Heat Exhaustion

Outdoor workers include any workers who spend a substantial portion of time outdoors. These workers are at risk of heat-related illness when the heat index is high. Window cleaners are more prone to heat illness than other kinds of jobs due to heat reflection off glass & long periods without access to water.

HEAT ILLNESS CAN BE DEADLY: The body normally cools itself by sweating. During hot weather, especially with high humidity, sweating isn't enough. Body temperature can rise to dangerous levels if you don't drink enough water and rest in the shade. You can suffer from heat exhaustion or heat stroke. In 2014 alone, 2,630 workers suffered from heat illness and 18 died from heat stroke and related causes on the job. Heat illnesses and deaths are preventable.

Employers must protect workers from excessive heat. Under OSHA law, employers are responsible for providing workplaces free of known safety hazards. This includes protecting workers from extreme heat. An employer with workers exposed to high temperatures should establish a complete heat illness prevention program.

• Provide workers with water, rest and shade.
• Allow new or returning workers to gradually increase workloads and take more frequent breaks as they acclimatize, or build a tolerance for working in the heat.
• Plan for emergencies and train workers on prevention.
• Monitor workers for signs of illness.

To prevent heat related illness and fatalities:

• Drink water every 15 minutes, even if you are not thirsty.
• Rest in the shade to cool down.
• Wear a hat and light-colored clothing.
• Learn the signs of heat illness and what to do in an emergency.
• Keep an eye on fellow workers.
• "Easy does it" on your first days of work in the heat. You need to get used to it.
• Working in full sunlight can increase heat index values by 15 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep this in mind and plan additional precautions for working in these conditions.

Who is affected?

Any worker exposed to hot and humid conditions is at risk of heat illness, especially those doing heavy work tasks or using bulky protective clothing and equipment. Some workers might be at greater risk than others if they have not built up a tolerance to hot conditions, including new workers, temporary workers, or those returning to work after a week or more off. All workers are at risk during a heat wave.

What to do if a worker becomes ill? Call a supervisor for help. If a supervisor is not available, call 911. Have someone stay with the worker until help arrives.

Two primary sources of heat for workers: Workers become overheated from two primary sources: (1) the environmental conditions in which they work and (2) the internal heat generated by physical labor. Heat-related illnesses occur when the body is not able to lose enough heat to balance the heat generated by physical work and external heat sources. Weather conditions are the primary external heat sources for outdoor workers.

Using the Heat Index: A Guide for Employers. 

Outdoor workers who are exposed to hot and humid conditions are at risk of heat-related illness. The risk of heat-related illness becomes greater as the weather gets hotter and more humid. This situation is particularly serious when hot weather arrives suddenly early in the season, before workers have had a chance to adapt to warm weather.

For people working outdoors in hot weather, both air temperature and humidity affect how hot they feel. The "heat index" is a single value that takes both temperature and humidity into account. The higher the heat index, the hotter the weather feels, since sweat does not readily evaporate and cool the skin. The heat index is a better measure than air temperature alone for estimating the risk to workers from environmental heat sources.

Heat-related illness can be prevented.

OSHA does not have a specific standard that covers working in hot environments. Nonetheless, under the OSH Act, employers have a duty to protect workers from recognized serious hazards in the workplace, including heat-related hazards. This guide helps employers and worksite supervisors prepare and implement hot weather plans. It explains how to use the heat index to determine when extra precautions are needed at a worksite to protect workers from environmental contributions to heat-related illness. Workers performing strenuous activity, workers using heavy or non-breathable protective clothing, and workers who are new to an outdoor job need additional precautions beyond those warranted by heat index alone.

Workers new to outdoor jobs are generally most at risk for heat-related illnesses. For example, Cal/OSHA investigated 25 incidents of heat-related illness in 2005. In almost half of the cases, the worker involved was on their first day of work and in 80% of the cases the worker involved had only been on the job for four or fewer days. That's why it's important to gradually increase the workload or allow more frequent breaks to help new workers and those returning to a job after time away build up a tolerance for hot conditions. Make sure that workers understand the risks and are "acclimatized".

Denver Firefighters Kept Busy Saving Window Cleaners

The collapsed suspended platform. In the first incident two window cleaners were working from a suspended platform when one of the cables gave way, dropping one end of the platform.

Denver fire fighters busy with work at height:  Denver firefighters were kept busy last week, rescuing two men from a collapsed suspended platform and then a man from a boom lift that touched overhead power lines. In the first incident two window washers were working from a suspended platform aka swing stage at a height or around 30 metres, when one of the hoists/cables gave way, dropping one end of the platform.

The fire department just managed to reach the stranded men - both of whom were wearing harnesses – with their 105ft ladder platform. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated the incident.

A closer look.

Then on Friday a man using a Genie S-85 rented from Sunstate Equipment managed to come into contact with some overhead power lines. The lift’s boom was fully retracted, but elevated to around 45 degrees or so. One report claims that the contact caused a fire on the machine, although the man was unhurt. He was wearing a full harness and lanyard and was carrying a fair bit of material including four large planks. Once again the Denver fire service came to the rescue, along with a crew from Xcel Energy. there were no injuries in either incident.

Rescued unharmed after contacting power lines.

Staying Safe For The Holidays

Marc Darnell, a window washer right, hangs holiday lights on Tuesday in St. Joseph. Mr. Darnell owns a business during the holiday season called Marc Not Clark Lighting. He and his employees hang the lights that he rents to clients.

Stay safe while decorating for the holidays: Every year, emergency rooms across the U.S. treat about 12,500 people for falls, cuts and shocks due to holiday lights, decorations and trees, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Candles account for 150 deaths, and Christmas trees cause 300 fires and 10 deaths. The recent rain in the area poses additional concerns, officials said.

“We’ve had a lot of rain lately,” said Sheldon Lyon, executive director of St. Joseph Safety and Health Council. “We don’t want to lay those extension cords in standing water. Because if there’s a nick on the cord, it could energize that puddle of water and we don’t want to see electrocution as a result of faulty wiring.”

It’s important to inspect decorations, lights and cords to ensure they are not damaged, he said. Avoid using wires with electrical tape. The frayed or damaged cord could become energized and cause an electrical shock or fire.

Marc Darnell has been in the window washing business for 17 years. He began installing Christmas lights on commercial buildings eight years ago, and on residences four years ago. There are many safety rules his team follows, he said, but overall the most important one they follow is to use common sense.

