Internet Daredevil Window Cleaner Fined

This daredevil window cleaner is captured on film balancing on a ledge without a safety harness on the third floor of a building in Bath.

Internet star window cleaner who balanced on third floor ledge is fined £2,000 for breaking health and safety rules: A window cleaner who became a YouTube hit when he was filmed balancing on a third-floor ledge with no safety harness has been ordered to pay £2,000 for health and safety breaches. First reported here.

Fearless Wayne Mallon was caught on camera as he calmly climbed out of a top-floor window to carry out his work 40ft above the pavement. Passers-by watched in horror as he stepped onto the outside of a stone balustrade before walking around the building. A later clip showed him doing the same thing on the level below, but this time walking along the top of the narrow windows – again without any kind of safety equipment.

Self-employed Mallon, who works for Terry Mallon and Sons Cleaning Services, pleaded guilty to three health and safety charges at Bath Magistrates Court in Somerset. The 40-year-old was fined £400 for each of the offences and ordered to pay £800 in costs, as well as a £15 victim surcharge, bringing the total to £2,015.

Risky: Footage showed Wayne Mallon balancing precariously on a ledge without a safety harness as he climbed across the building - 40ft up - to clean its windows.

Mallon, of Whiteway, Bath, took to the windowsills above the Loch Fyne restaurant in Bath in September last year. It was filmed by a passing pedestrian and went viral on YouTube, attracting nearly 90,000 views to date. But the clip came to the attention of the health and safety team at Bath and North East Somerset Council, which brought charges against Mallon and Loch Fyne.

The restaurant chain faces six breaches of health and safety regulations, which will be dealt with this Friday. A spokesman from B&NES Council said: “The council, in common with the window cleaning industry, takes these issues seriously because of the dangers to the public and workers.

“Whilst working in this manner, Mr Mallon was putting not only his own safety at risk but also that of members of the public who were passing on the busy pavement below. “The council hopes that the fine and court costs of £2,000 incurred by Mr Mallon will deter businesses from putting themselves, other workers and members of the public at risk.”

He added: “Falls from height remain the most common cause of workplace fatality. “The council wishes to remind all businesses carrying out these activities that they must, for their own and other’s safety, familiarise themselves with legal requirements which in this case would have assured Mr Mallon’s safety.” 

 

Bath hotel fined over unsafe window cleaner: A restaurant and hotel firm has been fined £15,000 after a window cleaner was filmed balancing precariously on a ledge outside one of its buildings. Loch Fyne admitted one breach of health and safety law and was also ordered to pay costs of £3,023. Self-employed window cleaner Wayne Mallon was fined £2,000 on Monday. He was seen climbing along the ledges of the third floor of the Milsoms Hotel building - owned by Loch Fyne - in Bath without ladders or safety equipment. Mallon, of Whiteway, Bath, who works for Terry Mallon and Sons Cleaning Services, pleaded guilty to three health and safety charges at Bath Magistrates' Court

The footage went viral when it was posted on YouTube in September last year and has attracted more than 90,000 views to date. It came to the attention of the health and safety team at Bath and North East Somerset Council (Banes), which brought charges against Mallon and Loch Fyne, which has its roots on the west coast of Scotland. The film was shown to magistrates and Loch Fyne admitted allowing a contractor to work at height in an unsafe manner. 

Robin Wood, representing Banes, told the court that the firm had a duty of care to contractors. "If a suitable risk assessment had been carried out, Mr Mallon would not have endangered himself or others below in the way he did," he said. "There were a number of documents in place to make sure a risk assessment was possible but they were not being used and had not been checked by the company for more than eight years. "We have no evidence that this happened on more than one occasion, except he seemed to know what he was doing."

He added: "The video has been seen by more than 89,000 people on YouTube. It has also appeared in national newspapers and on television. "Window cleaners from around Europe have commented on YouTube. The industry itself is aware of this, and in some ways, they will take note of what has happened in this instance."

Speaking outside court, a Loch Fyne spokesman said the company took health and safety "extremely seriously" and expected the same from its contractors. "We accept today's decision and are grateful this isolated incident in Bath was brought to our attention. "As a result we have put tighter measures in place to prevent anything similar happening again, including stricter procedures for our restaurant manager to follow when using external contractors."

