Highs & Lows For High-Rise Window Cleaners

Washing Windows Hanging Off a Rope; I Hope They Are Paid More Than Those Washing The Other Side: Here's one example of why men might earn more on average than women: they tend to far outnumber women in jobs that are very dangerous, and therefore highly-paid: coal mining, working on oil rigs, fishing, farming, logging, excavation, construction and window-washing, etc. I took the picture above of two window-washers hanging off the AEI building today on ropes, with no obvious safety equipment other than the normal-size ropes attached to something on the top of the building (notice the ropes aren't even visible in the picture!), with no buckets, trays or harnesses to support them, and nothing below them except the sidewalk to stop a fall. I'm pretty sure these guys make a higher wage than the maintenance workers who clean the same exact windows from the inside of the building.

Of course, there's nothing that would prevent women from becoming outside window-washers, but there might be natural gender differences in preferences for work environments that would discourage most women from hanging off a rope 10 stories above the street. Perhaps men show greater tolerance than women for risky, physically demanding, dangerous work in extreme outdoor conditions, and women put a higher priority on office work environments that are low-risk, indoors, safe and pleasant. Higher (lower) risk = higher (lower) wages, ceteris paribus, and women on average may be perfectly willing to accept lower wages for lower risk jobs, which would contribute to the wage gap.

Here's BLS data showing that in 2009, 93% of all workplace fatalities were men, and here's data showing that 90% of all fatal motorcycle accidents in 2005 were men, so I don't think there's any question that men are significantly more risk-tolerant than women. Any empirical study of wage differences by gender should control for risk and the probability of work-related injury or fatality, which I don't think usually happens.

HIGH-RISE WINDOW WASHER SAYS WINNING LOTTERY IS JUST LIKE BUNGEE JUMPING SEATTLE: James Smith is a high-rise window washer, a bungee jumper and a self-proclaimed “adrenaline junky” from Issaquah. Still, he says that winning $200,000 from Washington’s Lottery is the biggest adrenaline rush he’s had in a while. So much so that when he saw the prize on his Scratch ticket on Friday afternoon, he couldn’t go back to work. He said, “I wanted to jump on my ropes, but I was so hyper and distracted that I decided I’d better not.”

James was working that day at Westlake Center in downtown Seattle. Around noon, he went to lunch with a coworker and decided to pick up a couple of Scratch tickets at a gas station. He scratched the first ticket, and it was a $20 winner. “[My coworker] said, ‘there’s no way that next one is a winner too.” He started to scratch the second ticket and accidentally revealed some of the prize section before the game section. “All I could see was the ‘undred,’” he said. He scratched on and found that the ticket was a winner, thinking he’d won $100, he finished revealing the prize to find that it said “two-hundred thousand dollars!”

“My coworker was going nuts!” James said. James said the adrenaline rush he got from the win was comparable to bungee jumping and was more exciting than rappelling down a 57 story building, which is the height of the tallest tower he’s worked on. James plans to use the money to take care of some family, buy a new car, take a trip and invest the rest. He called his sister on his way to the Lottery regional office in Federal Way to give her the good news. He said she didn’t believe him at first. James bought his $200,000 “Hot Streak” Scratch ticket at Sandhu’s Arco AM/PM in Seattle.

In specific, the legislation requires utility companies and public agencies such as IDAs to pay prevailing wages to services workers such as janitors, security guards, handymen, gardeners, and window cleaners. In his e-mail, Daly said the legislation was supported by "powerful downstate unions" and will harm economic development for several reasons: The legislation establishes a dangerous precedent by extending, for the first time, the application of prevailing wages to employees of private corporation not engaged in public works. If applicable to utilities, Daly writes, the same requirements could be imposed on any for-profit corporation in the conduct of private enterprise. Prevailing wage requirements were enacted to apply to work done on public projects, such as roads, bridges, and government buildings. This legislation would dramatically expand the application of these wage requirements to work done by private entities for private purposes.

Unpaid wages a growing problem for Chicago-area workers: Disputes over who is entitled to overtime often turn on complex and subtle legal distinctions, such as those in a federal lawsuit involving workers who wash the windows of Chicago high-rises. Some 25 former and current employees are suing Chicago-based Corporate Cleaning Services Inc., its owner and chief operating officer, in federal court for overtime pay. For seven years, Ramon Alvarado, 26, says he received $900 to $1,000 a week for washing windows in the Loop and along Michigan Avenue. Though he worked six or seven days a week, he says, he never received overtime pay. When he raised the issue, Mr. Alvarado says the response was, “You guys get plenty of money, so what are you complaining about?”