“There are no heroes, no one does anything crazy because we wanna have fun tonight,” Mr. Darnell said. “I’ve had one scare in 17 years.” The incident happened while he was on a ladder. It shifted and he almost fell backward. Luckily, he was able to grab the ladder and prevent a fall.

Mr. Lyon recommends following Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) 4-to-1 ladder standards. For example, a 10-foot ladder should be placed 2½ feet away from the structure.

Mr. Lyon said Christmas lights should be used appropriately. Interior Christmas lights should only be placed indoors and exterior lights should remain outdoors. Outdoor lights are manufactured to withstand cold and wet conditions, while indoor lights are safety tested to ensure they are not a fire hazard on Christmas trees.

Outdoor lights used indoors may become a fire hazard since they are often hotter. “If the lights are older, throw them away and get new lights. They are not real expensive and certainly give you peace of mind knowing your family is safe,” Mr. Lyon said. Following a few safety tips can reduce the chances of having an accident and keep the holidays merry.

Austin Window Washer Injured After Three Story Fall

AUSTIN, Texas -- Travis County emergency crews say a window washer was taken to the hospital in serious condition after falling 40 feet in Northwest Austin. The accident occurred just before 10 a.m. outside of a building on the 8300 block of North Capital of Texas Highway. The man was said to be in his 20s and is being treated at University Medical Center Brackenridge. Authorities say he is expected to survive.

Window washer injured after three-story fall in Northwest Austin: A window washer fell about three stories from a building in Northwest Austin but his injuries are not considered life-threatening, police said. He was conscious at the scene. Federal officials from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the scene with a witness Monday morning, police said. Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services said it took the man, described as in his 20s, to University Medical Center Brackenridge.

The investigation is not affecting traffic on Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360) because the window washer’s fall took place well inside the parking lot of Prominent Pointe not far from Spicewood Springs Road. The window washer had potentially serious injuries Monday morning after falling about 40 feet, first responders said. Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services took a man in his 20s to University Medical Center Brackenridge after he fell from a building in the 8300 block of North Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360) near Spicewood Springs Road.

Employer Fined $12,000 In Window Washer’s Fall

A 2002 Toyota Camry is crushed after Pedro Perez, a window washer fell 11 stories onto its roof at Montgomery and California streets in San Francisco last November.

In total, there were five citations with proposed penalties of $12,765 issued in this case: three general, one serious and one serious accident related citations. 

A general violation is cited when an accident or illness resulting from the violation of a standard would probably not cause death or serious harm, but would have a direct effect on the health of employees. In contrast, a serious violation is cited when there is a realistic possibility that death or serious physical harm could result from the violation.

In 2008, Cal/OSHA cited Century Window Cleaning $2,720 for four violations, one of which was serious, following a complaint-based investigation.

An investigator take photos of a cable that allegedly snapped, causing a window washer to fall 11 stories onto a moving car at Montgomery and California streets in San Francisco, Calif.

Employer fined $12,000 in window washer’s 11-story fall: The company who employed a window washer who miraculously survived an 11-story fall from a San Francisco office building last year was hit with five citations and more than $12,000 in fines for violations related to the accident, officials announced Wednesday.

Century Window Washing of Concord was cited for “failure to secure the roof with fall protection equipment and inadequate training on the proper use of the victim’s personal fall protection equipment,” officials wrote in a statement, both serious violations of workplace safety regulations.

Pedro Perez, 58, was moving an extension cord around the corner of the building at 400 Montgomery St. around 10 a.m. Nov. 21 when he disconnected the lanyard on his fall protection equipment from an anchor point as he moved toward the edge of the roof. Perez lost his balance and tumbled over the edge, falling roughly 130 feet before landing on the roof of a passing Toyota Camry on the street below.

“At first all I saw was, out of the corner of my eye, a blue streak falling,” said retired Army Col. Sam Hartwell, a banker who witnessed the fall. “Then I heard that loud crash, the shattering glass and a thud. It wasn’t until the man rolled over onto the pavement and landed on his back that I realized it was a person.”

Passersby rushed to his aid, and he was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where doctors diagnosed him with serious brain trauma, a shattered pelvis and a broken arm. The driver of the car, Mohammad Alcozai of Dublin, got out almost immediately after the impact. The victim hit the roof and back window of the 2002 four-door Camry, totaling the car. A split-second difference in timing and the worker might have landed on the windshield, with potentially terrible consequences for Alcozai.

“It was a miracle,” Alcozai told The Chronicle the day of the accident. “While it is miraculous that this man survived a fall from this height, his fall is an essential reminder that employers are required to provide protections from the hazards of high elevation work,” said Christine Baker, director of the Department of Industrial Relations, a Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA.

Of the five violations Century Window Cleaning was cited for — with fines totaling $12,765 — three were general and two were considered serious, according to Cal/OSHA. The company was cited by regulators once before in 2008 for four violations totaling $2,270 in a complaint-based investigation.

A woman who answered the phone at the company said they would not be commenting on the citations, which can be appealed.

In the days after the accident, Perez’s wife Maricela said, “It was surgery after surgery. The doctors induced a coma because the suffering was so great. Truly, it is a miracle that he is still alive.” When he finally woke up, Perez wasn’t able to speak, his family said. He didn’t remember the fall, nor could he recognize familiar faces. Because he was unable to work, Maricela was forced to work extra hours and his 19-year-old daughter, Monica, stopped going to school so she could pick up an extra job.

The family set up a GoFundMe site and — through more than 1,200 individual donations — was able to raise more than $80,000, more than quadrupling their original goal of $20,000. “Thanks to all the donations we have gotten in these past days, it will be possible not only for me to go back to school in the summer,” Monica Perez wrote on the fundraising page around New Year’s. “But it also gives my father a piece of mind to know that we won’t have to struggle any longer with the bills.” A union representative who has been in contact with the family said they would not be making any statements to the media.

A Redwood City window washing company was hit with $12,765 in penalties Wednesday for five safety hazards that led to a worker plummeting 11 stories in San Francisco’s Financial District late last year, according to the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health. Cal/OSHA announced its investigation into Century Window Cleaning ended with five citations, including two serious citations, along with the proposed penalty. Century has the opportunity to appeal the citations.

Cal/OSHA found the company had failed to secure the roof with fall protection equipment and provided inadequate training for using the equipment. It’s not the first time the company was cited. Complaints against the company led to penalties of $2,720 for violations in 2008, according to Cal/OSHA. “While it is miraculous that this man survived a fall from this height, his fall is an essential reminder that employers are required to provide protections from the hazards of high elevation work,” state Department of Industrial Relations Director Christine Baker said in a statement.

