Hanging From The Skies

The buildings where they work are equipped with a built-in ‘suspended scaffold platforms’, commonly known as a ‘swing stage’.

Hanging from the skies – A chat with the window cleaners of Kuwait’s skyscrapers: If you suffer from vertigo, window-cleaning is not the job for you. But for some some, it’s an everyday task. The job is challenging considering the safety risks for the cleaners, especially in Kuwait where safety precautions are not always implemented or enforced.

Kuwait Times spoke to several window cleaners who work in Kuwait City skyscrapers and was amazed by their bravery. “Yes we are insured and our salary is better than regular cleaners,” said Yousef Mazumder, a Bangladeshi supervisor. He told Kuwait Times that in the event of an accident, the worker’s family can claim monetary compensation from the company.

“This job is quite dangerous but every worker undergoes a series of training and workshops; we have safety briefings every time they ascend and descend for the job; we prepare them mentally and I always tell them to relax and not have any worries whilst up there,” he noted. Muzumder’s job is to ensure each and every member of his team is safe at the end of the day. “My job is to keep them safe on the job site and make sure that they are all at ease with each other. Personal problems should be left on the ground,” asserted Mazumder.

The buildings where they work are equipped with a built-in ‘suspended scaffold platforms’, commonly known as a ‘swing stage’. These machine is regularly maintained and also have locally-based engineers and technicians to help in case of a breakdown. “We have regular checks regardless whether we have a problem or not. The good thing is that they are just a call away. When I call for help, within minutes they are here. My objective every day is to finish the job with zero accidents,” Mazumder said.

It can take up to a month to clean the façade windows of a 30-storey glass building. While cleaning glass faced skyscrapers, a team must have at least 10 people plus a supervisor to oversee the process. The suspended scaffold is permitted to carry two to three workers to perform the cleaning job. An operator is usually stationed in the control room to communicate with the cleaners on the swing stage. “We work as a team. It needs coordination. The cleaners can only swing sideways; but lowering or moving the platform is done by the operator in the control room,” Mazumder explained.

The swing stage is also equipped with several safety tools and equipment including built-in harnesses attached to the bodies of the cleaners and the platform . “I instruct them to wear the harness at all times. There are other cables here inside this swing stage; these are used to support the platform to prevent unnecessary movements when a strong wind blows. The rope also serves as a support in the event of a breakdown. They are also connected to the glass windows in the building, so we are really safe,” he assured.

Jenat Ali Sheikh from Bangladesh and Saru Munam from India are two of the window cleaners who scale the heights of some of Kuwait’s tallest skyscrapers. “This is my job and I do this every day without fear,” Sheikh said. “I am not afraid anymore; in the beginning it was scary, but not now. Anyway, all jobs are dangerous even if you are in an office; you go out in the street you don’t know whether you’ll reach home alive,” he reasoned.

Munam said they were carefully trained before getting the job as window cleaners. “I underwent training for about one or two months. Initially, we start from the first floor; then every day, if we can tolerate the height, they increased the floors until the top floor; It’s a process – you will be replaced if you cannot tolerate heights,” Munam said.

The scaffolding carries about five buckets of water and some chemicals to clean the windowpanes. When all the water is consumed, the operator lifts up the swing stage to replenish it. Cleaners perform the job manually using the chemicals and other cleaning tools and equipment. Generally, chemicals are added to water and a brush or cloth-covered wiper is dipped into the resulting solution and used to scrub the glass. A squeegee is then used to sluice the dirt and water mixture from the glass.

Note: Suspended platforms are access platforms for one or more workers with manual or motor driven devices for raising and lowering via ropes. Platforms may be fitted to high rise buildings or skyscrapers, or assembled from components to suit the architecture and nature of work being performed. These can be either temporary or permanent. Both have their own unique governing codes and regulations. Permanent suspended platforms are often known as building maintenance units (BMU) and their platforms are also known as gondolas in Europe.

Safety Alert - BMU's - Suspended Scaffold Cradles

Failed bolt connecting the winch and the cradle.