The employees say they were paid per job, or “piece,” which would entitle them to overtime pay. The company says they were paid by commission, which would render them ineligible for overtime. While the window washers don't sell anything, the law defines a “commission” as compensation that represents a proportion of the price paid by the customer for the goods or services provided by the worker. In court records, the workers argue their collective bargaining agreement—they are represented by Service Employees International Union Local 1—requires overtime. They also point to internal company documents that refer to “piece rate” compensation.

Corporate Cleaning Services argues the workers' pay relates to the price the company charges customers for window washing, making it a commission. In June, Judge Robert Dow Jr. wrote that “from a macro level, the evidence appears to demonstrate a relationship between the compensation and the price of labor to customers.”

However, Judge Dow denied the company's motion for summary judgment on the question of whether Corporate Cleaning services actually paid workers on that basis, noting that the workers' attorneys had alleged too many instances where that relationship broke down, where, “simply put, the deviations between the methodology that defendants aver they use to charge for plaintiffs' labor and the actual charges billed to customers are too great, too frequent and not sufficiently explained.” Both sides expect the case to go to trial in March.

Corporate Cleaning Services is owned by Neal Zucker, known for his civic engagement and philanthropy. He sits on numerous boards, including the Museum of Science and Industry, the Goodman Theatre, After School Matters and the Chicago Botanic Garden. He's also friends with President Barack Obama's senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and former White House social secretary Desiree Rogers. “The allegations are really baseless,” Mr. Zucker says. “I'm 100% union. A lot of my window washers make upwards of $60,000 a year.”

Four Kilgore High School robotics students have their eyes set on a state title after winning first place in a recent Region 7 competition. Seniors Zonera Javed, Jalissa Bagget and Chris McDaniel and freshman Peyton Sharp competed in the inventions category at the Dec. 4 competition held at the University of Texas at Tyler. The category allowed the team to use the parts provided in the Lego building kit, as well as any additional items the machine needs to complete a task of their choice. Building a robot out of blocks may sound simple enough, but narrowing down the possibilities of what the robot could do presented more of a challenge to the team. “Our other ideas included a sandwich maker and a wall painter,” Jalissa said. “We eventually decided to do a robot that cleaned windows on skyscrapers.” After more than 60 hours of development, the team came up with a spider-looking device they call “ALLAN,” which is short for “Automated Linear Lego Arachnid Nexus.”

The students explained their robot is designed to save human lives by reducing the need for people to climb the dizzying heights of the towers in most major metropolitan areas. ALLAN’s design allows him to crawl along the ground toward the building and attach himself to the wall using magnetic wheels. The robot is equipped with a high pressured pump to disperse a cleaning solution, a row of scrubbing brushes and a squeegee to wipe the glass clean. The team’s first place win in Region 7 secured them a spot in the State competition scheduled for March. The students plan to spend extra time refining their robot design during the next few months, hoping to fix programming issues and reduce the machine’s overall weight.

Vacuum-Boy Says Window Cleaning Will Suck In The Future?

13 Year Old Spider Boy Scales Walls Using Recycled Vacuums: Hibiki Kono had a dream — he wanted to be like his hero, Spiderman. Most little kids would have their parents buy them a costume that they could wear to school. Not Kono — the 13 year-old set to work making his dream a reality. He’s used two 1,400-watt recycled vacuum cleaners and a little bit of elbow grease to make a machine that allows him to scale walls — just like his spindly hero! This DIY genius was shunned at first. When he announced his plans his teachers and parents were doubtful that he’d succeed. Kono’s design technology teacher, Angus Gent, told reporters, “I’m hugely proud of him. When he came to me with the idea at the beginning I had my doubts.” But to the surprise and delight of his community, the 13 year-old’s design was successful and Kono says he completely trusts the machine to hold him up on any wall.
However, his mom’s not so sure, she won’t let him climb the walls in his bedroom for fear that he, “may pull down the ceiling.” Kono thinks that the machine could be helpful for window washers, and in some of his demonstrations shows how one could easily use one hand to support themselves on his DIY machine and the other to clean the surface they’re climbing. Kono showed his nifty technology off to a school assembly, but unlike Spiderman, Spiderboy has limitations. His mom won’t let him climb higher than the vacuum cleaner power chords will let him. You see, he’s got to keep his machine plugged in to work.