Recent Scaffold Collapses

Two workers have died following a scaffolding collapse at a construction site in Toronto's west end.

2 dead after scaffolding collapse (Toronto): Two men have died after a scaffolding collapse at a construction site in Toronto’s west end, police say. It happened just after 11 a.m. in the Bloor Street West and Keele Street area. One of the men who died was 51-years-old, according to a colleague and friend on the scene. He had a granddaughter born last week. Paramedics said another man in his 30s was rushed to St. Michael’s Hospital without vital signs, where he later died. A metal and wooden platform collapsed from about six storeys high, one worker at the scene said. It is believed a hydraulic lift may have failed, sending the platform to the ground. The Ministry of Labour has been called to the scene to investigate.

Scaffolding collapse in downtown Raleigh. It could take three to six months for Labor Department investigators to determine what caused the collapse.

A vigil was held Friday at noon at Shaw University's Thomas J. Boyd Chapel to remember the three men who lost their lives in a tragic scaffolding accident in Raleigh on Monday. The scaffolding collapsed shortly before 11 a.m. Monday at the construction site of the Charter Square project on Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh. Anderson Almeida and Jose Erasmo Hernandez of Durham died in the accident, as well as Jose Luis Lopez-Ramirez of Clinton.

Two of the men killed in the accident worked for Concord-based Juba Aluminum Products, which specializes in building exteriors, curtainwalls, storefronts and aluminum panels. The company has not said what role it played in the Charter Square project other than that the men worked on its Jannawall team. According to a U.S. Department of Labor database, Juba Aluminum has been cited for four separate "serious" violations since 1988. The North Carolina Department of Labor said the third man who was killed Monday worked for KEA Contracting, Inc. Elmer Guevara, who was injured in the incident, was employed by Associated Scaffolding Equipment.

Rescuers clear the rubble of a scaffolding that collapsed in the central province of Ha Tinh on March 25, killing 13 and injuring 28.

13 confirmed dead, 28 injured in Vietnam scaffolding collapse as rescue mission ends: Authorities in the central province of Ha Tinh have confirmed that 13 people died and 28 others were injured in a scaffolding collapse on Wednesday, as rescuers finished clearing the massive rubble of the worst construction accident since 2007. In a report to the government, the province’s labor department said the accident at the construction site of a steel plant-port complex invested by Taiwanese-owned Formosa Plastics Group could be caused by some problem in a hydraulic system.

It is still unclear how and by whom the system was operated in the scaffolding, which was part of the construction of a breakwater to protect the port. The province’s authorities are working with government agencies to further investigate the cause of the collapse. Contractor Samsung C&T, a subsidiary of the South Korea's Samsung, in a statement issued on Thursday pledged to take responsibility for the accident, provide support to the victims, and assist authorities during the investigation. 

Early signs ignored: Around 50 workers were working on the scaffolding which was 25 meters high, 40 meters long and 35 meters wide, when it tumbled down on Wednesday night. Some survivors told local media that about 30 minutes before the collapse, the scaffolding shook strongly. Many of them ran away, but a few minutes later their foreign supervisor ordered them to come back to continue working. The most recent catastrophe at this scale took place on September 26, 2007, when two spans of a bridge which was being built in the Mekong Delta collapsed, killing 55 workers and injured 80 others.

Work on Can Tho Bridge, which connects Can Tho City and Vinh Long Province, was completed in 2010. Formosa launched work on the complex in Vung Ang Economic Zone in July 2008 with the initial investment of nearly $10 billion. As of December last year, the project has recruited around 40,000 laborers, nearly 5,700 of whom are Chinese. Early this month the government inspectorate found that managers at the Vung Ang Economic Zone went beyond their authority and broke quite a few rules when offering too many incentives to Formosa. Among the violations, according to the inspectorate, the Formosa complex was illegally licensed for a 70-year period, even though Vietnam's investment law states that a foreign-invested project must not last more than 50 years. 

Worker advocate calls for tougher scaffolding regulations.

Worker advocate calls for tougher scaffolding regulations: As a state and federal investigation continues into the collapse of scaffolding at a downtown Raleigh high-rise Monday that killed three construction workers, crews on Thursday removed the rest of the scaffolding from the side of the building. Jose Erasmo Hernandez, 41, Anderson Almeida, 33, both of Durham, and Jose Luis Lopez-Ramirez, 33, of Clinton, died in the accident at the 11-story Charter Square project on Fayetteville Street. Elmer Guevara, 53, was seriously injured and remains hospitalized at WakeMed.

The accident involved equipment known as a mast climber scaffold, which moves up and down a building's facade to take workers to different floors. Mike Hampton, chief operating officer for general contractor Choate Construction Co., has said subcontractor Associated Scaffolding was in the process of dismantling the scaffold when one of the tracks snapped off and fell into a twisted heap on the ground below.

Veteran scaffold builder Tom Hallman said he was on a job site in West Virginia six years ago where a co-worker died. "It's not good. They shut the job down. It's like the area around here. You just kind of feel it in the air. It's sad, it's very sad," said Hallman, who is now an online advocate for more than 10,000 people in his industry. He says the danger lies with antiquated federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules that apply the same safety guidelines to all types of scaffolding equally. "I hate to say it, but most OSHA rules, they say in business, are written in blood, and here we go. There's need for a change," he said.

Hallman said mast climbers call for higher safety measures, such as "lifelines" that tether workers to a building and not just the platforms on which they stand. "When you're tearing them down, when you demo them, when you get to that certain point that you have lifelines dropped (from the platform), if something fails, you've got that fail-safe," he said. Authorities said it could take months to determine the cause of the accident and determine whether any workplace safety violations occurred.

How do I find out about employer responsibilities and worker rights? Workers have a right to a safe workplace. The law requires employers to provide their employees with working conditions that are free of known dangers. The OSHA law also prohibits employers from retaliating against employees for exercising their rights under the law (including the right to raise a health and safety concern or report an injury). For more information see www.whistleblowers.gov or worker rights.

Chemical Free Cleaning Trending In Commercial Sector

"Chemical-free" cleaning is something of a trend in the commercial sector, but expense and effectiveness doubts mean it's not catching on in homes.

'Chemical-free' cleaning is trending in the commercial sector (Debbi McCullough is an independent writer): Will greener cleaning methods, such as salt-based split stream water technology, replace conventional powders and bleaches?

