old today. And last night, what happened -- I honestly thought I was never going to see her again." Freeman is an unemployed cook and security guard protesting out of frustration that he hasn't been able to find work for more than a year.  "I was doing professional window cleaning," protester Jamin Stocker (pictured) said. A month ago, Stocker had two jobs. "The work dried up," he said. Since then, he's been here. He's content to occupy a park, even though he has family in Houston he could stay with and jobs he could get.

Winds fling window 100m: Strong winds blew a large window 100 metres out of an office building into a nearby carpark this afternoon. The MetService today issued a severe weather warning for the Wellington region with gales expected to continue until nightfall. The window, which was approximately 1m squared, came from the 10th floor of Education House on Willis St. It flew out in a southerly direction and landed about 100 metres away in a carpark behind 190 Willis St. The fire service attended and cleaned up the glass. Natalie Ferguson, who works on the fifth floor of 190 Willis St, saw the window flying and said she was very relieved that no-one was injured in the carpark where it landed. Darrell Ward, assistant secretary for the New Zealand Educational Institute, which owns the building, said: "We're very concerned by this incident and looking into it with a view to making sure this sort of thing never happens again."

British Columbia has introduced a bill to expand mental stress coverage under the Workers Compensation Act. Bill 14 would amend the act to expand compensation for mental stress arising from the course of the worker’s employment to go beyond the current requirement of “an acute reaction to a sudden and traumatic event” and include: the reaction to one or more traumatic events, the reaction to a significant work-related stressor & the reaction to a cumulative series of significant work-related stressors. Stress resulting from employment decisions like discipline, termination or a change in working conditions will continue to be excluded from coverage. To be eligible for mental stress compensation in B.C., a recognized diagnosis will be required, according to the government. “Just as we wouldn’t expect a window washer who sustains physical injuries to go it alone, we shouldn’t expect workers who experience mental health problems as a result of their job to fend for themselves,” said Bev Gutray, CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association’s B.C. division.

Up on the rooftop . . . pros will install your holiday decorations: Decorating for the holidays is such a fun activity that some people plan parties and family traditions around it, with crowds of people helping to trim the tree amid a house full of music and laughter. Taking down the decorations, however, is a lonely, unheralded and even dreaded chore. "Who wants to go out in January when it's 20 degrees out and remove lights?" asked George Wimmer, owner of My Personal Gardener Inc., a landscaping company that offers holiday decorating services in the Indianapolis and Carmel areas.

Many local landscapers, roofers and window washers pull double duty during the holiday season and offer decorating help for homeowners who want to avoid the hassle -- and the dangers -- associated with hanging lights. About 12,000 homeowners nationwide make a trip to a hospital emergency room each year because of holiday-related decorating accidents, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Not all of those accidents are related to falls. Electrical- and fire-related injuries are also to blame. "There's not only the height factor, but the factor of dealing with electricity and knowing how much lighting you can put on one outlet," said Mike van de Bossche, owner of Earth-Wood Arts in Indianapolis.

Most professional decorator services include providing the decorations, putting them up, taking them down and storing them for the homeowner to use again the next year. The cost can vary, but most experts say to expect to pay from $800 to $1,500 the first year for a professional decorating job. The upfront costs are more because you have to invest in the materials. The average job for holiday decorating last year cost about $1,400 according to Angie's List reports. "We can get higher on rooflines and peaks that they can't reach," Wimmer said. "And we can usually make it look a little better and be a little safer. It's more of a luxury of time. They can enjoy the holidays instead of dealing with the lights. And they don't have to worry about cluttering their garage with boxes and Christmas lights all year."

Most decorators offer a choice between incandescent and LED lights. "It's more expensive to buy LED, but down the road, you don't have issues with the lights going out, and it does use less energy," van de Bossche said. "The coloration of LED lights has also improved. They used to have a bluish glow on them, but that's been improved upon and is no longer the case. LEDs look good, too." Before you hire a professional holiday decorator, meet in person to share ideas and ask to see photos of past work. Ask how the company charges, if they determine price by the square foot or by the hour. Never let just anyone up on your roof to hang holiday lights. Check that the company has liability insurance and worker's compensation.