Kono came up with the sucky machine as part of a technology class. He spent five months designing and making the gadget, which includes two giant suckerpads that are attached to the 1,400-watt vacuum cleaners via air hoses and two harnesses for the feet. Not surprisingly, Kono is a big fan of Spider-Man. "I used to dress up as Spider-Man when I was younger, and I love all the films. So it's great to be able to climb walls like him," he told The Sun. "I've climbed up the school wall but I'm not allowed too high. It's not scary and I completely trust the machine." Kono's teachers were initially skeptical, but now that he's proven it works, instructors like design technology teacher Angus Gent are sucking up to him. "We're thrilled with his original thought and all his hard work," Nick Robinson, Kono's headmaster at the King's College School, told the Daily Mail. "He shows a real flair for design and inventive thinking. He went up a wall for assembly and it was amazing."
Now that Kono has made the grade with classmates and teachers, he's hoping to suck up some money for the invention by marketing it to painters and window cleaners who don't want to carry around ladders everywhere. There could be two slight problems: Not only does Kono's mom put a strict height limit on how far he can climb, but the device's range is limited by how far the vacuum cleaner cords will stretch.

Window Washing Robots Take Over Dubai

Dubai’s endless streets of skyscrapers require an army of window washers. A Swiss company is hoping to replace that human workforce with a robotic one. Serbot AG has two high speed surface cleaning robots designed to work quicker than humans and in wind conditions no sane person would dare. The Gekko looks like a tank with suction cup treads and the Clean Ant has this weird set of legs that pivots and flips in crazy ways. These two bots are set to revolutionize Dubai’s massive building cleaning industry. If they can succeed in that glass jungle, Serbot AG could bring their cleaning bots to the rest of the world. Watch out window washers, the machines are coming for your jobs and they fear no wind. Check out all the crazy scrubbing action in the videos below.

The Gekko and Clean Ant aren’t just faster than humans, they’re a lot faster. A professional washer could probably manage 20 to 30 square meters per hour. The Clean Ant can work on all sorts of curved surfaces and corners and still manage 150. Gekko, which is used on flat surfaces, has a blazing top speed near 360! These bots can do the work of 5 or 10 human workers. And their cleaning supplies get pumped right through them - they’re completely self contained. You don’t even have to install tracks. To give you some idea of what these robots are replacing I included a look at their competition.

The Gekko and Clean Ant are pretty impressive bots, but they are just one of the many examples of how automation is going to remove humans from the workforce. It’s not just labor jobs that will be affected. We’ve already seen how software could replace some scientists and journalists. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Though some worry automation could lead to economic collapse, it could also free humans to pursue other tasks, to become entrepreneurs or artists. No matter what the possible consequences, it’s hard to doubt that robots are going to occupy more jobs. Look at the Serbot AG bots: fast, versatile, self contained, and they’ll never get dizzy or fall to their deaths. If this is our competition, we humans don’t stand a chance.

Also see here.

Window Cleaning News + Another Ladder Fall

Window cleaner airlifted after fall: A window cleaner had to be airlifted to hospital after he fell off his ladder in a Powys village. The man, who has been named locally as Tim Owen, was cleaning windows on the Llys Rhufain estate, in Caersws, near Newtown, when the incident happened yesterday. Derek Newall, who lives in the village, said Mr Owen had been cleaning windows on the estate when the accident happened at about 4pm. He said he saw the air ambulance arrive. “He was cleaning windows and fell off his ladder,” he said. “I went to the medical centre in Caersws with his father and his wife. An ambulance attended and a decision was made to airlift him to hospital.” A spokesman from the Welsh Ambulance Service said it was called to the scene just before 4pm.

