Picture Of The Day & Window Cleaning News

They do windows: David Nickelson of Modern Window Cleaning of Grand Rapids rappels the towering window structure of the Radisson Plaza Hotel at Kalamazoo Center as a crew washes the building's windows Tuesday morning. "You have to work very fast in the hot sun," says operations manager Bill Beck, "before the water evaporates." It will take 4 days to wash the entire Radisson Plaza Hotel at Kalamazoo Center, says Beck. Modern Window Cleaning has been in business since 1926.



Two Window Washers Rescued After Platform Malfunction High Above 53rd Street: Two window washers nearly fell 40 stories to their deaths after a platform malfunction on Wednesday. Two window washers were left dangling high over 53rd Street Wednesday morning after the platform they were working on malfunction and almost pitched them to the street below, the FDNY said. The two unidentified men were washing windows 42 stories up near the roof of 1301 Sixth Ave. around 10:30 a.m. when the incident occurred. One of the motors that lifts the platform up cables along side the building malfunctioned, causing the platform to tilt at a dangerous angle, fire officials said.
“We saw stuff falling. We saw the cart go sideways and then we got the hell out of there,” said Stacy White, 33, who was on her way to a conference at the Hilton Hotel across the street from the incident. While responders worked to rescue the men, bystanders continued to sip coffee at Lou's Cafe, oblivious to the drama taking place overhead. They were eventually moved away by police. Luckily the workers were strapped to the platform. One worker was able to grab a railing and pull himself to safety. Emergency responders were able to lift the other window washer off the platform, a fire official said. The fire department and NYPD responded to the scene and closed off 53rd Street as a safety precaution. No injuries have been reported. Over 50 onlookers watched from the street as the fire department attempted to secure the platform after the incident.

Student entrepreneurs gain support, experience and grants: Four local students will get to experience self-employment first hand this summer thanks to the 2010 Summer Company Program. Once again, the Orangeville & Area Small Business Enterprise Centre has teamed up with the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade to deliver this exciting initiative, which provides an opportunity for local youth to develop and run their own summer businesses while developing business related skills early in life. Steve’s Outdoor Maintenance - Orangeville based Steve Craggs is a high school student who is brimming with entrepreneurial skills and ideas. As the owner of Steve’s Outdoor Maintenance, his goal is to provide a variety of outside maintenance services to local homeowners. With the motto that no job is too small, Steve will provide power washing, window cleaning, minor yard work and clean-up, as well as general labour for a variety of household and property odd jobs that need doing. Hard working, honest and enthusiastic, Steve says Steve’s Outdoor Maintenance exists to do all those jobs that homeowners just don’t have time to complete.


Would you clean the windows in here? WACO - A unit at the Window Box Condominiums on Lakeshore Drive in Waco was cleaned up after accumulating thirty years worth of trash. Originally neighbors were upset at the disgusting mess in the unit and wanted to see something done about it. Wednesday, they got what they wanted. A cleaning crew hired by the condo complex board showed up at 7 a.m. Wednesday and started removing the rubbish. "No more bugs, rodents, I'm happy something got done," Charles Fritze, who lives in the condo below, said.
Fritze had been living below the trash heap for three years, but he didn't know that until the condo owner offered to sell him the place 3 months ago. By 4 p.m. the crew had stuffed around 100 trash bags, 2 tons worth, and they expected two more loads with half of the 1,100 sq foot condo still to clean. "I thought who could live like this," Travis Bryant, cleaning crew member, said. News Channel 25 was told a possible buyer for the condo has offered the former owner, who has since moved out, $40,000 for it and expects to spend another $20,000 gutting it.

The year-long countdown starts today (30th June 2010) to the closure of the UK Domestic Cheque Guarantee Card Scheme.This means that after 30th June 2011, it will no longer be possible to guarantee a cheque using a plastic card. To help businesses and consumers, the Scheme has today published two fact sheets available here.
Alternatives to guaranteed cheques: Debit cards - 92% of cards carrying the guarantee are also debit cards. About a million businesses accept card payments and know that they should get their funds much quicker than if they accept a cheque.
Cheques - the withdrawal of the Guarantee does not mean you can't pay by cheque or that a business can't accept one. Since 2007 cheque funds have been guaranteed* after a cut-off point which means that a cheque won't bounce - providing the recipient isn't a knowing party to a fraud - and it's safe to hand over goods and services.
Electronic transfer - paying someone online or over the phone. Since the launch of Faster Payments in 2008 it has been possible to pay someone almost instantaneously, 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Unlike a cheque, businesses don't have to wait several days to get their money: you can pay anybody from your window cleaner to someone with a stall at a craft fair in this way.
Cash - cash will always have a place, about a third of all retail spending is still in cash.