Loch Fyne, which employs 1,234 staff at 42 restaurants and four hotels, said it was the first time it had ever appeared in court. Speaking outside his home, Mallon said he was "very health and safety conscious". He added that only three of the hotel's 28 windows could be reached using "reach and wipe" equipment.

Unsafe Window Cleaner Video Goes Viral

Daredevil window cleaner not good for image of window cleaners.

Bath's daredevil window cleaner with a head for heights: A daredevil window cleaner has been captured on film balancing on a ledge without a safety harness on the third floor of a building in Bath. More than 1,000 people have viewed the Extreme Window Cleaning clip on YouTube, which shows a man working above the Loch Fyne restaurant, at the corner of Milsom Street and George Street. During the three-minute film he is seen to climb out of the top floor window and onto the other side of the stone balustrade, before walking around the outside of the building. Later on he is seen doing the same thing on the level below, but this time walking along the top of the narrow windows - but again without any kind of safety equipment.

A member of staff at Loch Fyne said the incident was being dealt with internally by the restaurant chain’s owners Greene King, and added that they had been in contact with the health and safety team at Bath and North East Somerset Council. B&NES today confirmed it was investigating the incident. It is understood that the floors above the restaurant are occupied by the hotel side of the business, Milsoms, which has a number of rooms available for guests.

Extreme window cleaning (BATH, SOMERSET): An investigation has been launched after a daredevil window cleaner was captured on film balancing on a ledge without a safety harness on the third floor of a city centre building. The YouTube clip, which shows a man working above the Loch Fyne restaurant is being investigated by Bath and North East Somerset Council.

GIving Your Home & Windows A Bath

Kirby's Window Cleaning does more than just windows.

Selling Your Home? Give It a Bath: First impressions tell the tale, especially if you are trying to sell a home—but what if you don't have extra money to spend on renovating and repainting the exterior?

Larry Sherman, owner of Kirby's Window Cleaning, is fanatic about record keeping.

Larry Sherman, 62, of Kirby's Window Cleaning in Redondo Beach has an unusual answer: "The easiest and least expensive way to improve the looks and salability of a home is to clean the windows, fix the screens and pressure wash any sidewalks, patios and driveways," Sherman said. Basically, give your entire house a bath—including the walls and siding. It's called pressure washing, and Judy Saavedra, a South Bay real estate agent for 25 years (the last 15 with Real Estate West in Manhattan Beach), said it can greatly enhance curb appeal. "In a few hours, for a few hundred dollars, you can give a home a whole facelift," said Saavedra, who uses Kirby's for her own Redondo Beach home as well as for houses she is trying to sell.

Phil Lago pressure washes a brick walkway.

If a seller can only spare the "bare minimum" in terms of refurbishing a home, Saavedra said, power washing and cleaning the windows is "a no brainer. The pristine houses are the ones that sell." Larry Sherman, who purchased Kirby’s in 1996 from the original owner, moved reluctantly at first into the window and power washing trade after years selling real estate, first as a broker in South Hampton and then as an agent in the South Bay after moving here in 1975. Sherman decided to keep the Kirby name because the company "had been in business for 18 years" and had a long and loyal client list, he said.

Kirby's services include everything from post-construction window cleanup for builders to monthly - sometimes weekly - maintenance for private clients. The names of 2,100 individuals and businesses are stored in a database Sherman, who admits to an obsession with learning, designed and built himself. The entries - including addresses, dates worked and extensive notes - are retrievable from his computer in seconds on the smartphone he carries like an extra appendage. A business graduate of Long Island University in South Hampton, the Brooklyn born entrepreneur purposely keeps his crew to just two men: 34-year-old field supervisor Phil Lago and 34-year-old lead technician Shane Singleton.

Larry Sherman (at left) and long-time workers, Phil Lago (center) and Shane Singleton.

"I always wanted to keep it small, because I had a franchise business in the '90s (Professional Carpet Systems) that was pretty big, and I had a lot of trucks and a lot of employees, and it was nothing but a giant headache all the time," Sherman said. Lago and Singleton, who have been with Kirby's for 10 years, "are like my kids," Sherman said of the two South Bay natives. "I trust them implicitly."

Combining the upbeat aura of a born salesman with a perfectionist's attentiveness, Sherman no longer does the labor himself. He just does everything else, from scheduling to advertising to speaking engagements to maintaining his impeccable records. "My guys go into multi-million dollar homes every day, so you have to be careful who you hire," he said, stroking his graying goatee. "You can't just hire people off the street, which a lot of companies do."