Randy Reed, deputy assistant director of housekeeping at North Carolina State University, North Carolina’s largest campus, often fretted about the effects of chemicals on the 300 housekeepers as they cleaned. While nobody was ever seriously injured, he fielded several reports of rashes, occasional respiratory problems and headaches, possibly caused by exposure to the harsh smells the cleaners omitted.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a government agency, warns of this in its public safety warnings (pdf). Cleaning chemicals, OSHA states, can cause dangerous gases causing headaches, dizziness, wheezing, even lung damage. With this in mind, two years ago, Reed replaced traditional industrial cleaners such as Diversey Glance and Comet Cleaner with Orbio SC 5000 split stream water technology to clean floors, surfaces, even urinals.

This new system uses a salt-based, chemical-free process, where water passes through the system giving it an electrical charge. The solution cleans and sanitizes surfaces leaving it 99% germ free, Reed explains. “On our first trial our hygiene meter monitored the bacteria count on a urinal and found the technology removed as many germs as a regular sanitizer."

Orbio SC 5000 uses a salt-based process, where water passes through the system giving it an electrical charge.

NC State is part of a larger trend in which universities, retailers, sports facilities and large corporations are not just cleaning with greener chemicals, but without chemicals at all.

Companies including Coca-Cola Enterprises in the Netherlands; ISS, one of the world’s largest commercial facilities services providers; and Chapman University, (pdf) one of California’s oldest private universities, have made the switch. Examples include sanitizing facilities with technologies such as steam vapor systems, spray and vac systems using pressurized water to remove and loosen soils along with ozonated and electrolyzed systems using electricity to turn water into a cleaning agent. The use of microfiber cloths and mops, which require only water to remove germs, grime and bacteria also make up the trend.

While industry numbers don’t yet exist, Stephen Ashkin, executive director of The Green Cleaning Network, a non-profit working with corporations to green the cleaning industry, estimates that, based on his client research and surveys, 30% to 50% of corporations and institutions across the US, now clean their facilities with eco-friendly chemical cleaners or cleaners without chemicals at all.

“The professional cleaning industry has changed,” he says. “The newer trend experts are seeing is cleaning without chemicals.” Ashkin believes cleaning products minimizing chemicals will never replace floor finishes, heavy-duty cleaning chemicals or graffiti removers, but this is a “tool in the toolbox for creating a healthy and clean environment while leaving a minimal footprint.”

Defining Chemical-Free Cleaning

The trend is so new that even the description of these products is controversial; while some call them chemical-free, others say eco-friendly. Ashkin rejects the term “chemical-free” cleaning because no cleaning product or device completely avoids chemicals.

“Chemical-free cleaning is a marketing term versus a technical term,” he says. Case in point is companies offering chemical-free cleaning products, such as Tennant, maker of the Orbio systems, which use their own technologies to define "chemical-free."

OSHA defines green cleaning as products certified by independent organizations as safe to use and less harmful to your health and environment than conventional alternatives such as bleach and ammonia.

Wherever the definition lies, all this means good business for the big players. In April, Tennant posted quarterly results showing growth year-on-year. Other brands including Tursano, maker of the popular Lotus Pro device (similar to the split stream water technology), and the larger company Ecolab also reported positive first-quarter earnings. Makers of chemical free antibacterial microfiber cloths have good customer following as well. Norway-based Norwex, now in multiple markets including Canada, Australia and the US, sells microfiber towels and cloths, microfiber scarf clips for cleaning tablets, glasses and jewellery (instead of toxic sprays and wipes) and dry polyester floor pads for mopping.

But much of this market is in the commercial sector. Based on his client work, Ashkin estimates that residential cleaning remains only around 1-5% of the core eco-friendly and chemical-free cleaning market, probably because the conversion payback is higher for large corporations. Purchasing a chemical-free cleaning device for a commercial space can cost up to $5,000, a worthwhile investment, if used daily. A Lotus Pro split stream water technology cleaning device for your home averages $150 retail, too much for a parent worried about putting food on the table, Ashkin adds. Commercial facilities also have employees to compare costs, and review and analyze the cleaning products they buy, which the household consumer often lacks.

Homemade Chemical Free Cleaning

Another growing trend is Americans making their own cleaning products, with limited chemicals. Senior account supervisor at MMI Public Relations in North Carolina, Jennifer Fair ditched Clorox and other harsh cleaners for recipes she found on Pinterest such as pairing vinegar with baking soda. The vinegar dish soap concoction gets her shower super clean, she says. Other recipes suggest using baking soda, sprayed with water, to clean ovens.

This interest is valid given the Environmental Working Group, a non-profit group, has found through their Hall of Shame (pdf) study that 438 of 2,000 assessed cleaning products contain at least one chemical that the non-profit group Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics identifies as an asthmagen.

The worst offenders, the study claims, were those labelled as “green cleaners” such as the Simple Green Concentrated All-Purpose Cleaner (labelled as non-toxic and biodegradable) when one of its ingredients is 2-butoxyethanol, a solvent which can cause red blood cell damage and eye irritation. EWG also cites several studies showing pregnant women are more at risk for birth defects when exposed frequently to cleaning chemicals, especially window cleaner and air deodorizer sprays.

Effectiveness of greener cleaning products

Ashkin doesn’t believe home cleaning product recipes work well. “We have a romanticized view that because we can eat it, it’s good for you,” he says.

And can we say split stream chemical-free technologies clean as well as eco-friendly chemicals? Tennant doesn't know the answer to this question, and Ashkin says it’s too early to know. However, companies are evaluating the technologies, comparing the impact to chemicals and other devices along with the wattage. He suspects the environmental benefits of chemical-free cleaning devices and technology will outshine chemical cleaners.

“Conventional cleaning requires extracting the raw materials, turning these into ingredients, shipping to a formulator who mixes everything into an effective cleaning product before putting the chemicals into packaging (with their own environmental impacts) and finally shipping to the end user. Through green cleaning those impacts go away.”

OSHA's Fall Prevention Campaign + App' & Videos

Safe Use of Extension Ladders - Workers who use extension ladders risk permanent injury or death from falls and electrocutions. These hazards can be eliminated or substantially reduced by following good safety practices.

OSHA's Fall Prevention Campaign: This is part of OSHA's nationwide outreach campaign to raise awareness among workers and employers about the hazards of falls from ladders, scaffolds and roofs. The educational resources page gives workers and employers information about falls and how to prevent them. There are also training tools for employers to use and posters to display at their worksites. Many of the new resources target vulnerable workers with limited English proficiency.