NHS-funded fertility tests are being denied to a woman who wants children, because her health trust is one of just three in the country not to pay for the treatment. Tracey Parnell cannot have the test on the NHS because she lives in Kidsgrove and NHS North Staffordshire will not pay for fertility tests and treatments. The married 35-year-old needs an ultrasound scan which costs between £200 and £300 for private treatment. But her trust will not pay for the scan, so her GP at Kidsgrove Medical Centre has organised for a blood test to look at hormone levels.
Tracey would receive the tests on the NHS if she lived in Stoke-on-Trent, or South Cheshire. Now health campaigners and politicians have again asked NHS North Staffordshire to change its fertility policy. Tracey, who has been trying for a child for more than eight years, said: "I am not asking for IVF treatment – I only want to find out why I can't conceive so I can try something else.
And she has spent more than four years trying to conceive with husband Martin, who she married in September 2008. The support worker, who works with autistic young adults, said: "I phoned the health trust about the fertility tests and it said there was no funding. "I cannot understand why people get help for alcohol and drugs and things that are self-inflicted. "I work full-time and put into the system, so why should I not get it back when I need it?" Self-employed window cleaner Martin, aged 37, said: "If I was fat and wanted a gastric band fitted they would fund it, but all we want to know is if Tracey can have a child."

That Window Cleaners Book: International Film Festival about a girl’s search for the right man to take her virginity, Sean Wickens, 34, now of Sunnyside, ended up making himself an unusual dare. “At an after-party for the screening I asked a few strangers how they lost [their virginity] and was amazed how candid everyone was,” Wickens said in an e-mail. Afterward, he set himself up for what he called an “unattainable” goal: to interview more than 1,000 people about their first time. Three years of interviewing and three years of editing later, he had a book, “How to Lose Your Virginity (... And How Not To),” which is now on sale.
The stories in the book run the gamut from sweet to strange. The excerpts on Wickens’ website include a man from Florida who lost it watching “As Good As it Gets” in a movie theater, another who lost it to a porn star he met on his paper route in Japan and another man who lost it in a squat in London, only to meet up with a former classmate the next morning who had also lost her virginity that night in the house. To get those and many other interviews, Wickens traveled to 34 cities across the United States plus Montreal. He said the interview process took so long because Wickens — who moved from Cleveland to New York in 2004 and now currently works as a window-washer in Manhattan and a stand-up comedian — had to raise the money himself.
“I had thought about asking friends and family for donations or applying for grants but determined energy spent on fund-raising would be best channeled into the project itself,” Wickens said. “I also worked at a place that would let you work extra hours in exchange for vacation time, so I did a lot of that.” Wickens said he picked many of the cities — Montreal; Nashville; Roswell, N.M.; Austin; and New Orleans — because he had wanted to see them in the past or, had family in areas like Wichita, Kan. and Tulsa, Okla. Other times he went to a place because it coincided with a major event, like visiting Boston for the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
“It was a lot of fun driving around and interviewing people,” Wickens said. “And collecting stories for the book gave me a drive and a purpose on these trips that in a way made them more enjoyable than if I were aimlessly driving around America.” Wickens said his favorite story was about a girl from Tennessee who lost her virginity working on a salmon boat. “She ends up having her first experience with the boat’s cook, but she told her story with such nostalgia and epic detail I was speechless when she was done telling it,” he said. There are some funny ones he liked as well. “A guy stole his brother’s car for a date and while the two were fumbling around in the passenger seat his foot snagged an A/C hose, covering him in freezing water,” Wickens said. Wickens laid out the book himself and a photographer, Emily Bryan, took some pictures for it. “[Bryan] told me she keeps it on her coffee table and finds that friends she brings over, without fail, gravitate toward the book and start flipping through and reading random stories,” Wickens said. Previous story here.