BUILDING MAINTENANCE UNITS AND SUSPENDED SCAFFOLD CRADLES - Safety Alert | 06/11/2015 - This safety alert reminds owners and users of building maintenance units (BMUs) and suspended scaffolds of the need for ongoing inspection of critical components.

BACKGROUND: Two workers were seriously injured in October 2015 when the BMU cradle they were working in fell 10 storeys onto an awning below.

Initial investigations indicate the cause of the collapse was a failure of the connection between the winch and the cradle. This connection used a single bolt, loaded primarily in tension, at each of the two winches. It is believed one of these bolts failed, causing a sudden transfer of load to the bolt at the other end which then also failed.

The bolts are hidden within the connection and cannot be inspected without the connection being disassembled. Inspections revealed that both bolts show signs of significant fatigue cracking which would have weakened the bolts, resulting eventually in the sudden failure without obvious external warning signs.

In a similar incident in 2009 the failure of a simpler connection on a suspended scaffold cradle was also due to undetected fatigue cracks. It resulted in the death of one worker and serious injury to another.

Suspended scaffold connection bracket failure showing fatigue cracks.

ACTION REQUIRED

BMU and suspended scaffold cradle owners must:

• identify critical components in BMUs or scaffold cradles – eg where failure of a component would risk the safety of anyone in the vicinity of the BMU or suspended scaffold
• assess whether the current inspection and maintenance program adequately deals with these critical components, especially any components that need disassembly to inspect
• upgrade the inspection and maintenance program if necessary
• include non-destructive testing or regular replacement of components as part of the program where visual inspection alone is not adequate to detect potential developing defects, such as fatigue cracks
• carry out a major inspection on any BMU that is over 10 years old and has not yet had a major inspection
• carry out a major inspection on any BMU that has had a major inspection:

but is overdue for its next recommended major inspection, or
five years after the last major inspection where no recommendation was given.

Preliminary findings of window cleaners’ fall in October released: A Sydney window cleaner was injured after falling approximately four floors onto a balcony while cleaning windows on a hotel at Gloucester Street in The Rocks. The window cleaner, who was using rope-style window cleaning equipment, is reported to have suffered leg injuries in the fall.

SafeWork NSW is investigating the incident which comes as they release the preliminary findings of their investigation into an incident where two men fell approximately 10 storeys from a Sydney CBD building on Tuesday, 20 October. The men, who were harnessed, were cleaning windows on a 12 storey building on the corner of Pitt and Bridge Street in the city when the window cleaning cradle that they were working in suddenly fell to the awning below.

SafeWork NSW commenced an investigation into the incident which included sending the window cleaning cradle, known as a building maintenance unit, to SafeWork NSW’s TestSafe facility at Londonderry for testing and analysis.

The initial findings of the investigation indicate that the cause of the collapse was a failure of the connection between the winch and the cradle. The connection used a single bolt, loaded primarily in tension, at each of the two winches. It is believed one of the bolts failed, causing a sudden transfer of the load to the bolt at the other end, which then also failed. The bolts, which are hidden within the connection, cannot be inspected without the connection being disassembled.

Inspections revealed that both bolts showed signs of significant fatigue-related cracking which would have weakened them, resulting eventually in the sudden failure which occurred without warning.

In response to the findings, SafeWork NSW will undertake an awareness program and verification activities in early 2016 on buildings where Building Maintenance Units and Industrial Rope Access are used. SafeWork NSW Executive Director, Peter Dunphy urged all owners and users of building maintenance units and suspended scaffolds to inspect their equipment in the lead up to the verification visits.

“Operators should undertake regular inspections of building maintenance units and suspended scaffolds so that defects such as fatigue cracks are identified,” Mr Dunphy said. “They should also consider whether their current inspection and maintenance programs are adequate to prevent equipment failure in the future.

“A similar incident occurred in 2009 due to undetected fatigue cracks on a suspended scaffold which resulted in the death of one worker and serious injuries to another. “Fortunately, although the workers were seriously injured, they both survived, but the result could have been very different.”

SafeWork NSW has published a safety alert with guidance for owners and users of building maintenance units and suspended scaffolds on how to prevent similar incidents. Operators seeking further information on building maintenance units should refer to the Australian Standard.