Robo-window cleaners in Dubai: Last month, a great number of press outlets picked up on the fact that clearly the windows of the world's tallest building would be a feat unto itself. Figures were thrown around saying that a team of 36 cleaners would take three months to wash the 2,717-foot tower using 12 state-of-the-art machines that travel along tracks fixed to the building's exterior. However, all that hard work put into designing a window-washing system for the super-skyscraper could be in vain, as Swiss company Serbot AG unveils their new robotic cleaning system specifically designed for windows and façades on high-rise buildings. And where better to show it off, than in Dubai?
The Great Gekko and CleanAnt: The robots, Gekko and CleanAnt, already have the advantage over their human counter parts as they are able to work at wind speeds that would prohibit manual cleaning for safety reasons. Not just that, but Bas Schmit Phiferons, Serbot business development manager, firmly believes in their excellent cleaning performance, constant availability and minimal operating costs which makes them an ideal window-cleaning system. More importantly, they're faster than human cleaners.
Gekko, for example, has a cleaning capacity of up to 400 square metres an hour, which is 15 times faster than manual cleaning. It's rapid cleaning ability gives it, not only potential in the high-rise cleaning industry, but in the maintenance of solar panels and photovoltaic modules.
Removing leaves, pollen, sand and dust from entire fields of solar panels could see solar efficiency improve and eliminate the need for employees to carry out the dangerous task on the steep panels at night. Gekko instead uses vacuum power to attach itself to the surface to be cleaned, whether vertical, horizontal or slanted, and then uses a windshield-wiper type of brush to blast away any kind of dirt on the glass.
Speaking to Construction Week Online, Phiferons was positive about how his product would do in the UAE. "We are bringing this new technology to the UAE, where we have seen a lot of potential, especially with all the skyscrapers and the various architectural designs, which are very hard to clean using conventional methods," he said. He also talked up the 'green credentials' of the robo-cleaners - "No detergent is needed for cleaning, which is an added environmental advantage. The robots can use dry ice, demineralised water or water with enzymes to eat away the oils. They also can filter and recycle the used material to minimise waste." On paper, they sound fantastic... here's hoping they just don't try and take over the world. It's always the way with robots...

Imdaad, the leading integrated Facilities Management solutions providers in the UAE, today announced the launch of its latest major initiative, Imdaad HomePro Maintenance Services, an exclusive service division offering clients comprehensive maintenance programme to help protect and preserve homes. Imdaad HomePro Maintenance Services cover all key areas of protecting and preserving the safety and beauty of the home. The package of services include the maintenance of Façade and Window Cleaning.

Handbags stolen from Thame homes: Police are appealing for information after two houses were burgled in Thame. Between 12.30am on Thursday and 4.30pm on Friday, thieves gained access to a property in Nelson Street and stole a handbag. A handbag was also stolen from a property in Essex Road when it was burgled between 9.15pm on Wednesday and 8.15am on Thursday. Det Con Emma McGrath said: “There are no signs of forced entry to either premise, but we have had reports that there has been a man in the area acting suspiciously and offering window cleaning. “I am appealing to anyone who may have seen this man or any suspicious activity in the area to contact the police.” Anyone with any information about this incident is asked to contact Det Con McGrath at Didcot police station via 0845 8 505 505, or if you don’t want to talk to the police or give your name, call the Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111.

Janitors’ union sets date for strike vote: After two full weeks of working without a contract, a union representing more than 4,000 Twin Cities janitors decided last week to set a strike authorization vote over unfair labor practices. The vote was scheduled to take place on Saturday, Jan. 30, at the union’s weekly member meeting. At press time, the outcome was not yet known, but the Downtown Journal has been posting web updates regarding this story at downtownjournal.com. SEIU Local 26 — Minnesota’s Property Services Union, which represents security officers and window cleaners in addition to janitors — had arranged for two additional weeks of negotiations at the end of last year, pushing the final deadline for a new contract to Jan. 8. That deadline came and went, with both sides no closer to an agreement. At a member meeting the following day, the union voted to set another two-week deadline “for companies to get serious,” according to SEIU Local 26 President Javier Morillo-Alicea. That deadline expired Jan. 22, and the decision to set a strike authorization vote came at the following day’s member meeting.

More States Requiring 'Green' Cleaning Products in Schools: In an era where the "3 Rs" have now come to stand for "Reduce, Reuse and Recycle," an increasing number of states are requiring schools and government buildings to use environmentally friendly cleaning products. By the end of 2009, 10 states, including Connecticut, Illinois and New York, had already enacted Green Clean Schools Acts requiring or encouraging the use of environmentally sensitive cleaning and maintenance products in schools, according to Green Seal Inc., a nonprofit whose eco-certification is internationally recognized and well-respected. Similar legislation is expected to be considered in 2010 in at least five states, including California and Wisconsin.

Critics say that while the measures are laudable, states should not mandate which products schools and agencies must buy, especially if they increase costs for governments that are struggling financially. In New York, schools that responded to a state survey said their costs went up 10 percent, on average, in the first year they complied with a 2005 cleaning law. But New York's Office of General Services said successful programs reduce levels of cleaning chemicals, mold and dust that cause asthma attacks, a top reason students miss school. Linda Chipperfield, a vice president for Green Seal, said its certified products use less packaging and cannot contain chemicals that cause cancer, kill aquatic life or deplete the ozone layer, among other things.