OSHA has partnered with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) - Construction Sector on this nationwide outreach campaign to raise awareness among workers and employers about common fall hazards in construction, and how falls from ladders, scaffolds and roofs can be prevented and lives can be saved. Here's how:

PLAN ahead to get the job done safely: When working from heights, such as ladders, scaffolds, and roofs, employers must plan projects to ensure that the job is done safely. Begin by deciding how the job will be done, what tasks will be involved, and what safety equipment may be needed to complete each task.

When estimating the cost of a job, employers should include safety equipment, and plan to have all the necessary equipment and tools available at the construction site. For example, in a roofing job, think about all of the different fall hazards, such as holes or skylights and leading edges, then plan and select fall protection suitable to that work, such as personal fall arrest systems (PFAS).

PROVIDE the right equipment: Workers who are six feet or more above lower levels are at risk for serious injury or death if they should fall. To protect these workers, employers must provide fall protection and the right equipment for the job, including the right kinds of ladders, scaffolds, and safety gear.

Different ladders and scaffolds are appropriate for different jobs. Always provide workers with the kind they need to get the job done safely. For roof work, there are many ways to prevent falls. If workers use personal fall arrest systems (PFAS), provide a harness for each worker who needs to tie off to the anchor. Make sure the PFAS fits, and regularly inspect all fall protection equipment to ensure it's still in good condition and safe to use.

TRAIN everyone to use the equipment safely: Falls can be prevented when workers understand proper set-up and safe use of equipment, so they need training on the specific equipment they will use to complete the job. Employers must train workers in hazard recognition and in the care and safe use ladders, scaffolds, fall protection systems, and other equipment they'll be using on the job.

OSHA has provided numerous materials and resources that employers can use during toolbox talks to train workers on safe practices to avoid falls in construction. Falls from ladders, scaffolds and roofs can be prevented and lives can be saved through three simple steps: Plan, Provide and Train.

Videos to watch, click here.

American Ladder Institute Safety Videos

Ladder Safety Guidance case studies
Falling Off Ladders Can Kill: Use Them Safely - Booklet

Safe Use of Extension Ladders - Fact Sheet

App' Link for multi-language - iphone/Android

New App to download

Ladder Safety App' By Centers For Disease Control and Prevention: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is dedicated to ensure the safety of extension-ladder users by developing and disseminating an easy to use interactive ladder safety application for smart phones. 

The NIOSH Ladder Safety application features a multimodal indicator, which uses visual and sound signals to assist the user in positioning an extension ladder at an optimal angle. Furthermore, the application provides graphic-oriented interactive reference materials, safety guidelines and checklists for extension ladder selection, inspection, accessorizing, and use. 

The application is intended to help a wide range of ladder users, employers, and safety professionals, with their ladder-related safety needs. The ladder safety app is also 508 compliant.

R.I.P. Window Cleaner Lee Teske

Lee Teske, a recent start-up in window cleaning.

Man cleaning windows dies after 70-foot-fall at St. Cloud hotel: A man who was cleaning windows Sunday at the Kelly Inn in downtown St. Cloud fell 70 feet to his death in what police are saying was probably an accident. Firefighters responded to the scene at about 5:08 p.m. Sunday. Police were called about 15 minutes later and learned that the man had been cleaning windows and fell approximately 70 feet, said Assistant Police Chief Sue Stawarski.

Police were unable Monday to confirm the man’s identity, but family members identified him as Lee Teske, 56. He was self-employed and had experience working as a window washer in downtown Minneapolis and in St. Cloud, according to his sister, Dawn Witschen. He worked alone and didn’t have any employees, she said.

Teske had a safety harness on that rescue workers had to remove when they were treating him, said Greg Newinski, battalion chief at the St. Cloud Fire Department. Teske apparently fell onto the breezeway that connects the Kelly Inn to the River’s Edge Convention Center. He then fell from the breezeway to the ground, Newinski said.

Officials from the Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration were in St. Cloud on Monday to review the details of the case, said James Honerman, communications director for the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry.

He said that window washing has been a point of focus for OSHA. During the time period of 2009-2011, three Minnesota workers died on the job while washing windows, he said. That led to the creation of a program that started in March 2012 that focused on making window washing safer. Minnesota also was the first in the nation to have a window-washing safety standard, he said.

Window Cleaning News

Click to enlarge. Police smashed through windows on the 23rd floor of a Khalidiya tower block to rescue two window cleaners who became trapped in their cradle 23 storeys up with high winds battering them. The cables holding the cradle had started to weaken.

Amazing rescue: Strong winds, 25th floor, 2 stuck on Abu Dhabi ledge. Asian cleaners saved in Khalidiya from certain death. Abu Dhabi Police have rescued two Asian cleaners from falling from the 25th floor of a building under construction in the Khalidiya area of the city. The workers were in danger of falling down because their scaffold had been damaged by strong winds. Colonel Mohammed Ibrahim Al Amri, director of Emergency Management and Public Safety, said the police moved immediately with an ambulance after the operations room received information about the workers’ plight. The Civil Defence team had to break the glass façade of the building to secure the scaffold because of strong winds. The workers were taken to Sheikh Khalifa Hospital for medical tests which confirmed that they were in good health. Captain Abdullah Al Tamimi, head of customer service and public relations of the Directorate-General of Civil Defence in Abu Dhabi, urged contracting and building maintenance companies to get scaffolds serviced and ropes checked for strength regularly.

Winds accompanying a sand storm which hit the capital caused the scaffolding to swing heavily. The Central Operations Department at Abu Dhabi Police received a report on the incident, bringing the Al Falah rescue quickly to the site along with an ambulance, according to Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Ebrahim Al Ameri, Deputy Director of Emergency and Public Safety Department. After clearing the surrounding area to ensure the safety of the workers and pedestrians, Abu Dhabi Civil Defence had to break the glass window where the workers were located, because of the challenges which the wind posed in moving the scaffolding.

Photo shows a window cleaner removes graffiti from the glass door of the Academy of Arts in Berlin, on July 3, 2012. The slogan reads: “We now have a mixture of Drachma and Euro.” Unemployment in the 17-country eurozone hit a record high of 11.6 per cent in September, official figures showed Wednesday, a sign the economy is deteriorating as governments struggle to get a grip on their three-year debt crisis.

Eurozone unemployment hits new record of 11.6 per cent as economy slips toward recession. Spain had the highest rate in the eurozone; Greece may yet surpass that. Unemployment in the 17-country eurozone hit a record high of 11.6 per cent in September, official figures showed Wednesday, a sign the economy is deteriorating as governments struggle to get a grip on their three-year debt crisis. The rate reported by Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, was up from an upwardly-revised 11.5 per cent in August. In total, 18.49 million people were out of work in the eurozone in September, up 146,000 on the previous month, the biggest increase in three months.