Melbourne's Eureka Tower Window Cleaner Luke Lamont

One of highrise window cleaner Luke Lamont's co-workers gives a thumbs-up while cleaning Melbourne's Eureka Tower.

Meet Eureka Tower window cleaner Luke Lamont: Luke Lamont hangs off skyscrapers for a living. He is part of a team who clean windows on Melbourne highrise buildings including the Eureka Tower, Melbourne's tallest building. Cleaning the windows on a building that size is a mammoth task. "Something like Eureka you can get done in a month, a month and a half," he told 774 ABC Melbourne's Rafael Epstein. However that kind of speed depends on good weather conditions. "If you've got shocking weather it can take up to two, two and a half months."

Luke Lamont cleaning windows on the south-western side of Melbourne's Eureka Tower.

Eureka's windows are cleaned four times a year, which means Mr Lamont could spend up to six months a year just on one building. Most of the cleaning is done while standing in a box known as a Building Maintenance Unit (BMU). The tallest windows, though, can only be reached by abseiling from the top of the 297 metre tall building.

The longest abseil requires working from the 92nd floor down as far as the 56th - a drop of more than 120 metres. The 21-year-old said when he started the job he was "terrified of heights" but now he's much more comfortable. "You forget you're hanging 92 floors up in the air."

Highrise window cleaner Luke Lamont took these photos of a sunrise from the top of Melbourne's Eureka Tower.

Mr Lamont and his co-workers like to share photos of their workplace on social media. "It's pretty amazing up there," he said. "It's a great environment to work in and you see a lot of interesting things from up that high." Sometimes what is happening on the other side of the window is just as fascinating as the city views. "I've seen a few strange things, some of which I probably can't repeat."

Residents are told by building management when the cleaning is happening. "Some people choose not to listen to that and still get a shock when they turn around and we're hanging on the outside."

The job is not without its pressures. Luke's employer Briteway faces plenty of competition in the window cleaning business. "We definitely need to perform," said Mr Lamont. "Everyone's always looking for a cheaper price." "We've got to make sure we're producing the best quality work that we can."

A highrise window cleaner begins his descent down the side of the Eureka Tower.

Sydney Window Cleaners Rescued

A window cleaner hangs precariously from a gurney outside the AON building on George St, Parramatta.

Window cleaners rescued from gurney on George Street, Parramatta: Two window cleaners were rescued from a 12-storey building in George St Parramatta this morning after their gurney became stuck seven storeys up. Fire and Rescue teams were called at about 8.30am when the gurney became stuck outside the Aon building at 130 George St under a ledge at the seventh level as the window cleaners were doing their job. But, as the men were in good spirits and uninjured, the gurney manufacturer BMU was called in to pull the men up to safety at the top of the building.

Chopper-cam: The men were reached by 10am and the rescue is going smoothly. The men are uninjured.

The men were finally pulled to safety at about 11.30am but shied away from the media. Parramatta Fire and Rescue station commander Bob Callow told the media that BMU had the equipment to pull the gurney away from the building and back up to the top. Fire and Rescue crews from Parramatta, Eastwood and Merrylands were there to assist and had taken a ladder up to monitor the rescue operation and check on the men's welfare. "They were in good spirits but wanted to stay together until they could be hauled to safety," Mr Callow said. "At one stage, the wind picked up which was a bit of a worry. We would have stepped in if the wind had reached higher levels." The men were reached by 10am and the rescue is going smoothly. The men are uninjured.

Parramatta window cleaners safe after broken platform left them seven storeys above ground: Two men left dangling from a stricken cleaning platform seven storeys above the ground have manually pulled themselves to safety in Sydney's west. The pair in blue cleaning jump suits were stranded on the platform 25 metres above George Street in Parramatta. The two-metre-long structure lost power shortly after 9am (AEST) and the right side dropped against the office building. Rescue crews were called to the scene about 10am but the cleaners declined a quick rescue. A large crane pulled up alongside to assist the men if needed. But they worked for over two hours to manually winch themselves upright and to the top of the building. Dozens of office workers gathered to watch the operation as they took their lunch breaks. The two men have no injuries but are shaken by the incident.