Quincy Public School Maintenance Director Dennis Peters said while the district wasn't mandated to use green cleaning products until a year ago, it started a year early. "We'll do anything we can to help out the environment," he said. The cost is about the same, Peters said, although the district hasn't switched all its paper products to recyclables yet. "I don't know that they do the same job that products used to, but maybe those were a little harsh," Peters said. "We may have to use a little more elbow grease, but the end result is the same."

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's 'Cemetery Juction': Definitely not 'The Office': “The film itself centers around three young guys growing up in a small town. One of them is dreaming big, he wants to escape the blue-collar life which his dad, played by Ricky, has, working in a factory and window-cleaning on the side.

Window Cleaning News

Praise for window cleaners who rescued elderly woman from fire: Two window cleaners have been hailed as heroes for rescuing an elderly woman from flats. Lee Reardon, 25, and work-mate, Alfie Dunn, 23, leapt into action when they saw smoke coming from a window of St John's Court in Paignton yesterday afternoon. While Alfie climbed in through the first floor window and found Joan McMann, 82, in a smoke-filled room. Lee went in through the door, led her to safety and put out the chip pan fire. Mrs McMann said she felt like the 'luckiest person in Paignton' after being led to safety while firefighters hailed the pair as heroes. "Bless their hearts, those boys saved my life" she said.
Lee said: "We were cleaning the windows and noticed smoke coming out of one of the windows. My friend went through the window and found an old lady inside. "I went around the front and he opened the door for me. There was lots of smoke inside. We helped the lady out then I went back in, picked up a rug and put it over the fire. "It was a chip pan on the hob. I carried it out and then we brought the fire extinguisher in and put the rest out. "The lady was very happy but it was all instinctive and we didn't really think about it." Alfie, who works with Lee for SLR Window Cleaners, said: "The room was smoke filled and at first the old lady didn't want to come out.
"I unlocked the door for Lee and we helped her out. The firemen were there within five minutes and we went back to work." Mrs McCann said: "I had put a saucepan on the hob and had turned on the chip pan by accident. "The room was full of smoke and I didn't know what was going on until they arrived. "I want to thank them for saving me. I feel like the luckiest person in Paignton." Paignton fire station watch commander Roger Williams said he couldn't praise the pair enough for their bravery and quick actions. He added: "Without their actions and intervention the lady's flat would have been severely fire damaged and she could have been seriously injured. "I want to thank them on behalf of the service for doing a real community-spirited rescue. They didn't make a fuss, they just did what they thought was the right thing to do and then returned to work."

Papa Gianni is 89, but the music of his native Italy still lives deep within him, and so he must sing. Sing with all his heart. And what emerges from his throat is, in his own words, "a miracle." The voice is remarkably strong; it's the voice of a much younger man, a voice "that must be from God." Papa Gianni has no other explanation, but his voice received the highest of validations, from the great Luciano Pavarotti himself. He sang for Pavarotti in San Francisco in 1979, including one of the songs "The Maestro" loved most: "Nessun Dorma." That made it three performances within a 10-day span for this charismatic man who was born outside Trieste, Italy, and who immigrated to America in 1951.
"I came from a poor family," he said Sept. 12. "My papa was a fisherman. My mama was on her knees, scrubbing wood floors. There was no money to buy food. I went through a lotta, lotta, lotta things in my life." "I came to America because I lost my land. I was a refugee. From New York, I went to California, and worked in construction in Dana Point. My wife wanted to come to San Francisco. I had two kids, Gianfranco and Sofia. I became a window washer. God gave me the strength to go outside on 40, 60 stories."