NEWPORT, Ky. Three local fire departments joined forces Wednesday to refine the skills they need to keep your family safe. Crews from Covington, Newport and Cincinnati fire departments worked cooperatively for aerial rescue practice over the Ohio River. The crews practiced high angle rescue skills while rappelling up and down the Purple People Bridge. They said it helped them get familiar with each other in case they need to work together. "This is a resource sharing concept. Where today we are just doing an introduction to each department as well of the individual capabilities of each of the departments," explained Cincinnati Fire Dept. Capt. Michael Washington. "We assemble a crew that rappels down and picks you off of whatever structure you're on. And that's the safest way to do it," said Covington Fire Batt. Chief Alan Terry. The crews need the practice in case a skyscraper window washer needs rescued, or someone gets trapped in a high place that a ladder cannot reach. "We try to do something on a monthly basis to do some type of rope rescue or high angle rescue review, but large drills like this… once a year twice a year," said Terry.

Falling glass scare: Pedestrians on Pinstone Street had a lucky escape when a glass pane fell four storeys from an office window frame in Palatine Chambers and smashed on to the pavement.
The council, which rents the accommodation, immediately checked all windows in the building, opposite the Peace Gardens, after the incident mid-morning on Tuesday. A passer-by said: "It was amazing nobody was hurt – there were a lot of people around."

Saint Augustine wrote: "Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature." A phenomena within health care, often applied when no rational scientific explanation can be given, preexists medicine itself. Be it via the Internet, urban legends or contemporary television and cinema, we have all marveled at the thought of the teen who lived 118 days without a heart, or the paraplegic man who was once again able to walk after being bitten by a brown recluse spider, or the window washer who fell 47 stories and awoke from his coma on Christmas Day. Sometimes, medical degree or no, the only way to explain the reasoning behind such patient outcomes is to use that often overburdened word -- miracle.

TV Preview UK: The IT Crowd – Fridays, Channel 4, 10pm - CHANNEL 4’s BAFTA award-winning sitcom, the IT Crowd returns to our screens for a fifth series. It follows the inner workings of an office IT department and the computer geeks that work there. Written by Father Ted’s Graham Linehan, it focuses on the personal and professional problems of Moss, Roy and Jen, who are based in the bowels of the Reynhold Industries building. Moss and Roy are both social misfit while Jen, their boss told a few lies on her CV and has no idea about IT. In this week’s episode, Moss becomes a celebrity by beating all records on a game show. Meanwhile, Roy is mistaken for a window cleaner, and Jen is preoccupied with the head of the company, Douglas’ secret meetings with women in dressing gowns.

Window Cleaning News

Conman preying on elderly of Troon and Prestwick: Elderly people are being targeted by a vile con man. There have been a spate of sickening incidents in the Troon and Prestwick area. Police are appealing for any information and are urging elderly members of the community to be vigilant. At 4.15pm on Monday, November 9, a man called at the home of an 81-year-old female in Prestwick looking for payment for window cleaning. However, the genuine window cleaner had been paid earlier that day. The man managed to gain access to the woman’s home and stole her purse before making his excuses and leaving.
At 5pm the same day, a male purporting to be a window cleaner looking for new business called at the home of a 94-year-old lady in Prestwick, near to the first lady. The male eventually gained access to the house but did not manage to steal any property. Then between 6pm and 6.30pm, the same man called at three houses in Troon, where he spoke with three elderly residents aged 80, 83 and 88. The man was either seeking business for cleaning windows or looking for payment for windows that had allegedly been cleaned. The 88-year-old woman allowed the man into her home as he used the excuse of needing the toilet. It appears that nothing was stolen.
This man has previously visited Troon on Tuesday, September 29, when he gained access to the home of a 70-year-old female in Logan Drive pretending to be a window cleaner looking for payment. He made an excuse to gain entry to her home, where he continued to involve the occupier in inspecting possible areas that needed repaired. After making his excuses he left, and the occupier noticed that her purse containing a three figure sum was missing. The man is described as white, between 5ft 8ins and 5ft 10ins tall, aged approx 25 to 30 years old, of slim to medium build with short, dark brown, unkempt hair. He appears that he is unshaven with several days growth and has a local accent. He was wearing a high visibility jacket, possibly with a T-shirt underneath. He has always been polite and courteous when calling at the door.
Inspector Bob Smith, of Troon police office, said: “Bogus workmen routinely target the very vulnerable members of our communities, particularly the elderly, the infirm and those living alone. “I would urge those who receive unannounced workmen at their door seeking payment for work allegedly done or looking for work, to refuse them access, no matter the excuses made, and call the police immediately. “I am certain that someone in our community will know who this individual is, and I would urge anyone with information to contact the police.”
The public can contact the police at Troon on 01292 313100 or Prestwick on 01292 478587, or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.