A rescue crane pulls alongside the platform to help if needed.

Watchman pulls building cleaners to safety (Abu Dhabi) - Two Bangladeshi workers cleaning a high-rise building had a miraculous escape on Tuesday when the building watchman pulled them to safety through an apartment window after ropes connecting to their scaffolding came loose. The accident occurred on Tuesday at around 10am at the Salam Bombay restaurant building behind Electra Street. Cleaners Sabikur Rahman and Jaman Mandal, both 25, told XPRESS they lost balance when the rope came loose on one side, tilting their platform to the right. “We held on to the rope. Otherwise we would have fallen down,” said Mandal who is married with a one year old baby in Bangladesh. Rahman said they called out for the watchman who came to their rescue within minutes.

Mohammed Jaffer, the building watchman said, “As soon as I heard them screaming for help, I rushed to the fifth floor where the scaffolding was stuck. They were outside the bathroom of a vacant apartment. I forced open the glass window with the help of two other people and pulled them in,”
Another watchman called the police rescue team that arrived at the spot with three fire trucks. The rescue team brought down the scaffolding with a crane. A managerial staff from cleaning company Super Bright General Contracting, said the cleaning apparatus was recently checked by a safety management company. “We have got a six-month approval from the company that checked our apparatus at the beginning of this month,” said the staff. There was no immediate comment from the safety management company.

A "Cuppa" Sorts Out Worker In Window Cleaning Cradle

Click to go to story as it broke.

Shard worker caught in high winds terror went straight back to work after a cuppa: A Shard worker who survived a terrifying tangle at 1,000ft returned to work soon afterwards - after a soothing cup of coffee. Eyewitnesses watched in horror as the cradle dangling outside the 72nd floor of the 1,017ft building twirled wildly in high winds. Thousands more have since watched a YouTube video (below) clip of the drama as the spinning platform was wrestled back under control.

Ten fire fighters and an ambulance were on standby at the foot of the 78-storey building for 45 minutes after being called at 2.15pm yesterday. But today, Milton Keynes-based contractors More Control UK - which was carrying out external safety checks on the skyscraper days before its official opening - said the horrifying incident "looked worse than it was." A spokesman said: "Unfortunately while we were testing software at the top of the Shard a gust of wind caught the cradle. We simply lifted it up to stop it from spinning. "The engineer in the cradle was fine after a nice cup of coffee."

In a later statement the company added: "It is built to withstand wind speeds of up to 32mph and readings, taken throughout, showed that it did not exceed 20mph. "The operative responded with the appropriate conduct during these disturbed wind patterns. On any Mace project, the Health and Safety of all employees is paramount and we are proud of our current record on The Shard where we have recently passed two million man hours without a reportable accident.” Witnesses who watched the drama unfold on the capital's newest landmark were amazed anyone could survive such an ordeal.

A Shard worker told the Standard: "They've got abseilers on ropes cleaning all the windows and at first we though it was one of them, but they weren't out there because it was too windy. It was a company doing something with the metalwork. "One of the cables went and the maintenance unit started whipping round and round. The guy was hanging on up there for at least a minute. "The cables got all twisted up so they couldn’t lift it up or down as normal and had to spin it back to unwind it. It was incredible to watch."

He added: "I've been up to the 71st floor and it's pretty scary looking down from the inside, although the building tapers so it's not a sheer drop. I can't imagine what it would have been like to be out there but the guys who work up there every day are used to it. "I've already had my wife on the phone saying 'it wasn't you was it?'"

A spokeswoman for Mace, the main contractor building architect Renzo Piano's design to life, today said the incident was swiftly and safely brought under control. She said:"We can confirm that the wind speeds were well within safe limits and that the building maintenance unit was operating in the right way. "Nobody was injured and the operatives were able to resume work." A spokesman for London Fire Brigade said the cradle had been made safe within an hour, adding "we can all now breathe a sigh of relief". The Shard, which has 31.4 acres of office, commercial and residential space, will be officially opened by Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabor Al Thani, Qatar's prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, and the Duke of York on Thursday.