An attention getting tree: If you are heading west on the Spokane Street Viaduct and look south in the evening you are likely to see a very large lit Christmas tree. Standing approximately 80 feet tall this glowing holiday symbol near West Marginal Way is accomplishing what it was meant to: get some attention for the business that did it, Fleming's Holiday and Event Lighting(FHL). The West Seattle based business employs 30 people who are all about Christmas lighting but there's more to what they do than climb trees.

The owner, Ryan Fleming is a serial entrepreneur. At the age of 12 he got his first business idea when he saw his dad attempt to put up Christmas lights and fall off the ladder. He reasoned, "People should be able to hire someone to do that," and while it would take him a few years, he made it a reality. Before that business was formed however, after graduation from college he formed a car detailing business and shortly there after a couple of other businesses.

When he started seriously doing the lighting it was all residential but people noticed. The business grew rapidly and as it did he began to take on some commercial clients. Then that business grew to the point that Fleming and his crew found themselves doing the inside and outside lighting for Bellevue Square, Tacoma Mall and Alderwood Mall. "I'm a small businessman and I understand where I fit in society but I have big ambitions in life," Fleming said. The tree in West Seattle was decorated by one guy, Phillip who works for FHL and it required 40 hours. That tree is lit with 192 sets of LED mini lights each 25 feet long with 50 bulbs in each string. "It's not enough," said Fleming who cautions however that you can overdo holiday lighting. "There's a fine line," he said. "I've always wanted to decorate that tree," Fleming said and promised more lights for it are likely.

Fleming is out to decorate a lot more large trees. Not for money or really for marketing, but rather to add some holiday beauty during the longest nights of the year. I'm interested in talking to people about lighting trees of that size in some key locations around the area. One he has in mind is a large Blue Spruce tree near the top of the hill as you enter West Seattle. "My goal is to try and get the person that lives right next to that, to allow me to tap into their power so that my company can decorate it. It would be really cool." He has his eyes on trees just off Hwy 520 on either side just off the bridge and any just off I-90 as well. "I want to find trees that are in cool locations that will impact hundreds of thousands of people on a daily basis during the holiday season so that it spreads a little more holiday cheer to everyone. If we can see these monstrous trees decorated it would be really cool."

FHL does far more than just light up the night. They work year round offering business consulting, event, wedding, and landscape lighting, window washing/gutter cleaning/pressure washing. It's how he keeps his staff busy and keeps money coming in. If it seems like he is a busy man that would be accurate. But when inspiration strikes he goes for it. When he gets an idea and thinks it has merit he says, "I'll make it happen. that's my mentality. That's what I want to do. That's what I want to have in my life. I want to make things happen."

Myths were busted when dozens of Portlanders filled a community centre to find out about local preparations for the 2012 Games. The first of three public drop-in sessions taking place across the borough and Dorchester amazed organisers with its popularity, when people queued up to get in the Community 2000 centre in Easton – 40 people turned up in the first half hour alone. It followed revelations in the Echo, that proposals for Weymouth during Games-time include closing seafront roads to cars from 10am until 10pm, introducing special ‘gold paper’ parking permits for residents and businesses and ‘hard checkpoints.’Window cleaner Michael Hartley, of Southwell, said: “There’re a lot of rumours including residents needing a pass to get back on to Portland. “Also I work in Weymouth town centre, will I need a gold ticket to get parked on the seafront?” Mr Fooks dismissed the first rumour as false and said local businesses requiring access to the seafront would be accommodated. County council director for environment Miles Butler added: “We’ve just got to make sure the people who have necessary journeys can do them but the people who don’t can use the park and ride, public transport, cycle or walk.”

The Tailless Timing Belt Climbing Platform robot is nowhere near as strong in terms of grip, and doesn’t display the same agility as a gecko.