Emprise Services has been awarded the contract to clean the entire Waitrose portfolio of 222 shops, as well as its warehouses and headquarters. Over 1,300 Emprise staff will work across the contract. A range of cleaning services will be provided including daily, early morning and periodical cleaning. Window-cleaning and janitorial services are also tied up in the package. Emprise staff will take responsibility for kitchen deep cleans and jet washing as well. In addition to cleaning responsibilities which form the core of the contract, Emprise will also take over responsibility for management of on-site paper, plastic and cardboard recycling at the retailer’s Bracknell distribution centre.
The contract was awarded by Maintenance Management, the company responsible for procuring services on behalf of Waitrose. Lesley Shearman divisional managing director at Emprise said: “We see this continued development of the contract as a credit to our staff and their work. Waitrose is our oldest contract, spanning more than 45 years. We are delighted to have successfully sustained and enhanced our long term partnership with Waitrose through MML and look forward to further developing it in the future.” Emprise won its first contract with Waitrose in 1961, when it was selected to clean its Dorking store. Since then Emprise has steadily developed its relationship with the retailer. It also holds a number of cleaning contracts at John Lewis department stores.

Matters of grave concern - part 8: I hope readers are enjoying this light hearted roam about the graveyards of the world as we search those old and ancient, more unusual and often amusing memorials. 'Here lies window cleaner Marcus Burke, Who alas stepped back to admire his work.'

The Tempification of the American Workforce: The tempification of the American workforce continues apace. While job losses make headlines, we don't hear as much about an equally insidious trend: real jobs with benefits are being replaced by "contracting opportunities" and temporary placements. In October, the U.S. economy created 34,000 new temp jobs, while posting a net loss of 190,000 jobs. Some media reports have hailed local upticks in temporary employment as portents of an improving job market. The idea is that employers are using temporary workers until they feel secure enough in the recovery to hire full-time workes back.
That's one hypothesis. The other possibility is that employers are ditching permanent employees and replacing them with long-term temps. The great Perm to Temp shift didn't start yesterday. From 1969 to 1993, the number of part-time workers in the American workforce nearly doubled. This surge in part-time employment accounted for a quarter of all growth in the labor market. From 1982 to 1990, the payrolls of temp agencies grew ten times faster than the workforce as a whole. By 2005, contingent workers accounted for nearly a third of the U.S. workforce.
Bosses like temps because they are "flexible," i.e., because they can be hired and fired at will. Temp workers tend to earn less and enjoy fewer benefits than their permanent counterparts. The tempification of the economy helps keep permanent workers' expectations low. Mixing temps with full-time staffers on the same jobsite is a time honored way to keep a workforce internally divided. From a union perspective, temporary workers are even harder to organize than the rest of the private sector because they are dispersed and highly mobile. They could use advocates: Temporary workers are more likely to be hurt on the job, according to a paper published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association. They are also less likely to have health insurance. Only 13% of temporary workers have health insurance, compared to 77% of workers with permanent jobs.
In her recent book, Wage Theft In America, Kim Bobo argues that a culture of temporary employment errodes employers' sense of responsiblity for the well-being of their workers. Daphne Dolan summed up that mindset in an interview with the Chicago Tribune last week, "[Employers] want a receptionist who's also an administrator and answering the phone and making the coffee. They want hybrid people." Pictured - June Beckman, a part-time worker with the cleaning contractor Scrub, cleans a window at O'Hare International Airport's Terminal 3 in Chicago, Ill.