From nature, robots: To a robot designer like Sangbae Kim, the animal kingdom is full of inspiration. "I always look at animals and ask why they are the way they are," says Kim, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at MIT. "As an engineer, looking at them and speculating is fascinating." While a graduate student at Stanford, Kim drew inspiration from the gecko to build a climbing robot, and he is now designing a running robot that mimics the movements of a cheetah. Such agile, fast-moving robots could perform military surveillance and search-and-rescue missions deemed too dangerous for humans to undertake. His Biomimetic Robotics Lab is one of several at MIT pursuing biologically inspired engineering. A team of mechanical engineers has built robotic fish, and materials scientists have designed moisture-collecting materials that mimic a beetle's shell.
When Kim and his colleagues at Stanford set out to build a climbing robot, at first they figured they needed to make the robot's feet sticky. However, they soon realized that very sticky feet can't detach very easily. Their approach shifted dramatically with the 2006 discovery, by Lewis and Clark College biologist Kellar Autumn, that geckos use a phenomenon called directional adhesion to stick to walls. "The gecko gave us a completely new perspective. Stickiness does not necessarily come from chemical composition; it can come from mechanical properties and geometry," says Kim. "The geometry enables strange phenomena such as directional adhesion, which sticks in only one direction."
The pads of a gecko's feet are covered with a forest of tiny hairs called setae, some of which are one-twentieth the width of a human hair. The setae, in turn, branch into hundreds of tiny smaller hairs called spatulae, which are about one-thousandth the width of a human hair. These hairs cling to surfaces using tiny molecular interactions known as van der Waals forces. Collectively, the forces are strong enough to support the gecko's weight as it scrambles up a vertical surface.
To demonstrate, Kim rummages around in a desk drawer in his office and pulls out a small rectangle of the gecko-inspired adhesive material, which resembles a tiny patch of blue Astroturf. A compact disc gently held against the horizontal surface attaches securely in one direction and then easily detaches in the opposite direction. The adhesive is covered with hairs made of rubber silicone, which are thicker than those on a gecko's paw (about four times thicker than a human hair). Because thicker hairs require smoother surfaces for adhesion, Stickybot can only climb extremely smooth surfaces like glass.
Kim and his colleagues, led by Stanford professor Mark Cutkosky, first demonstrated Stickybot in 2006, and Time magazine named it one of that year's best inventions. The paper describing the robot also won the 2008 Best Paper Award for the IEEE Transactions on Robotics. Potential applications for the stickybot technology include exterior repair of underwater oil pipelines and window washing. Kim also plans to start designing climbing equipment for humans using the directional adhesion technology.

The family of a severely disabled schoolboy born without a sense of danger is planning a potentially life-changing mission to the other side of the world. Keiran Buchan has Angelman syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that causes developmental delay. The 10-year-old has never spoken a word in his life, sleeps for just one hour each night and has difficulty walking. Because he has no perception of danger, he needs to be supervised and kept safe around the clock. All over his family home at Crimond, between Peterhead and Fraserburgh, cabinets, doors and appliances are fitted with safety locks and protective covers. Parents Neil and Linda say that if the front door is left open, Keiran is likely to wander out into the street. He will think nothing about playing with electrical sockets, picking up knives or exploring potentially hazardous household objects.
Sadly, there is no known cure for Angelman Syndrome and there is only a limited amount that therapies can do. Window cleaner Mr Buchan, of The Corse, Crimond, is organising a skydive to raise money for the trip and also for charity Assert (the Angelman Syndrome Support Education Research Trust). On Saturday, October 3, he will jump from an aircraft 8,000ft above St Andrews. For more information on Mr Buchan’s sky dive, log on to "Just Giving."

Businesses, homes, hotels and more keep demand high for building cleaning workers: Outlook: Employment of building cleaning workers is expected to increase 14 percent over the 2006-16 decade, which is faster than the average for all occupations.
Pay: Building cleaning workers in the Seattle-Bellevue-Tacoma area earned a median wage of $28,720 in 2008.
The job: Building cleaning workers -- including janitors, maids, housekeeping cleaners, window washers and rug shampooers -- keep office buildings, hospitals, stores, apartment buildings, hotels and private residences clean, sanitary and in good condition.
Training/licensing: Most building cleaning workers have a high school diploma or less and mainly learn their skills on the job or in informal training sessions sponsored by their employers.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Angie’s List: Gutter cleaning tips - INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Gutters are among the most visible parts of any home. But few homeowners take the time to really look at them. Angie Hicks of Angie's List said failing to look at your gutters now could cost you plenty later. "Gutters aren't just about looks," she said. David Rhodes of Weather Shield, an Indianapolis company that installs and repairs gutters said they are far more important than that. "The gutters are designed to get the water away from your house," he said. "The water is the enemy of your home, so they are really essential.”
Essential and even brand new ones require some maintenance. It’s important to make sure your gutters retain their proper pitch and clean them out twice a year, once in the fall again in the spring. Rhodes said, "A good idea is to go out when it’s raining, or take a hose to the roof and check and see if it's flowing properly. Look out the window; see if water is collecting in the gutter. That will tell you if it's mispitched or clogged," Rhodes said. Hicks said getting gutters cleaned is important, but she said think twice before you decide to do it yourself. "Many people think that gutter cleaning is a do it yourself job. But it actually can be pretty dangerous. We want to remind people that there are more injuries related to falling off a ladder than there are with any other do it yourself project," said Hicks.
Aluminum gutters are the most common residential choice. They are the least expensive. But you still need to keep them clean. Each of the other choices has its pluses and minuses said Rhodes. "Steel seems to rust with time. Copper oxidizes, gets discolored. Vinyl will crack once it's been through the winter months if it's not properly cleaned. The aluminum is a lifetime product," said Rhodes. Mother Nature can pose problems for any kind of gutter. Rhodes said gutter covers are a good idea. But, he said gutters still need to be cleaned even with covers. Hicks said if a company promises that if you buy their cover you'll never need to clean your gutters again, be sure to get it in writing.

