The window cleaners of one of Britain's tallest buildings have given their backing to a national safety campaign warning about the dangers of slips, trips and falls in the workplace. Canary Wharf Management, managers of One Canada Square and the contractors for Classic Cleaning Services, the firm which cleans the windows of Canary Wharf in London, has said it is lending its support to the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE's) Shattered Lives campaign. Peter Kyte, managing director of Canary Wharf Management, said that safety needs to be put first whether this is when constructing buildings or managing them.
"We are conscious of the fact that many accidents in the workplace can be directly related to slips, trips and falls. We do all we can through training to make sure that all workers on the Canary Wharf estate are aware of hazards," he added. Earlier this week, Dr Paul Stollard, HSE director for Scotland, said that slips, trips and falls shatter the lives of thousands of British workers every year.
Two drunken revellers who savagely attacked a man in Bradford city centre were locked up overnight to be sentenced by a judge. Maciez Malacha was found lying in a pool of blood after he was beaten unconscious outside Funkys Nightclub in Ivegate, Bradford Crown Court was told today. Talented footballer Jamie Sugden admitted punching Mr Malacha once and stamping five times on his head. Sugden, 26, who plays for Bradford Park Avenue reserves, had been out on the town celebrating his birthday, the court was told. In the dock with him was Adam Hodgson, 22, whose powerful uppercut knocked Mr Malacha, a Polish national, to the ground. Sugden told police he was out drinking to celebrate his 25th birthday. Hodgson said he had downed ten pints of beer and three Jack Daniels whiskies. Rob Casey, solicitor advocate for Sugden, said he was a family man who had stopped binge-drinking. He worked as a window-cleaner and played football at the weekend. The judge branded it “a premeditated, gratuitous, attack” and warned the defendants to expect jail sentences.
Personal Assistant Awarded $5 Million in Lawsuit Alleging Forced Oral Sex: Miami, FL: A $5 Million settlement of punitive damages has been awarded to a former personal assistant to Rev. Ike Eikerenkoetter, who alleged that he performed oral sex on the preacher under threat of termination. Augusto Medina, the assistant, also alleged that the reverend grabbed his crotch while he was giving him a massage. Massage was one of his job duties as well as being the reverend's chauffeur and window washer. At trial, Medina presented his clothing with Eikerenkoetter's semen on it.
James Sanchez Castillo (pictured) last year shot and killed a man who jumped out of a car and into his face. On Friday, Castillo walked out of the courtroom with a probation term and four months already served in county jail, the result of a plea bargain in a case that, according to the judge, contained a major slice of self-defense. "In America, you still have a right to defend yourself on your own property," Sacramento Superior Court Judge Maryanne G. Gilliard said from the bench. Castillo, 31, gunned down Leopoldo Velasco III, 23, last April 24, in a deadly conclusion to a week's worth of warfare between the women in their lives.
A window washer who makes $1,200 a month, Castillo's record contains convictions for drunken driving and resisting arrest. But his court file also was stuffed with 17 letters from friends, bosses and relatives who called him a hard worker, a good father, son and husband, a committed youth football coach and concerned parent who helped out at his kids' school. Recounting last April's shooting, Gilliard said, "These things don't happen in slow motion. They happen very, very quickly. And in a split second, a living, breathing person is now dead in the street." The judge said it was a killing that "never should have happened."
The Beijing People's Procuratorate has sued 21 suspects in the CCTV Tower fire case. Last weekend, the procuratorate released a 9page indictment, from which people can learn how the fire started. According to the indictment, the direct cause
of the fire was sparks from fireworks that dropped into a window cleaner's store, which was full of inflammables. The document also said that Xu Wei, director of the construction site office, without authorization, planned to set off fireworks to celebrate the Lantern Festival on February 9, 2009. Two of his subordinates arranged the celebration and set off the fireworks, both were later arrested. On the night of February 9, the fireworks were set off. Liu Jun and Gao Hong, two safety production directors of the construction site did not stop it. The fire caused 160 million yuan ($23.49 million) in losses, killed one and injured eight.
A drunken father held his one-year-old daughter out of an upstairs window during a six-hour police siege at his home. Window cleaner Geoffrey Fairclough was warned he could face jail after pleading guilty to child cruelty along with a charge of common assault on the child's mother. Fairclough, 45, stumbled as he stepped on to the window ledge 15ft up at his home in Eldon Street, Plungington, after snatching the baby from her cot at her mother's home. Prosecutor Sarah Gruffydd told Preston magistrates Fairclough had gone back to the mother's house in Lawson Street – where a teenager was babysitting – after drinking in the Market Tavern, Old Bull and Assembly pubs on October 16 with his former partner and mother of his baby. The woman had ended the relationship when a drunken row broke out, during which Fairclough claimed he was kicked. The row escalated and Fairclough took his sleeping daughter from her cot in her mother's bedroom and left the house. The child's mother, Renee Middleton, tried to stop him, but Fairclough punched her in the face before taking his daughter out into the night at around 2.45am dressed only in a sleepsuit.