Suspended Jail Sentence For Fiddling Window Cleaner + Other News

Former Carlisle window cleaner fiddled £44,000 benefits: A former Carlisle window cleaner who falsely claimed nearly £45,000 in benefits was spared jail. Stephen Nicholson (pictured), 58, of Linden Terrace, Harraby, was handed a 36-week suspended jail sentence after admitting two counts of making false statements to the Department of Work and Pensions. Carlisle Crown Court heard Nicholson had up to £40,000 in the bank and in pensions at one stage while he was claiming the benefits cash. Prosecutor Kim Whittlestone told the court that between 2002 and 2008, Nicholson claimed £21,409 in income support. He also claimed £18,445 in housing benefit and £4,163 in council tax benefit from 2004.
But the cash hoard and pensions Nicholson had failed to reveal on his benefits application forms came to light in 2008. The court also heard that at the time of making the claims Nicholson suffered from health issues including obsessive compulsive disorder. Defending, Erinnaz Mushtaq said: “Given his age and lack of convictions, this defendant is unlikely to trouble the courts again. “These proceedings have had a profound effect on him. “It has been a punishment in itself.”
Nicholson has already paid back around £25,000 of the benefits cash. The judge, recorder Kevin Talbot, said in sentencing: “You failed to declare that you were in possession of savings over the prescribed limit. At one point, your total savings amounted to something in the order of £40,000. “Ordinarily for benefits frauds on the scale to which I have referred and over the sort of period I have referred...there should follow an immediate significant custodial sentence. But Mr Talbot said that Nicholson’s guilty plea, lack of previous convictions and mitigating health issues had been taken into consideration. “Your offence is so serious that neither a fine nor community sentence can be justified,” he added. Nicholson was handed the jail term which was suspended for 12 months. He is due to face confiscation proceedings at Carlisle Crown Court on August 20.

Orinda - Fire district report: Live power lines near two critically burned men trapped on a cherry picker this month delayed their rescue, Moraga-Orinda Fire District officials said this week. "The incident had an extended and difficult rescue due to the seriousness of electrical emergencies and the potential for additional injuries or death," said a fire district report released Tuesday night. The rescue crew needed more than 30 minutes to pull the injured men from the cherry picker, which had touched a high-power line, according to the report. Some witnesses said that police and fire departments responded too slowly to the June 5 accident. The firefighters' actions were appropriate given the situation, the fire district chief said Wednesday.
"I understand (witnesses') frustration with how long it took," Chief Randy Bradley said. "Time slows down in emergencies and seconds feel like minutes, so I understand that. But again, from an emergency responder's perspective, we did it the right way." Jose Herrera, 51, and Eduardo Guerra, 30, were washing windows June 5 at the Vintage office building at 25 Orinda Way when their cherry picker touched the power lines. The resulting electrical shock severely burned both men, who are employees of a Santa Clara window cleaning company. They were taken by aircraft to a San Jose burn unit, where they remained in critical condition Wednesday.
Bradley said that several challenges delayed the rescue, including the need for PG&E clearance before raising a ladder near the power lines. Firefighters were right to make the area safe for themselves and bystanders before rescuing the men, he said. According to the report, firefighters arrived at the building at 9:55 a.m., six minutes after receiving a 911 call. The department's ladder truck, seven miles away in Moraga, was summoned at 9:53 and arrived on scene at 10:05, the report said. PG&E's approval came at 10:25 a.m., according to the report. The men were pulled from the cherry picker four minutes later.
Another problem was that firefighters usually at a station 500 feet from the accident instead were a quarter-mile away at a training exercise. Disconnecting equipment and driving around road closures for the weekly farmers market slowed them, Bradley said. The first police officer arrived at 9:53 a.m., according to Orinda police Chief Jeff Jennings. Police officers' primary duty was crowd and traffic control, he said. Police, firefighters and others tried unsuccessfully to use the cherry picker's controls to bring the basket down. Fire officials also were unable to contact the equipment maker for instructions on lowering the basket manually.
Herrera's and Guerra's families declined request for interviews. The state division of Occupational Safety and Health is investigating the accident. An OSHA spokeswoman said such investigations typically take three to four months to complete. One person who saw the accident remained skeptical Wednesday. The fire department's timeline is off by about 15 minutes, said witness Russell Abraham, who was in the Rite Aid parking lot. "I was looking at my watch, saying, 'What the hell is taking these guys so long?' " he said. "That's why people were so angry. It was at least 15 minutes, if not 20, before somebody showed up." Full breaking news story here.