John Denham MP Visits Harlow Town Centre: Pictured from left: Cllr Eddie Johnson, John Denham and Bill Rammell MP. THE Secretary of State for communities, John Denham MP, visited Harlow yesterday (Wednesday) to see how the town is using Government funding to tackle the effects of the recession on its high streets. Last month Harlow Council was given £52000 in funding to reduce the negative impact that empty shops have on the high street.
To see how that money has been put to use, Mr Denham was shown round the Window Works initiative which has brightened previously boarded up shops using displays by local artists. The Council plans to spend the grant on extending the Window Works displays to more empty shops, giving the pedestrianised areas a deep clean, ahead of an extensive Christmas promotional campaign to increase local trading. Mr Denham said: "The downturn has hurt many high streets across England but Harlow is fighting the impact of the downturn by putting the empty shop funding Government gave them in last month to good use brightening up unused shops, cleaning up the streets to attract back shoppers for the Christmas push. "Harlow has been leading the way on this and I was impressed by what I saw. I hope the extra money will help them to continue the good work."

DCSS accepts bid for building: ALBANY - It was something they don't often do, but Dougherty County School System Building & Grounds Committee opted to recommend using the third lowest bidder for a project at Friday morning's meeting. The rare move followed after minority businesses Robie Thompson and Tandem Contracting turned in bids of $7,990 and $8,400, respectively, for the pressure washing and window cleaning of the downtown Administration Building.
The bids were about $14,000 below the third lowest bid by Albany's Akridge Interiors of $22,000. "We're not comfortable about two lowest bids," said Tony Reese, DCSS construction manager. The job entails pressure washing the entire outside of the three-story building and cleaning all of its windows, both inside and out, Reese explained. This also includes the skylights and rescreening the skylights. "The cost is around $6,000-$8,000 just in equipment and materials alone," Reese said. Bush said the recommendation came down to legitimacy. "You've got to have legitimacy," he said. "It appears (minority businesses are) either too high or too low. It breaks my heart when we had a really good chance to do things and we didn't. Now, everyone is trying to do work, as Maschke stated (because of the economy)."

Householders warned again about "doorstep crime": Police are warning people to be on their guard after a string of deception offences across Avon and Somerset. Officers from the "doorstep crime" team at Bristol are also hoping more victims will come forward to help with their investigation. During these incidents elderly and vulnerable people have been targeted by rogue traders who have tricked their way into homes. In another a pensioner had her bank account cleared through a series of fraudulent transactions. On several occasions' a man has visited houses posing as a window cleaner. After taking money up front he then never returns to complete the work.
Officers are reminding residents that they should never pay for services in advance unless they are completely satisfied the caller is genuine. People are advised to obtain references from others, check credentials and never to feel pressurised into entering contracts on their doorsteps. People should always obtain written quotes where possible. Anyone who has been defrauded or has any information is asked to contact the Doorstep Crime Team at Southmead Police Station on 0845-4567000 or Crimestoppers on 0800-555111. You can also call the charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or via www.crimestoppers-uk.org which can be accessed by clicking the link in our "related articles" section. They never ask for your name or trace your call.

Employees at community health care centers in west Sonoma County held a low-key demonstration in Guerneville Friday to promote federal health care reform and protest state budget cuts. A main focus was on getting a government-run health insurance plan, or public option, back into federal legislation that is being debated by the Senate Finance Committee. Maggie McDonald, a 56-year-old Guerneville resident, said as she held aloft a protest sign Friday that she no longer has access to low-cost dental care at a time when she says she needs it the most. A disabled window washer, McDonald said she receives $850 a month in state disability payments, which is not enough to cover her monthly rent. “I’m in chronic pain right now,” she said. “It’s difficult for me to eat food. I’ve lost a tremendous amount of weight.”

The Latest Window Cleaning Videos - Good & Bad

Chris gives details on the WCR sticker contest. Get creative and win CA$H.

Three engineering students of PolyU won the first Runner-up prize for designing a window cleaning robot at the Student Contest Final organized by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers International (ASME) in Boston on 2 November 2008. It was also the first time that a team from Hong Kong came to the top in this international competition.