Office staff must get expert to open windows:  Office staff in Wiesbaden have been told to get an expert to open the window whenever they want fresh air after a colleague was hit by a pane of glass that fell from the building – just months after all the windows were checked. A woman employee at the social court housed in the building was hit by the 150-kilo pane of glass as she went into work on Monday morning. “She is a large, fit woman, and was able to briefly hold the window and twist herself away to the side so it only hit her on the shoulder and foot,” Sandra Bolten, spokeswoman for the court told Thursday’s Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper. Just a few months ago all 2,000 windows in the state justice ministry complex were inspected and more than 200 replaced after judges and staff sweated their way through the summer with the windows closed because of construction problems.

Now staff are outraged that the problem was obviously not fixed then – and they are again banned from opening the windows themselves. Employees of the building management firm HSG Zander have been put on call to open windows as and when the government workers ask. Wiesbaden police have launched an investigation into why the window was faulty, despite it being inspected just months earlier, as have HSG Zander. The process could take a while though, a company spokesman said. The complex was built by a private contractor as a Public-Private Partnership, the Frankfurter Rundschau said. Around a million euros are thought to have been saved by contracting the windows from a Chinese company rather than one from nearby Mainz. Siegfried Huhle, head of the local craft guild, said he had watched the construction of the complex two years ago, and that there had been problems with the windows from the beginning. “It was a difficult business from the start,” he told the paper. Now the problem is that the windows cannot simply be sent back to China, he said.

Extreme Window Cleaner Faces Probe: Health and safety chiefs have launched an investigation after a window cleaner was filmed working 40ft up - without a harness or ladders. The video of the video cleaning working on a building in Bath, Somerset, has been uploaded on to YouTube. Passers-by stopped to watch the daredevil climb out of a top-floor window and over a balustrade before clambering around pillars. And on the level below, he inched along narrow ledges above windows, again without safety gear. But health and safety officials at the local council were less than impressed and have launched an investigation. Another probe was started by a restaurant in the building, where a spokesman said: "We were shocked. We take health and safety extremely seriously." Featured before in blog here.

Greenpeace Clippy calls for clean Microsoft data centres - "Microsoft's most recent data centre announcements show that is it continuing to build in locations such as Wyoming and Virginia in the United States that are attached to dirty energy," Greenpeace said in a press release. "Microsoft has yet to put forward a plan to power its data centres with clean and not dirty energy." The environmental activist organisation says that Google and Facebook are doing a good job on this front because they've adjusted corporate policy to make renewable energy a priority whenever they pick a new data centre site. But Greenpeace  has problems with other internet giants, including Apple and Amazon. In the past year, it's sent window-washers to Apple stores and scaled the side of Amazon's headquarters, trying to pressure the companies to change their ways.

Men In Kilts, Canadian based Franchisor expands to US East Coast: Men In Kilts, a full-service window cleaning, gutter cleaning, siding cleaning and pressure washing company, officially announced their grand opening in Philadelphia (Bucks and Montgomery Counties), Pennsylvania on November 1st, 2012. Men In Kilts is already Canada’s largest window and exterior cleaning company and is expanding fast into the US, with plans to be in every major market by 2017. Local owners, Herb and Kate Madara live in the Abington suburb, fifteen minutes outside of Philadelphia. Before exploring the world of franchising, Herb Madara worked as a high voltage power lineman. After injuring his knee as a lineman, he decided it was time for a change. His research led him to many business opportunities, and he and his wife ultimately decided on a Men In Kilts window and exterior cleaning franchise.

“I wanted to be in business for myself, but not by myself. The team at the Men In Kilts corporate office and all their franchise owners were so supportive during our research. The further I looked into it, the more I realized the huge opportunity in the window cleaning industry and the whole concept of wearing the kilt is just awesome. Everywhere you go, people approach you with a smile on their face. Everyone wants to know what the kilt is all about, and some even want to take pictures with you,” says Madara. When asked if the crews will still be wearing kilts in the frosty Philly winters, Madara replies, “Of course! We’ll make sure the guys have something warm under their kilts!”

The 48th Chicago International Film Festival announces the winners of its competitions: The Silver Hugo for Best Short Documentary goes to PARADISE (USA). With a moment of calm daybreak followed by harnesses, ropes, and the calculated preparation of a great heist movie, director Nadav Kurtz drops the audience of his short film PARADISE into a meditation through the perspective of three Chicago window washers. Topically a film about men at work, this documentary incorporates fluid camera movements, beautiful photography, steady editing, and a lovely yet understated guitar soundtrack. The subjects discuss marriage, growing old, death, the afterlife, and teaching the next generation while building inhabitants continue downtown – living, working, playing, and going to Starbucks. Director: Nadav Kurtz.

Mark takes on 2,170-mile charity cycle: An epic 2,170-mile ride on a custom-built, folding cycle and nights spent under the stars using the bike bag as a bed, is the task Folkestone Road resident Mark Copeland has set for himself. The former window cleaner, currently unable to work because of a fused vertebrae in his back, is hoping the 40-day ride will raise "as much as possible" for the Cancer Research charity. The 55-year-old leaves Dover on November 15 and will travel by ferry from Dover to Calais and then ride on his self-adapted bike through France and across the Pyrenees in Spain to his destination of Gibraltar. He says he will do a lap around the Market Square fountain "for luck". On the Rock he will spend one day meeting other Cancer Research supporters before stripping down his bike, greasing the ball-bearings and assembling it again for the estimated 20-day ride home.

Mark said: "It's something I have wanted to do for a long time. I made a 20-inch wheel bike and got at far as Halt, just before Dieppe in France, but it hurt my back so much I had to turn around and come back. "Then I made my current bike. It cost £100 from Argos and had 18 gears. I have turned it into 27 gear bike with racing cranks and tri-bars across the front. This means I am across the front and only have to turn my legs. There is no problem with my back if I stay in this position. "I have never done it for charity before. The library helped me to do leaflets and set up a justgiving site."

