Drought Restrictions Affecting Window Cleaners

Window Cleaner, Jim Hamilton says, "As soon as the drought came, the phones stopped ringing. I do believe the public is taking the restrictions very seriously and it's taking a toll on us guys who make a living using water," he said.

Business drying up as drought persists (MINT HILL, N.C.) — As drought conditions persist across nearly half of North Carolina, some business owners told Channel 9 they're noticing their customers are spending less and cutting water usage. The combination of heat and a lack of rainfall is bringing back memories of the 2007 drought when business dropped nearly 40 percent. It may get worse this year. And when traffic slows it can trickle down to his employees that could lose hours if times get too tough.

Business has been slow for Jim Hamilton as well. Monday was the first time in two weeks Hamilton suited up in his window-washing gear and he did it to give Eyewitness News a demonstration to show how much water he uses. "As soon as the drought came, the phones stopped ringing. I do believe the public is taking the restrictions very seriously and it's taking a toll on us guys who make a living using water," he said.

He believes they're doing the right thing. There are 47 counties in North Carolina in some form of a drought and Channel 9 meteorologists predict conditions will worsen over the next few days. "We'll all to do our part hopefully and in time, the good lord willing, we'll get through this too," said Hamilton.

Researchers from the National Drought Monitor told Channel 9 they collect reports from across the country showing where drought conditions force businesses to cut employees or expand their services to save jobs. 

Nelson city hall recently had its windows cleaned, in violation of the city's own water restrictions.

Nelson city hall washes windows despite water restrictions: or anyone wondering why city hall was washing its windows recently despite water restrictions, it turns out it was done by an outside contractor who does windows for provincial government buildings. “Due to 310 Ward formerly being a provincial building, the [contractor] still does building maintenance,” public works director Colin Innes told the Star.

“In discussing this issue with them they have indicated that the window washing was organized for all of the buildings they maintain, so our restrictions were not recognized in the setup of the window washing.” Innes said the company is now aware, and will comply with any restrictions in place in Nelson.

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.

OSHA Targets Small Business Owners In Nevada

Brian Retke of Window Masters; "Had I capitulated to OSHA's demands, they would have put me out of business."

OSHA safety police do fine work (John L. Smith): I'm not sure this is what the federal experts had in mind. After being blasted in 2009 by its federal counterpart for doing too little to scrutinize workplace safety even after multiple on-the-job fatalities, the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration has gotten tough. Really tough. On a zookeeper. On a window washer. On a manufacturer of ice cream, and a maker of dentures.

Those small Nevada operators have found themselves fighting state OSHA after being whacked with thousands of dollars in fines over alleged safety violations that were either easily correctable or arguably inappropriate. It appears to be part of a policy that is bent at least as much on generating income as promoting safety. In recent weeks I've interviewed several longtime small-business owners who have dealt with OSHA over the years. Each stressed a willingness to maintain a safe work environment. But they also say they have noticed a change in OSHA's mission from workplace safety to fine generation, often for such egregious violations as cracked wall plug covers and improperly displayed safety manuals.

Is it a way to make budget, or perhaps an overreaction to its own under performance in addressing far larger safety issues involving, for instance, the "clearly supportable repeat violations" related to the worker deaths at local hotel-casinos? The federal analysis found state OSHA inspectors had an exceedingly light touch when it came to large offenses involving workplace fatalities at big businesses. The safety police couldn't find it in their hearts to pull the trigger and level hefty fines and penalties even in cases in which fatalities had occurred at Strip casino resorts. The lack of fines of more than $45,000 was noted by federal OSHA investigators, who had to narrow their field of inquiry to fines of $15,000 because the state had been so conservative in its charges.

Then there's Brian Retke, who owns the Window Masters commercial window cleaning service. His citations totaled $2,800 over how his high-rise rigs were securing their lines. He thought his troubles were over when he won his appeal in front of an OSHA review board, but then the safety police appealed to District Court. Retke still is fighting more than a year later. "I'm a small-business owner, so I have to do all this myself," Retke says. "I had to put in a huge expense just to fight at the review board. ... I believe that, somewhere along the line, the correct mark was missed by OSHA. Had I capitulated to their demands, they would have put me out of business. What is my recourse? I have to dig deeper into my pockets. I have to wash a lot of windows to pay for this. This is my livelihood. This is how I support my family."