If you’ve ever encountered a gecko you may have noticed it climbing just about any surface effortlessly. It doesn’t matter how smooth a surface is, a gecko can climb it, even a vertical sheet of glass. The key to this climbing skill is the toe pads on their feet. They are covered in little hairy growths called setae, each of which has thousands of micron-thin structures covering them called spatulae. While other animals use suction, natural glue, or claws to climb, the gecko uses the spatulae to cling to a surface using molecular attraction (known as Van der Waals forces). Each spatulae has a weak attraction to the molecules of a surface. Put many thousands of them close together on a surface, as each gecko foot does, and you have a very strong attraction. For some gecko, that attraction is so strong it is thought they could carry the weight of a human without losing their grip.
Obviously scientists want to take advantage of such an ability. Being able to grip any vertical surface and move along it without leaving a residue or requiring any power has many potential uses, e.g. window cleaning skyscrapers using a robot that can climb glass. Mimicking the gecko feet in man-made form has proved tough, but a research team at Simon Fraser University have recently made a significant breakthrough. They’ve managed to create a robot tank that scales vertical surfaces in the same way a gecko does using molecular attraction. Video here.

The Future of Solar Power: Up until now solar panels have fallen a little flat, literally. Whether they're on a house or an industrial solar field in the desert, solar panels have always been one shape: flat. But the world's not and there's no reason why our solar panels should be either. Inspired by the way trees spread their leaves to capture sunlight, MIT Engineering Professor Jeffery Grossman wondered how efficient a three-dimensional shape covered in solar cells could be. It turns out that it has the potential to be quite efficient, even on an overcast, rainy day in Boston. That's where we found Professor Grossman and his team, on the roof of their research lab at MIT with a desk covered in miniature 3D solar panels.

You might think doing a solar panel demonstration on an overcast day is pointless, but not so with 3D solar panels. Typically, grey skies are like kryptonite for solar power, but Professor Grossman found that 3D panels can actually pick up almost as much electricity on a cloudy day as it can when it's sunny out. That efficiency, created by the dynamic shapes inspired by tree leaves, is what's really impressive about Professor Grossman's design. Not only are they less impacted by bad weather, their vertical shape allows them to pick up more direct sunlight and generate more electricity than flat panels using the same amount of ground space. The team doesn't want their designs hidden away on rooftops either. Rachelle Villalon, the teams architect envisions a day when you'll find 3D solar panels placed around cities like statues, becoming urban icons, instead of simple flat panels hidden on a roof.

Updated Window Cleaning News

Even Without Ice, Winds, Cold Temps Cause Trouble: San Antonio - It could have been much worse: Ice that was expected to coat elevated roads and bridges throughout the greater San Antonio area Wednesday morning never really materialized. However, strong winds and frosty temperatures took its place, leaving some people out in the cold and putting the freeze on work for others. While the weather was an uncomfortable inconvenience, it was more of a pain in the pocket for others, including Keith Witt, owner of Winco of South Texas. Witt's company - which specializes in washing the windows of some prominent downtown high-rise buildings, including the Tower of the America's - had to keep all of its workers' feet on the ground. "The wind's about, probably, 10 miles an hour faster (about 10 stories off the ground)," Witt said. "It can be very dangerous."

Witt said the conditions could cause a window washer's scaffolding to blow out about 20 to 30 feet away from the side of a building. Although his company holds a number of Guinness world records for window washing, Witt didn't want to chance taking on the local winds. While professionals remained down to earth, tourists were still given an opportunity to have their heads in the clouds. According to workers at the Tower of the Americas, the elevated attraction remained open to visitors throughout the day.

Burgling window cleaner who wore victim’s knickers walks free: A window cleaner who was found wearing a young mother’s knickers when police arrested him for burgling her home has walked free from court. Alan Sayer sneaked into his 19-year-old customer’s home in Newton-le-Willows through an open window. He then snatched a bra and two pairs of knickers from her bedroom. But he was caught out after sending his victim a handwritten note asking for a date. And when the 36-year-old was taken into police custody at St Helens officers found him wearing the victim’s pink and black knickers. The crime is said to have left her “sickened and frightened”.

Sayer, who has a string of previous convictions, had served 80 days in custody since pleading guilty to the offence at St Helens Magistrates’ Court. Sentencing Sayer at Liverpool Crown Court, the judge, Recorder Nicholas Fewtrell described the break-in as “a major breach of trust”. He added: “Members of the public expect those who do work in their houses should have standards of uppermost decency.” But, acknowledging Sayer’s time served on remand and early guilty plea, he issued a suspended nine-month prison term. Prosecuting, Mandy Nepal explained how the mother had been stopped in the street by the window cleaner on the morning of November 10 last year. She said: “She told him she was going to her mother’s house that day. “(But) at about 1pm that day the defendant came to her mother’s house and said someone had broken into her property, explaining the back window was open and the blinds were up.”