Yet weird things happen, like when one client left a message on Sherman’s answering machine saying, "Return the tickets to The Lion King by tomorrow, or I'll call the police." The tickets, she added, were by the phone in the kitchen. "Now my guys are about as interested in seeing The Lion King as you know what," Sherman said with a pained smile. But as owner of the company (and licensed, bonded and fully insured), he had to ask them. "They just looked at me and laughed," he said. "These guys tell me if they break a plastic thermometer worth 29 cents—and they tell the people." The client later sheepishly admitted the tickets were at the will-call window at the theater, and the only thing missing was a will call letter—in her husband's possession.

Leo and Molly Nordine's "glass house" in Hermosa Beach.

Another Kirby's client, Leo Nordine of Nordine Realty in Hermosa Beach, tells a tale of scrupulousness and reliability. Nordine, owner of what he calls "a glass house" near the beach, said he interviewed three companies before finding anyone willing to clean the massive windows—some 30 feet high ("the west side of the house is basically all glass," he explained)—a "gigantic skylight" and, periodically, mirrors and hard water stains from shower doors. "We've had the same two guys (Lago and Singleton) from Kirby's, basically every week, for years," said the broker, who shares the home with wife Molly, their son, Nate, 9, and a Russian tortoise. Although the tortoise does no damage, salt air and blowing sand do. "It's like living on a boat," Nordine said, laughing. He attributed the need for weekly window cleaning to being "pretty picky."

Can't be afraid of heights if working at Kirby's.

The pièce de résistance, however, came in the form of "invisible screens" made and installed by Kirby's that preserve the integrity and look of the main feature of the glass house: the windows. "[The screens] are thinner than most," Nordine said, and all but invisible from a short distance away. In terms of his real estate agency, Nordine also hires Kirby's to spiffy up local bank-owned homes that have become run down due to defaulted mortgages and are in desperate need of quick and basic curb appeal.

Tackling hard to reach surfaces is standard fare for the guys from Kirby's.

Whether it's the deionized water (free of all impurities) used for cleaning windows or the pressure washing machine used for a bathing a house, Sherman prides himself on his equipment. The gas-powered DeWalt pressure washer, for example, is capable of sending water at 3800 PSI (pounds per square inch) at a surface. "I could drill a hole through a wall with this thing," Sherman said. "But we do so much of it, we know exactly what pressure to use." Although the pressure washer is not used on windows, Sherman recommends it for driveways, brick walkways and patios. People wanting to sell their homes often forget how surfaces free of dirt, stains and oil can increase salability. "You've seen white stucco houses with all this black stuff dripping down the sides?" he asked. Pressure-wash stucco and it can look brand new.

Up, up and away!

Nevertheless, equipment isn't everything, he cautioned, saying, "You can have the best hammer in the world and be lousy builder." Attention to every detail, like cleaning sliding door tracks, also makes a difference. "I had one lady hand me a bag of Q-tips to clean the tracks," he said. What did he do? "I used them." Sherman and his "guys" learned everything there is to know about glass by cleaning windows for builders at post construction sites. "In the course of building a house, [workers] should cover the windows with plastic," Sherman said. "Most don't." The result is that paint, silicone, concrete, stucco and residue from labels get stuck to the glass. "There are things you need to be aware of before you put a razor blade on a window," he said. "We know how to go in and totally restore everything."

Kirby's truck is a familiar sight throughout the South Bay.

Sherman, who says he and his men have been working for some South Bay families so long they've seen children grow up and have kids of their own, sees a lot of homes that linger on the market due to shabby screens and filthy gutters. Roof gutters that catch rain along with leaves, sap and tennis balls are often neglected by sellers. "In newer gutters," Sherman said, "dirt bonds electrostatically to the gutter, and you can’t just wipe it off." Kirby's cleans and "brightens" gutters with special cleaning materials.

Screens can end up looking war torn, especially if you have cats, and thereby lessen a home’s appeal. "Some people take the screens off altogether," he said. Others can be repaired or made new. "We're not miracle workers," Sherman said. "But short of painting your whole house, we can really make it a lot more attractive for 5–10 percent of the cost of painting." Neither is Kirby’s the cheapest. "We are fair, really competitive," he said, that old salesman's twinkle in his eye. "And we are the best."