A window cleaner works at Rosenblatt Stadium, in Omaha, Neb. This year's College World Series, starting Saturday, June 19th, will be the last one played at Rosenblatt Stadium. Every year since 1950, the Division I championship has culminated with the College World Series at the ballpark atop a hill in Omaha, Neb. Come Saturday, the series will begin its last run at Rosenblatt before moving to a new downtown stadium in 2011.

Businesses in Toronto are poised to profit from the G20 summit as controversy looms over its hefty price tag. Simon Tucker, who has been sent to Toronto from Sarnia, Ont., to help the city prepare for the G20, said money spent on the summit is helping his business, as well as Toronto companies. The cost of hosting the G8 and G20 summits this month in Ontario has exceeded $1 billion. Tucker, who works for Sharp Solutions, has been in Toronto with a crew since May installing a shatterproof protective film on the glass of some downtown Toronto buildings. It's a security measure in case there are violnt protests. "If there is a bomb or a Molotov cocktail thrown at the glass, all the glass stays in place [and] there are no flying shards," he said. "In explosions that's what actually injures people - the flying glass." Tucker said he expects the two months of G20-related work will double or possibly triple his company's bottom line this year. The G20 summit is scheduled for June 26 and 27 at Toronto's Metro Convention Centre.

Despite the cumbersome process, local businesses do have chances to gain lucrative government contracts with the help of the Colorado Procurement Technical Assistance Center. Governments at all levels buy almost any kind of product or service a company offers -- even a small business, said PTAC Director Tom Elam during a workshop on how to access government contracts at Morgan Community College on Tuesday afternoon. "They buy everything," he said. Ads for government contracts go out with 14 to 20 requests for bids every day, said Pam Shaddock, regional director for Sen. Mark Udall, whose office helped bring the workshop to Morgan County. These requests are for both products and services, from paper and furniture to window cleaning.

Big plans for little unit: Dunedin-based Farra Engineering has forged a niche export market in manufacturing large high-rise building maintenance units (BMU's) during the past 20 years, but has just built a world-first with a light-weight, mobile unit. During the past 20 years Farra has generated tens of millions of dollars in export receipts manufacturing more than 50 building maintenance units, some weighing up to 50 tonnes each and worth more than $1 million apiece.
The standard units run on roof-top rails across some of the world's tallest high-rises, giving access from the cages slung hundreds of metres below for window and facade maintenance and cleaning. The latest Farra BMU, worth $300,000, weighs two tonnes and has a 250kg payload, but can be dismantled and shifted around in hotel lifts and through doorways; to reach inaccessible areas up to 150m below the BMU.
Farra Engineering manager of engineering and design division, Marc Murray, said about 18 months of research and development had gone into the mobile BMU, and said its portability was unique and it was the smallest known unit of its kind in the world. He envisaged multiple uses for buyers, especially in the Asian market and cities with many high rises. "It can be broken down; with the 1 tonne counterweight and 1 tonne machine able to be taken through doors and put in lifts," he said. The architecture of some new high rises meant a standard BMU could not be installed.
He said Hong Kong was a good example of where the portable unit could be used toward the end of construction time, as without the 1 tonne cage its pay-load hanging directly off the wire ropes would increase from 250kg to 400kg; such as window frames, for glass installation or the delivery of building materials or fittings, in lieu of a lift from a tower crane. Farra, which received its first order for the new unitafter beginning research and development, is now concentrating on marketing the mobile BMU in Hong Kong and further afield around Asia. The mobile BMU would take three staff about four months to build, and while the first unit was priced at $300,000, this figure would be expected to drop as more orders were received, Mr Murray said. The company is presently working on building two of the larger "standard" BMUs, destined for Auckland and Brisbane, the latter being a 20-tonne model.