The woman “panicked” and went to the house with her father but nothing appeared to have been taken from the house. Ms Nepal added: “Later in the evening she noticed her underwear drawer was open and three items of underwear were missing, which were a pair of pink and black knickers, a polka dot bra, bra straps and laced French knickers.” The woman was reassured by her family but contacted officers after being spooked by a letter Sayer delivered through her door the next day. Ms Nepal continued: “She received a note through the door which read: ‘Do you want to go for a date’. It was from the window cleaner – that frightened her and she contacted police.” After his arrest, bra straps belonging to the victim were found in his bedroom and he was found wearing her underwear at St Helens police station.

He tried to claim the knickers belonged to his ex-girlfriend but his story unravelled and he confessed to his crime at St Helens Magistrates’ Court. Making reference to the St Helens Star’s presence in court and the embarrassing publicity that would follow for Sayer, Robert Wyn Jones, defending, said: “It’s not illegal to wear women’s underwear – even in St Helens. “No doubt on release life in St Helens will be uncomfortable enough and windowing cleaning difficult.” Mr Wyn Jones offered little explanation for why Sayer had committed the crime but suggested the use of amphetamine drugs had given him the urge to go into her house. Sayer, of Sankey Street, Newton, has seven previous convictions for 17 offences since 2003. However, none of those offences related to other underwear thefts and a psychiatric report came back clear. He was also sentenced to carry out 250 hours unpaid work and handed a restraining order, which states he must not contact the victim. Previous blog on this story here.

LONDON, ONTARIO- College Pro Painters and Window Cleaning gathered in Las Vegas, Nevada last month for their first leadership conference to meet, mingle and plan for a phenomenal 2011. What appeared to be a seemingly normal conference started off with an unusual bang. This was not your standard leadership conference to discuss advanced skill training and professional painting and window cleaning, but instead a chance for employees to learn and incorporate social media into their business practices, an essential skill in today's marketplace.

Upon arrival, employees and franchise owners were split into groups and given 45 minutes to create a "viral social media video." The goal was to create a video that would appeal to audiences on social spaces like YouTube and Facebook and spread organically. Not only was this an ice-breaker for the leadership conference, but also a hands-on social media tutorial. The videos were an instant hit and the exercise helped demonstrate the power of social media in the business world. Whether being used for training, team building, customer service, or lead generation, social media is a tool that College Pro values. College Pro believes that students looking to maximize their success in their painting or window cleaning businesses should look to the tools they are most familiar with and take advantage of the opportunities they present. Mitch Seiffert, General Manager of College Pro Window Cleaning, described the ice breaker as "a great idea! It really allowed everyone to have some fun and I was amazed at the end results from just 45 minutes of work from a group of people."

A window washer dangles, Spider-Man-like, 27 stories above downtown Minneapolis. He pauses in front of the nearly floor-to-ceiling windows in Ron Peltier's office, then drops out of sight. Peltier, chairman and CEO of HomeServices of America, can't watch. But when it comes to the housing market -- the worst in three decades -- the head of the second-largest real estate company in the country isn't the least bit squeamish. Peltier says it's time to make a big leap and expand.

Imdaad expects demand for home maintenance services in the UAE to increase, thanks to the recovering real estate sector. It claims cost-effective annual maintenance charges and integrated home maintenance services are key incentives for property owners to adopt FM solutions and Abu Dhabi will be a major growth area in the residential segment. Building on the company's work in Dubai, Imdaad said it has now beefed up its HomePro Maintenance Services to capitalise on the expected growth in demand for home maintenance services in Abu Dhabi. “Imdaad's strategy has always been to constantly expand the scope of our services and cater to emerging requirements and demands in the facilities management market," said Jamal Abdulla Lootah, CEO, Imdaad. "We have therefore developed a wider range of value-added services and privileges to strengthen our position as a value-oriented solutions provider, and to take advantage of emerging growth opportunities in key markets such as Abu Dhabi." Services include maintenance of air-conditioners, MEP and civil packages, drainage chambers, water tank, pest control, façade and window cleaning.