Police were called and, after searching the area, went to Fairclough's home, which was in darkness. He appeared at the upstairs window, with the tot in his arms, refusing to answer the door and shouting obscenities and "Fathers for justice" at police officers. Miss Gruffydd said: "He opened the window fully. "He had the baby in the crook of his arm, took hold of the window frame with his left hand and stepped with one foot on to the window ledge." Police officers said the baby was in front of Fairclough "dangling" over his right arm. He was clearly drunk and stumbled as he stepped on to the window ledge. Miss Gruffydd said, "The only way he was prevented from falling was the baby caught on the window frame." Fairclough then barricaded himself and the child – who was crying hysterically – into the house, continuing to be verbally abusive to police, and throwing water at them. He eventually handed the baby to police negotiators at around 8.50am, when they agreed to return the child to her mother under supervision. The baby had a bruise on her forehead, but a hospital examination showed she was otherwise unharmed. Greg Earnshaw said it was not a case like Michael Jackson's: "He's not showing the child off to a crowd and he's not dangling her over the pavement. He's opening the window to say here she is."
Police are appealing for the public's help following a series of incidents involving a bogus window cleaner in the Brislington area of Bristol. Over the past few weeks, there have been a number of reports of a male knocking on doors in the area asking householders if he could clean their windows. The male has sometimes claimed to be working on behalf of their regular window cleaner. Now the public are being asked for help identifying this male. He has been described as white, aged in his 30's and of slim build. Police are also reminding the community to be vigilant of this male and to report anything suspicious.
Anyone who might have information as to his identity or who may have witnessed a similar incident is asked to contact the Brislington Neighbourhood Police Team or Bristol Doorstep Crime Team on 0845 456 7000. Alternatively, if you wish to remain completely anonymous you can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or on the internet via www.crimestoppers.org.uk.
Shawn Ahrens (pictured) was reluctant to be the center of attention, but he was the man of the hour Monday night during a fundraiser in his honor. "It blows my mind that this many people came out...I can't even put it into words," said Ahrens. Ahrens is a Cicero firefighter, who was hurt last month while fighting a fire that swept through an apartment building, killing seven people. Ahrens was seriously injured when a chimney fell through the roof and has been sidelined from all three of his jobs: firefighter, fire investigator and window washer. His wife was laid off last year, and both are trying to support their son and a terminally ill daughter with special needs. So hundreds of firefighters paid $25 a head to help with their expenses.
Ahren's father is just thankful he has his son. "Thank God he came around. They worked on him. A miracle," said Dennis Ahrens, father. The fire that broke out early on Valentine's Day was arson at the hands of the building's owner and maintenance man, according to prosecutors. Lawrence Myers and Marion Comier were both charged last week with first degree murder and arson. Prosecutors say Myers hired Comier to torch the building to cash in on a quarter million dollar insurance policy. Six members of a family, including a 3-day old baby and a family friend were killed. "It's a despicable act that people can kill people just for money. It's money. You can always make more of it. You can't replace human lives," said Ahrens. On Tuesday morning, Cicero town president Larry Dominick will make a statement during the town board meeting urging state's attorney Anita Alvarez to seek the death penalty against Myers and Comier.
The system works like this; lets say you currently use ncpm247.com to clean your windows or you would like to start using them to clean your windows and are able to find 5 other people in your near vicinity or area who would also commit to have their windows cleaned on the same cycle. Ncpm247.com will then clean you and your neighbours windows but wont charge you, as the organiser a single penny. The scheme started this month and has already started to cause quite a stir, with some residents effectively becoming agents for the company and receiving a commission in the way of free window cleaning services.
Marie Frederiksen ended her speech with the following words: “With a planned economy, we would be able to immediately increase production and use the technology to the benefit of the majority. The working week could be shortened immediately, which would mark a decisive shift in the emancipation of women. We would be able to use the resources of society to improve the public welfare in such a way that workers, children, the elderly and sick could achieve decent conditions. Furthermore, we would be able to use the technology to remove almost all housework. Robot vacuum cleaners, dishwashing machines, public laundries, renovated houses, public window cleaning, public cleaning, public restaurants with good, healthy and cheap food for all, meals in all nurseries, schools and workplaces and so on – this would be the beginning of the emancipation of humanity. This can only be achieved through socialism.”
Funeral of former manager at Warrington Fire Station: Cheshire Fire Service will provide a vintage vehicle to lead the way to Walton Crematorium for the funeral of Kenneth Coleman, a former Warrington Fire Station manager. Mr Coleman, known as Henry by his colleagues in the town, died at his St Bridget’s Close, Fearnhead, home last Monday, March 1, from ischemic heart disease. “He was a hard working family man. He had never been unemployed in his life. As well as being a fireman in Leeds and York he had a window cleaning round because they didn’t pay much.”
The Empire State Building to Undergo a Unique Window Retrofit Approach to Sustainability: Sustainability and energy efficiency have become monikers for many of today’s retrofit and new construction building projects, and the Empire State Building is no exception. More than 6,500 windows in the iconic building are being upgraded by Serious Materials as part of an energy-efficiency retrofit project, which was announced last April.
Johnson Controls, a provider of energy efficient and sustainable products, services and solutions, selected Serious Materials to “super-insulate” the windows. Serious Materials is providing its SeriousGlass™ technology through a sustainable production process designed to directly reduce energy costs by more than $400,000 per year. The new units will increase the thermal performance of the windows by up to four times their current thermal performance and will also reduce solar heat gain by more than 50 percent compared to the older windows.
“All of that glass is coming out, but it’s not going to be crushed and it’s not going to be thrown away. We are unsealing/un-glazing [the IG units], then scraping and cleaning the glass and then re-using it. We have done this successfully before; you can absolutely re-use glass where it’s going back into the same frame, for instance … this is uncoated, clear glass,” Surace adds of the approximate 26,000 panes of glass in the 6,514 windows.