Back in 2009, the federal review called state OSHA's inspectors an overworked bunch, but officials also noted the inspectors were too easy on egregious repeat offenders. And nowhere in that report did federal authorities say state OSHA needed to start terrorizing mom-and-pop operations. Nevada's small-business owners are having enough trouble surviving in this economy. It's time for Nevada's safety police to pick on someone their own size. Full story here.

Window Cleaners Critically Reviewed

Click picture to see original story.

Safety - What's wrong? The antics of some window cleaners were followed up on, when cleaning the windows of the offices of the CSST, an organization dedicated to safety. On October 3, workers of the company Sunshine Window Cleaning appeared at 9, Rue Nicholson, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, To clean the exterior windows of the building, which houses the offices of the Commission of Health and Safety (CSST).

In the photographs taken when the window washers were at work, one can see clearly that no security perimeter had been drawn around the workplace and people walked near the ladder although it was footed (as required) by a worker on the ground. On one of the pictures, you can see a window washer also trying somehow to keep his balance while leaning forward to reach the window.

Verdict: Nothing illegal

CSST claims they were not informed when the workers were present. An inspector who was passing by in the morning observed the ways of the business and then found that everything was perfectly in order. "All the techniques were consistent." "The number of workers was sufficient and there were cones on the sidewalk to prevent people going through there," said Jacques Nadeau, spokesman for the CSST. He added that it is not impossible that the company has changed its ways since that day. "It's possible, but it would be very unfortunate if they hadn't." He added their work practices were "Not recommended."

Asked about this, Normand Payette, responsible for work at height for a property maintenance company for 38 years, believes that "it is not off-the-law, but it is certainly not advisable." "For buildings of two stories or more, we use a crane with a bucket. In this case, people passed under the ladder, it's really not safe, "says Payette.

The owner of the building, Shazad Khan, is currently outside the country and his son Nadeem who has responded on his behalf said "We were not aware of their ways, had we known, we would have done business with another company." "We can not let something like that happen, especially as the offices of the CSST are located in this building" he said.

The viewpoint of Sunshine Window Cleaning Company is "We ensure compliance with all safety regulations." "We know how to do our job and we have experience." "We've been in business for 35 years and there has never been an accident," said Georges Hersky, an employee.

Montreal Newspaper Slams Window Cleaners At Health & Safety HQ

The window cleaner had no harness or safety line to do the job, as "Le Soleil" thought he should.

The windows of the CSST cleaned without any health & safety: A scene both amusing and incomprehensible could be observed on Monday in downtown Valleyfield, where the window washers were busy cleaning the outside windows of the regional office of the CSST, in total violation of the rules of health and safety that are in force.

Many citizens have noted unsafe methods used by the firm Sunshine Window Cleaning.

The two company employees from Sunshine Window Cleaning, a company based in the West Island of Montreal, did their work accompanied with a long ladder near electrical lines, no harness, and without having erected a security boundary around the workplace.

The CSST sign on the building.

At some point, you could even see passersby flow past underneath where they were working at the intersection of Victoria and Nicholson. Workers were able to do their work for several hours without being bothered in any way by the staff of the CSST. However, the manual published by the CSST and entitled "How To Wash Windows Safely," clearly lays out rules to allow these workers to do their work safely.

On the one hand, the use of a ladder is recommended for work performed to a maximum of 40 feet in height; any worker who works at a height of more than 3 meters (10 feet) must also must wear protective equipment in the form of a harness, in addition, exercising great care when one is close to electrical lines.

The building in question on a busy intersection, houses the CSST, the OSHA equivalent in the USA or the HSE in the UK.

In addition, "when the working area of ​​the window cleaners is over a sidewalk, street or driveway, the window cleaning business or building owner must ensure public safety. The work area must be enclosed by barricades and appropriate signage. "

In fact, several people who witnessed the scene threw an incredulous look and expressed their amazement having to deal with the rather rudimentary working methods used by these window washers. One passerby commented, "I'm working on a construction site and I can tell you that the CSST inspectors are usually faster than that to tell us what to do on site," said a witness at the scene.

The place of work should be safe and offer safety to passersby.

The building owner has a responsibility. At last aware of this situation, the spokesman for the CSST, Danielle Girard, initially showed surprise, recalling that the building owner who hires a window cleaning firm also has a responsibility for health and safety. The building in question, which houses five commercial premises, is owned by the numbered company 9162-8537 Quebec Inc., whose head office is located in the borough of Verdun, Montreal.

Discuss here.