Not Your Typical Shower Items! More than half of US adults claim to use their showers for more than just washing up. Here are some of the most unusual shower items they admit to bringing into the stall. Do any of these sound familiar? "Everything we do starts with market research and really understanding how consumers use our products," says says Susan Fisher, Director of Brand Management for Delta Faucet. "And this study gives us more insight into that very personal space." But, when you consider that only 34 percent of Americans live in a single-family home, according to the National Multi Housing Council, not everyone has a utility sink or access to a hose. So the shower might just be the best (and only) solution available when you need access to water. Window screens. Cleaning window screens is a big job. You may reach for a hose, but not everyone does. Window screens are being cleaned in the shower.

Solar-Powered Roads Are Idaho Inventor's Dream: An Idaho inventor, Scott Brusaw, CEO of Solar Roadways, has created a solar-powered roadway made of glass. The glass panels contain solar cells that power heating elements, which operate much like the rear window defogger in a car, preventing ice accumulation. They also house LED lights. Replacing existing asphalt with the solar panels will save money and natural resources over time, since asphalt is made with petroleum. The 53-year-old electrical engineer and CEO of Solar Roadways will outfit the area around his Sagle, Idaho, business this spring with a series of structurally engineered glass panels that have the strength of steel and may be driven upon. Inside the glass are solar cells that power the embedded heating elements, which operate much like the rear window defogger in a car, preventing ice accumulation.

The panels also contain LED lights for "painting" the road lines from beneath the surface to ensure safer nighttime driving. Brusaw also included a microprocessor board that spells out messages such as "slow, curve ahead" or blink to indicate wildlife or pedestrians are crossing the roadway. The U.S. Department of Transportation funded the project after officials saw a need "to put an electric blanket over our highways" and find alternatives to petroleum-based asphalt and concrete, he explained. Brusaw estimates that his solar roadways cost $4.4 million a mile, but insists the cleaner, self-sustaining highway would pay for itself over time.

Homegrown terror plots focus of hearings: In Hempstead, Texas, a window washer named Barry Walter Bujol was seen visiting his local library to go online and read the latest postings from Al Qaeda leaders, such as American-born Anwar Awlaki. He allegedly exchanged e-mails with Awlaki, who sent him an attachment called "42 Ways of Supporting Jihad." Bujol often went to the library after prayer services at a nearby mosque. The father of two young children, he had recently become a devout Muslim. Last year, he was indicted for attempting to aid terrorists; he faces 20 years in prison if convicted. In Little Rock, Muhammad is scheduled for trial on Feb. 23, despite wishing to plead guilty. Prosecutors hope he gets what he wants — the death penalty. In one of his letters to the judge, Muhammad wrote, "I await sentencing." Previous blog on this story here & here.

Fond memories of Dad working at the Stampfer's store (Dubuque): My father worked at Stampfer's for many years as a maintenance man. One of his jobs was to wash the windows inside and out. About 1940, while cleaning the outside windows on the second floor, his safety belt broke and he fell to the pavement and broke his ankles. The one was broken in seven pieces. He was hospitalized for a long time, and was laid up at home for months. Mr. Stampfer continued to pay him his wages the entire time he was laid up. After months of recovery, he went back to work for Stampfer's. Many a night after the store was closed, I would go with my father and accompany him on his rounds. He had a special key that he would put in a time clock and turn it. He had to do this in different locations in the store.

Controversial comic Jim Davidson has been widely accused of being racist thanks to some of his early material. So why has he teamed up with fast-rising black comedian Matt Blaize for his latest project? “Back then, I was a 23-year-old rich white guy,” Davidson says, reflectively. “I’d made more money than I ever could have in my old job as a window cleaner and I was going through life like it was a breeze. I mean Chalky… I used to be able to do West Indian accents so that’s why I did that. I got the accent by copying other people I saw, but in actual fact, all my black mates talked [cockney] like me!  “In fact, there was one [black] guy I used to play football with in school, we were really good mates. A year after we left school, I saw him and I was like, ‘George, it’s me!’ He looked at me and said, [puts on Jamaican accent] ‘You alright, man. Mi just out wid mi bredrin.’ I pulled him aside, and said, ‘What are you talking like that for?’ He then switched back to his original accent and whispered to me, ‘Shhh, I’m wiv me mates!’