Burnley family: We want justice for Sean -The family of a man who was found dead in undergrowth after going missing from his home have vowed to continue their fight for ‘justice’ for the 36-year-old. Following the discovery of window cleaner Sean Coupe in bushes near Lowerhouse Lodge, Burnley, in May 2006, his mother Kathleen has been critical of police investigations into his demise. An open verdict was yesterday recorded by East Lancashire coroner Richard Taylor, after a two-day inquest into Mr Coupe’s death , after he heard that a number of unanswered questions remained about his last movements.
Mr Coupe, a father-of-two, had left his home in Bear Street, Burnley, around 1am, after a disagreement with his on-off partner Katie Wakeford. He had taken a quilt, pillow and a number of insulin pens, which he used to control the diabetes he had suffered from since he was 15. He was found the following lunchtime after a search by his family and friends, Burnley Coroner’s Court was told.
The deceased’s mother, Kathleen, of Bath Street, Nelson, said she was unhappy about a number of aspects of the police investigation following his death. One of her chief complaints was about the log of her son’s property, particularly the number of insulin pens he was carrying and how many were found to be used at the time of his death. Dr Walid Salman, who conducted a post-mortem examination on Mr Coupe, gave the cause of death as ‘unascertainable’. But a further review by Dr John Grant showed the most probable cause was broncho-pneumonia. Mrs Coupe said: “There was never a proper police investigation in the first place and there has not been since. “He was a really good son and we just want justice for him. I am not saying he was perfect but he was a nice person. We just want answers because we don’t think the truth has come out so far.”
The family has complained to the Independent Police Complaints Commission over the police investigation. Retired police detective inspector Sam Birtwell, who led the initial inquiry, said that whatever obligations may have existed, regarding the deceased’s disappearance, no criminal offence had been committed. Mr Birtwell said that there was no evidence of foul play, regarding the death, whatever concerns the family may have. In his report into the death he concluded: “It is my contention that Sean took an insulin overdose as part of an attention-seeking exercise. “He reckoned that he would be found in time.”

UAE-based Transguard Group part of the Emirates Group Company, has today announced that is has signed a contract with The Radisson Blu Hotel and Park Inn on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, to supply housekeeping solutions at the newly opened hotels. Under the terms of the contract, Transguard will supply a team of 24 staff, to provide cleaning to the public areas throughout the hotel as well as window cleaning services. “Our discerning guests expect the highest standards of cleanliness and hygiene - it is an integral part of our brand offering. Transguard understands our brand values and we are confident that they can deliver their promise,” said Mr. Torbjorn Bodin, GM, Radisson Blu Hotel, Abu Dhabi Yas Island.
“Although we have set an aggressive opening occupancy budget, we are aware that this will be achieved in peaks and troughs. Transguard can provide the right manning and flexibility needed at all times giving us an immediate and cost-effective option, in line with our operational requirements,” said Mr. Torbjorn Bodin, GM, Radisson Blu Hotel, Abu Dhabi Yas Island.

Growing the Arts - Lexington, KY - What began about 10 years ago as a way for Lexington's Living Arts & Science Center to help pay for its fundraisers has evolved into a successful corporate sponsorship program that touches the most important part of the center's mission: its educational programs. Sponsorships, which include cash contributions as well as in-kind donations of goods and services, account for about 20 percent of the Living Arts & Science Center's annual budget, or about $90,000, said Heather Lyons, the center's executive director.
"Our sponsors enable us to do the work we do. We cannot survive on grants." Michael T. Stuart, owner of Fayette Window Cleaning and a corporate contributor to the Living Arts & Science Center, said he values the center's commitment to a broad cross-section of Lexington's youth while keeping expenses under control. "As a business owner, one of the most important things to me is investing and spending my company's money wisely," Stuart said. "The Living Arts & Science Center works very hard to keep costs down and to solicit donated items for programming and classroom needs. I know that when Fayette Window Cleaning invests in the Living Arts & Science Center, we will have a positive impact on the education of Lexington's children through the arts and sciences."

While his current teammates competed in the 2008 season, Florence went to the Summer Olympics in Beijing with an evangelical group and made some extra money by working as a window washer around Waco. It gave him the opportunity for another year of maturity before his chance to play arrived this season.
Florence set the Baylor single-game passing record last week, blistering Missouri for 427 yards and three touchdowns passes. Coming into the game, Florence had thrown only two touchdown passes in his previous 147 attempts in his career.