Arnold Greenberg, a Founder of Snapple, Dies at 80: Arnold Greenberg, who began his career selling pickles and herring from a New York City storefront and went on to become a founder of Snapple, the international beverage giant, died on Friday in Manhattan. He was 80. A resident of Delray Beach, Fla., who also had homes in Manhattan and Southampton, N.Y., Mr. Greenberg had been ill with cancer for some time, his family said. In 1972, Mr. Greenberg, who was by then running a health food store in the East Village in Manhattan, joined forces with two old friends, Leonard Marsh and Hyman Golden, to sell fruit juices to health food stores. A part-time concern — Mr. Greenberg retained his store and Mr. Marsh and Mr. Golden kept the window-washing business they ran together — the juice business performed modestly in its early years. Pictured, Arnold Greenberg, right, with Ivan Lendl.

MI boys soccer coach Steve Newman passes away at age 58: The Mercer Island High School athletic family lost one its kind souls. Steve Newman, the likeable longtime Mercer Island High School boys soccer coach, passed away on Friday morning at age 58 from an apparent cardiac arrest, according to his older sister Valerie (Newman) Sils. Newman owned his own business, Steve's Window Washing, for 35 years and had small businesses and home residences as his clients. The Newman family will have a memorial service during the first week of November at a site to be announced on Mercer Island. "He was just a real genuine guy," Sils said.

West Reading man killed Kosovan gangster in cash row: A Kosovan gangster who made a fortune robbing parking meters was executed when he demanded a £250,000 debt from a criminal associate. Cima Sogojeva, 27, was shot and stabbed by West Reading man Lundrim Gjikokaj, 30, after arranging a meeting at the victim’s flat to hand over the money. Jurors at the Old Bailey heard how Mr Sogojeva, who made hundreds of thousands of pounds stealing from parking meters in London, had threatened to hurt Gjikokaj and his family if he did not come up with the cash. He was found in a praying position in his living room with three bullet wounds and stab wounds to his head and neck. Following his arrest, Gjikokaj, from Western Elms Avenue, claimed it was “just a coincidence” that he had visited the victim only minutes before his death.
But jurors convicted him of murder after a trial at the Old Bailey last Thursday. Judge Nicholas Browne, QC, jailed him for life with a minimum of 28 years. The court heard Mr Sogojeva arrived in the UK in 1998 and had an English girlfriend as well as a wife and child in Kosovo. Bobbie Cheema, prosecuting, said he claimed to be a window cleaner but was involved in “a very lucrative form of theft from parking meters in the London Borough of Westminster”. In 2008 Mr Sogojeva, having lost £177,000 when police raided his safety deposit box, gave Gjikokaj a large amount of money for safekeeping. A few months later in July 2008 he asked for it to be returned. Jurors heard Gjikokaj was already £100,000 in debt and had probably gambled away Mr Sogojeva’s cash. He regularly visited casinos in Reading and on one occasion blew £64,000 in a single visit.

Smith: Partisanship creates division, block progress - There’s too much outside money in politics and the result is elected officials who listen to the wishes of their contributors rather than to the needs of their constituents, says Jeff Smith. Name: Jeff Smith, Age: 57, Party: Democrat, Hometown: Eau Claire, Family: Wife Sue, two daughters in college, Education: Eau Claire North High School, Professional background: Former, longtime owner of Bob Smith Window Cleaning. “I’m not a career politician,” said Smith, remembering a complaint he heard from a man while campaigning before the last election. “I said, ‘I’m not a career politician. I’m a career window washer,’” recalled Smith, who was first elected to the Assembly at age 51 and until recently ran the business started by his father.

Vancouver Window Cleaning currently owns the only Skydrowasher in Canada. Skydrowasher is a robotic window-cleaning device manufactured by Sky Pro, that provides a safe and expedient cleaning method for large commercial buildings.

Compared to traditional window-cleaning methods, which involve a person precariously suspended several stories above the ground, a robotic window cleaner is 100% safe while also cleaning more efficiently - and considerably faster. Unlike human window washers, Skydrowasher leaves no streaks as it both washes and rinses windows with filtered water.

Vancouver Window Cleaning are Vancouver window washers responsible for cleaning some of Vancouver’s largest buildings; it guarantees clients 100% satisfaction and offers a price match guarantee on a comparable service. The company uses only environmentally friendly cleaning materials and its highly experienced technicians use only filtered, ultra-pure water, leaving windows spotless and streak free when performing high rise window cleaning Vancouver.

“Our business success is built upon the repeat customer,” says Director of Marketing Brendan Huff. “Our commitment is to our clients – we provide end-to-end quality service. We retain our customers by providing superior service and using better technology. We are the only window cleaning company in the country to have a SkydroWasher– a state-of-the-art cleaning method that is both safe and expedient.”

Candy Smith is like an air traffic controller at an ever-busy airport behind her desk at Bren-Mark Window Cleaning in Valparaiso. “She keeps things taking off and landing with minimal issues,” said her boss, Don Markovich, who owns the business with his wife, Brenda. “I think most successful businesses have someone like Candy as their glue.” I heard this same word, “glue,” again and again from readers who nominated their “Doris-like” employees. It’s no different for Smith, whose current title is operations manager after climbing the company’s ladder (literally and figuratively) for 12-plus years.

“At 18, Candy started out here as a window cleaner, but Brenda knew when she interviewed her that she was special,” Don told me. “Every job Candy has had, she has shown responsibility. And she has taken on more responsibility whenever needed.” That’s another common word repeatedly used to describe these types of go-to employees — responsible. As well as accountable, dependable and even inspirational. “Our business requires a tremendous amount of attention to detail. No one knows more about individual customers, scheduling, routing, billing, and so on, than Candy,” Don said.

Smith, who’s an animal lover, a runner and a bit of a hippie, doesn’t get paid hourly or salary. Instead, she is paid on a percentage of overall sales. “This is in part due to her ability to do anything necessary to run the business,” Don explained. “I don’t know of any other businesses that pay a manager strictly on a percentage of sales. This is our way of sharing our success with the person most responsible for it — Candy.” Pictured, Operations manager Candy Smith with the office cat, Shammy, at Bren-Mark window cleaning in Valparaiso.

Most Wanted burglar jailed: A burglar on a police most wanted list has been jailed for two years. Window cleaner David Dunigan would knock on people's doors and when he got no response would break in.  A court heard yesterday how some of his victims were elderly. Dunigan, 24, was responsible for four burglaries and three attempted burglaries over a four week period this summer. He was jailed for two years after he admitted four burglaries and asked for three attempted burglaries to be taken into consideration. Chelmsford Crown Court was told Dunigan, from Old Heath Road, Colchester, was acting as a window cleaner knocking on doors at the time.