Webster Police Release Details in Murder-Suicide: Webster (N.Y.) police say David Pulos shot and killed his wife Marisa with a 12-gauge shotgun, then turned the gun on himself. They released new details Friday about Wednesday's murder-suicide. Police found the couple dead in their Morning Glory Drive home Wednesday morning. Police say the couple was going through a divorce. They say both David and Marisa were shot once. Police previously were called to the home for an argument, but no charges were filed. David told police that Marisa sprayed him with window cleaner.

Dreghorn bogus caller strikes again: A door-step conman who made off with £450 aftertargeting two Dreghorn pensioners in sheltered housing has struck a further 14 times in the village, police fear. Cops say the bogus caller is using a range of ruses to rob the elderly and believe he was behind a spate of unsuccessful attempts to trick residents last week. This week, they urged people to be on their guard and appealed for more information to catch the serial fraudster. PC Alan McPhail, of Irvine police, said: “This character has presented himself as a council worker, a gardener, a window cleaner, you name it. “He’s even tried chapping people up in the early hours of the morning asking if they’ve seen his mother. It seems he’ll try anything. “Thankfully most people have been wise to him.

Unions and the steel industry have joined forces to fight against the rising number of engineering and fabrication jobs going offshore. The Australian Steel Institute, the Manufacturing Workers Union, Unions W-A and the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers have united to form the Skilled Work Alliance. They have organised television advertisements, community rallies and will march on state parliament next month to call for new laws to keep work in W-A.  "The cost to WA manufacturing is enormous, but it's the cost to the whole community that's really frightening," he said.  "These West Australian firms are the skills factories of the state. Without these workshops we lose those skills factories in the process, so we diminish our state and we end up just being a bunch of window cleaners."

Here is the true story of a business transaction which took place last Sunday in an Auckland backyard. A six-year-old girl and her four-year-old cousin were playing water fights with an old trigger-topped plastic bottle. After a while, they started squirting the window panes of the ranchslider doors. Their caregiver - a cynical business editor - saw an opportunity (not so much for getting clean windows, but for keeping two children quietly occupied) and handed them each a sponge. The two spent the next half hour happily cleaning the windows. As they neared completion, of their task they started chatting and came to a profound conclusion: they should be getting paid for this work. "We can get pocket money for this, can't we?" declared the financially savvy four-year-old.

Readers familiar with the cold, hard reality of the business world will see where this is going and will already be visualising the two crestfallen little faces as the caregiver explained their problem. Having completed the work without at any stage engaging in discussion about payment- let alone doing a deal on pricing - the pair now had no bargaining power with which to make demands. The disappointment and outrage they felt on realising this probably reflected, in some small way, the kind of hurt and anger that someone might feel when it's revealed that they have unwittingly sold their shares for half their market value.

Could Los Angeles' Funky Watts Towers Be in Danger of Closing? Los Angeles' Watts Towers is off the beaten track, which may be its biggest problem. The endangered folk art installation with the name that sounds like an office building is suffering from lack of maintenance and visitors. Italian artist Simon Rodia made the structures, with the tallest one reaching about 98 feet. The unusual outdoor exhibit is a site to see with 17 towering steel sculptures covered with mortar and decorated with broken glass, sea shells, pottery and ceramic tile and hand-painted Canton ware. Rodia made them without machines, scaffolding, bolts, rivets or welds; he used simple tools: pipe-fitter pliers and a window-washer's belt and buckle.

Mayor Jacobs expresses concerns over arts center in memo to Mayor Dyer: The memo describes the project as “disconcerting,” and having “serious financial concerns.” Mayor Jacobs says the arts center is not feasible the way the deal stands today. We have told you about art center studies on things like wind tunnel studies and window washing consultants. Now, the county says the construction costs are too high, and arts center board members aren’t even fully aware of what’s going on with the project and may have even been misled. The Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center is just one part of the three-pronged "venues vision" for Orlando. The two other projects are the new Amway Center and a major overhaul for the aging Citrus Bowl. But that $1.1 billion plan which was approved in 2007, is showing signs of serious fatigue now. Previous blog on this story here.