TaskBroadcast is a site for service professionals, to bid against each other & hence push down prices. The site works by allowing the customer to upload a photo or video of their task creating a "home service auction". Very rarely do these type of service hunters look for anything other than best price.

It makes washing your windows a breeze! The EasySqueegee™ is extremely easy to use and one should be in every household.


Here Jody Wright tackles a $190,000.00 Dale Chihuly chandelier....located in Corona Del Mar. She gives a basic explanation as to her plan of attack. This fixture is hung over a spiral staircase which makes matters a bit more twisted. (get it?) Scaffold was specially built to provide us access to this fixture...It hung from a sky light, that got very hot around lunch time.


Cleaning the dome at a South Korean Airport. The Dome covers a fantastic and amazing inside garden. The cleaners climbed to the top with no safety equipment whatsoever.


Winnipeg, Canada - I can't believe he tied off to a staircase railing!


In the Phillipines last week, window cleaners on a cradle get caught out unexpectingly from the strong wind and rain that came that afternoon.

Window cleaning & Firefighting Robot

Start-up firm to make cleaning high-rises easy: Doha, Qatar• When a window washer working on a building on Grand Hamad Street fell to his death in front of a would-be entrepreneur, it got him and his four business partners thinking. The end result is KlearGreen, a high-technology start-up formed to develop robotic facade and window cleaning systems for high-rise buildings. Doha's rising skyline meant an instant business idea. And lessons were learned from participating in Carnegie Mellon University-Qatar's Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Programme. What the quintet plans to do is bring in machinery to do the job of window washing in tall buildings. The machinery can be used not only on buildings with glass facades but other surfaces as well. Moreover, the machinery can be programmed to wash every nook and cranny of a building's exterior by tailoring it to the contours of the building. It also eliminates the need for labour and the job is completed much faster. Buildings these days are no longer square blocks, with Bidda Towers and the Tornado Tower here being examples of the changes taking place in building design. Shams Hasan, one of the partners in the venture, told The Peninsula: "In our group, we have real estate expertise, Qatar expertise and technology expertise. We felt the window washing business had a serious need and we had to solve it. Our technology is different. Building physics change and mechanics become difficult." As one goes higher up a building, there is a 'sway' factor, for example. Workers are also unwilling to kiss the clouds as buildings rise higher and higher. Those who wash windows on high-rises are paid around three times as much as a regular worker and they have to be provided insurance, all of which adds to the costs of a company. It can take a crew of up to eight to work on a single building. Another partner, Sami Al Shammari, said: "With this device we can clean faster and more securely. It is also about speed, and a building can be washed more times." Under normal circumstances, it can take up to a month to finish washing a building. Hasan said: "We looked at it from a logical perspective and not as window cleaners. We feel this is the right place to get things moving and we have the right expertise." He said the group was hopeful of setting up an office at the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP). KlearGreen would perhaps be an ideal tenant as it exemplifies the spirit of entrepreneurship and research which the QSTP is keen to promote. Best of all, it is a local enterprise. The new machines could also have uses in fighting fires. "You will have noted lately there have been several fires in the new high-rises. But how high could the fire department's ladders go? So, with the new machines, firefighting could conceivably be another option for their use," said Hasan. The machines will have three versions. The first will be human-operated, the second semi-automated and the third fully-automated. To have the machines built — KlearGreen is tying up with Telerobot of Italy — $600,000 will be required. Hasan and Al Shammari are confident KlearGreen will receive the funding needed.

"After Qatar, we may even look at places like Dubai and then the US and Europe," the partners said.

SpiderMan as a Window Cleaner...again

Wall-climbing technique now used for robots could lead to tech that allows soldiers, window washers to scale sheer surfaces, too. are a whole range of scenarios, from security- or surveillance-related situations to natural disasters, in which it could be really useful to have a robot that can climb walls. But the idea gets so much traction because it's also just flat-out cool.
We've covered the efforts to design machines that scale vertical surfaces using techniques borrowed from geckos, and another that uses vacuum forces. But this weekend, at a major robotics conference, researchers from SRI International will be discussing a different approach: electro-adhesion. The SRI robots can clamp on to glass, wood, brick, concrete and more by using electrostatic charges generated by a battery. The materials used are compliant, so their robots can attach to just about any surface - rough and dusty or clean and flat. In the future, they say the technology could allow humans to climb walls, too, whether they be Special Forces operatives or window cleaners.