Isn't Halloween great fun? Well actually no. Apart from the inconvenience of having to keep answering the door to begging, scrounging kids who intimidate by the threat of giving you a treat, there are also the squad who leave a treat irrespective by throwing eggs at your windows. As the window in question is some 15 feet up and can only be accessed by ladder it will now cost me £15 to call in the window cleaner. Halloween? Personally I’d ban it. Tim Radcliffe, Holmfirth, Disillusioned voter.

TRAINING: With the help of Training Capt. Sam Fasciano, left, Niagara Falls Firefighter Pat Accetta dangles from a second-story window after hooking up his SCOTT EZ-Scape Firefighter Self-Rescue Accessory at the Wheatfield Training Facility on River Road in Wheatfield. The hook and break system is meant to be used as a last resort and all firefighters who enter buildings will eventually be trained to use them. In 2005, six New York City firefighters battling a warehouse fire, became trapped and fell five floors to their deaths. After that tragedy, the state mandated that every firefighter be equipped with a rope and hook that would enable them to get out a window and reach safety.

It's a skill both Fontanella and Fasciano hope city firefighters never have to use. But, after days of practicing at the Wheatfield fire training towers, both commanders are confident their trainees will know what to do in the event of trouble. "We've adopted a motto," Fasciano said. "One of our former captains, Al Evans, used to carry it on a card in his helmet. It read, 'Let no man's ghost come back and say, 'My training let me down.''

Fontanella recalled his first day as the training chief, when he was called to a bomb scare at the CSX railroad yard. "You had a possible bomb, sitting in the middle of 65 railroad cars filled with chlorine," he said. "If there had been an explosion, it would have been devastating." The next day, Fontanella needed the expertise to go rescue two window washers stuck outside the 25th floor of the Seneca Niagara Casino hotel. It's that wide range of challenges that every firefighter needs to be ready to handle.

Energy firm launches innovation support service: A Scottish energy efficiency technology company has started its own innovation support service offering entrepreneurs and inventors assistance and mentoring. Direct Savings, which has its headquarters in Livingston, West Lothian, has launched the initiative to uncover "golden nuggets" of ideas that have not been developed to their full potential. The support may involve interest-free loans to a start up, intellectual property advice, marketing support, product development or helping to develop industry contacts around the world.

Michael Donald, business development manager, says the firm is open-minded and keen to hear pitches from people of all ages. He said: "The win-win situation would be for us to find another energy efficient product we can bring to the market. "But we are opening it out wider so it could be a window cleaner requiring an interest-free loan of £1000 to start up a round but they don't have the business plan to go through the public sector process. "I really believe there are some real golden nuggets out there in the schools sector where they are creating products. "Those might get sold in the local area then die a death but I believe some of them could have greater potential. "We want to unearth the talent that is already there and will look at things on a case by case basis. "We want to help those people who have great ideas that could potentially change the world, but have no practical way to bring them to life."

Postcard from London, The View from the Shard: "It’s the best view in the world," promises Anders Nyberg, as we stand at the foot of the Shard, London’s newest landmark and, at 310m, the tallest building in western Europe. As CE of The View from the Shard — the building’s top-floor viewing gallery — he is hardly impartial, but what he lacks in objectivity, he makes up for in experience, having run the viewing galleries at Chicago’s Willis Tower and Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. "In Dubai, you have the Gulf on one side, the desert on the other — just the two aspects. In Chicago, there’s the lake, but not much out west. Here there’s such depth and richness." Along with a group of other journalists, I am being given a preview ahead of the gallery’s opening on February 1. As we assemble in the lobby there is excited chatter about the spectacle waiting up top. On a clear day, says a PR officer, you can see 64km: to the sea at Southend in one direction, or Windsor Castle in the other.

My anticipation has been building since long before this morning — for months and years, in fact, as I’ve watched the glass tower push up out of the crowded, ancient streets until it became visible from what seems like every point in, and around, the city. Long familiar prospects — from Hampstead Heath, Richmond Park, even the lanes of Surrey — have been changed by this attention-seeking new arrival; so what must the view from the top be like? Before they get to see it, visitors will pass through a multimedia exhibition on the ground floor. This is still under construction but will, we’re told, have screens showing scenes of city life, famous London quotes and some bizarre-sounding animations of celebrated residents: Dickens and Shakespeare rowing on the Thames together, Karl Marx and Margaret Thatcher on a tandem, Boris Johnson shining Ken Livingstone’s shoes.

Then come the lifts, the first rising to the 33rd floor, the second from there to level 68, each taking 30 seconds. Both feature what must be the world’s most exclusive lift music, a specially composed "uplifting" score performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. "On a clear day, you can see the whole of London," says the PR as the lift rises and my ears pop. The doors open and we hurry up the final flight of steps leading to the 69th floor — and the view. It is not a clear day. Clouds swirl around the glass walls. Windsor Castle is nowhere to be seen; we can just about make out Elephant and Castle, an ugly roundabout less than a mile away. Tickets will be timed (and limited to 200 every 30 minutes) but guests can stay as long as they like. Nyberg expects the average visit to last an hour, but I think he may have miscalculated. There’s activity too — Tower Bridge opening to allow a tall-masted sailing barge through; a plane passing at eye level; abseiling window-cleaners many floors below. If I hadn’t been ushered out by one of the builders, I could have stayed all day. 

OSHA and the International Window Cleaning Association renew Alliance to protect workers from industry hazards. Source: U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA): WASHINGTON -- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration renewed its Alliance with the International Window Cleaning Association (IWCA) to address slips, trips, falls from heights, and the safe use of high-reach access equipment such as ladders and scaffolding in the window cleaning industry.

'Falls are among the most common causes of serious work-related injuries and deaths in the window cleaning industry,' said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health David Michaels. 'We look forward to continuing our work with the IWCA to provide workplace training and education to help ensure that workers are aware of on-the-job hazards and reduce injuries throughout the industry.'

During the two-year agreement, the Alliance members will develop effective training and education programs for window cleaning contractors with low literacy and limited English speaking workers on the recognition and prevention of workplace accidents cleaning windows and solar panels. New and existing materials will be translated to help train and educate Spanish-speaking workers, who comprise about 50 percent of the industry.

IWCA is a non-profit trade association representing more than 500 national and international member companies that employ more than 10,000 workers. Through its Alliance Program, OSHA works with businesses, trade associations, unions, consulates, professional organizations, faith- and community-based organizations, and educational institutions to prevent workplace fatalities, injuries and illnesses. The purpose of each alliance is to develop compliance assistance tools and resources and educate workers and employers about their rights and responsibilities.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance.