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.

R.I.P. Window Cleaner Ernest Albert Day

Ernie, started cleaning windows in 1935, aged 21, when he would earn £1 for every 120 windows he washed.

Ex-window cleaner Ernie dies aged 97: A window cleaner from Newmarket who worked in the town’s High Street for 58 years has died. Ernest Albert Day died at his home in Cedar Lodge, Culford, on Wednesday, February 1, at the age of 97. Mr Day, known as Ernie, started cleaning windows in 1935, aged 21, when he would earn £1 for every 120 windows he washed. He worked up until his retirement at the age of 79.

His daughter, Susan Cox, of Bolton Close, Burwell, said he was often stopped in the street for a chat by the many people he had worked for over the years. She said: “I don’t think you will find anyone in Newmarket that won’t know him. There were only about two shops in the whole of the High Street that he didn’t clean. “They broke the mould when they made Dad. He was what you would call a true gentleman. People would talk to him and he would listen and you knew it wouldn’t go any further. He wouldn’t turn anyone away. I never heard him swear or say a bad word about anyone. He will be sorely missed.”

Born in Newmarket on March 4, 1914, Mr Day was the youngest of six children and attended All Saints Primary School, which he left at the age of 14. His many jobs before window cleaning included working at a bicycle shop, a greengrocer’s, a dairy and Newmarket’s former Kingsway cinema, where he met his wife, Edith, who died in 2010, aged 91, just three weeks away from the couple’s 70th wedding anniversary.

During the Second World War, Mr Day served in the Burma Campaign, which he joined one month after his wedding at Newmarket’s All Saints Church. He returned to window cleaning after the war and spent 20 years driving Green Goddess fire engines with the Auxiliary Fire Service. He leaves behind his daughter, Susan, grandchildren Anita, 41, from Burwell, and Maryjane, 38, from Soham, and six great grandchildren. His funeral will be held at West Suffolk Crematorium on Friday, February 24, at 10am. Mr Day’s family have asked that, instead of sending flowers, donations be made to the Burma Star Association.

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.