Law still ignored on workers' heat breaks: Workers toiling under the afternoon sun were a rare sight during yesterday’s first compulsory two-and-a-half hour midday break, but not as rare as the Ministry of Labour might have hoped for. The break, introduced to shelter and cool workers from peak temperatures between 12.30pm and 3pm for the next three months, put most contractors on guard to keep their employees indoors and rested. During break hours, dozens of work areas in the capital and Dubai were left with empty window-washing gondolas and vacant construction sites. Near the capital’s Central Souq around noon, streams of gardeners and scaffolding workers crossed roads to board buses back to their accommodations. Narindar Singh, 52, from India, said his team had been working since 7am. They had not been informed about their rights, which are that their employers must provide them well-ventilated shelter for rest during the specified time every day until September 15. Steven Van der Vyver, the health and safety manager for Dutco Balfour Beatty, said at other sites workers were given airconditioned rooms and mattresses to lie on.

Men admit manslaughter over street attack in 2000: Two men who attacked a man and left him in a pool of blood in a Guildford street almost 10 years ago have admitted manslaughter. Stephen Puttock and Barry Stretch set upon Keith Nicholson after they had been thrown out of a bar on September 17, 2000. The 62-year-old retired builder, of South Road in Guildford, then suffered a heart attack and died in hospital. Puttock, 29, and Stretch, 35, were arrested five years later and sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murder in 2007. But the Court of Appeal ordered a retrial and window cleaner Puttock and jobless Stretch walked free last year after the jury was unable to reach a verdict. They had been in jail for 1,083 days.

A man who police said twice tried to lure a 13-year-old into his pickup Monday in Titusville told investigators that he was in the neighborhood to have "safe sex" with a prostitute. The police responded and stopped Harper's Nissan at South Street and Deleon Avenue, two blocks from where the girl was first lured. Harper gave officers consent to enter his vehicle. Inside, they found three folded pocketknives, rope and black latex gloves. Harper said he needs the equipment for his window-cleaning business but would not offer further explanation as to how the items are used, Edens wrote in her report.

An MP who is axing several of his constituency staff has blamed tighter new parliamentary allowances for the cuts. Rob Flello, who represents Stoke-on-Trent South, will make three workers at his Meir constituency office redundant later this month. They include the deputy leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council's Labour group, Councillor Tom Reynolds, and Jane Heggie, who has been the MP's political assistant for the past five years. Mr Flello, pictured, told The Sentinel he "bitterly" regrets having to lose his employees. But he said he was placed in an "impossible" position by restrictions on MPs' staffing budgets. After this month, his constituency office staff will be cut from four to three, as he is taking on two new employees. All MPs currently receive staffing allowances of £109,548 in addition to their basic £64,766 annual salaries."We even have to pay things like window cleaning costs out of our staff budgets now, instead of our general office expenses.

A Teesside window cleaner, who almost died in a vicious assault by Bristol Rovers player David Pipe, has spoken of his relief that his attacker is behind bars. Rhys Morris, 29, from Middlesbrough, spoke out after Pipe, pictured, was jailed for three years and two months for grievous bodily harm with intent. The 26-year-old thug had been on a nine-hour binge in Bristol, when he hit Mr Morris with a bottle of wine on September 16, last year. Bristol Crown Court heard Pipe, of Barkleys Hill, Stapleton, was drunk on a cocktail of double vodka and sambuca, when he smashed the part-drunk bottle over Mr Morris’ head in a row over a girl outside a nightclub. His victim suffered two skull fractures in the attack, including a depressed fracture which pushed bone into his brain. He had to have three metal plates inserted in his head after he was left with a four-inch hole in his skull. The court heard that following the attack Mr Morris suffered headaches, falls, short-term memory loss and hadn’t worked since the attack. He said that in March he returned home to be cared for by his family, had difficulty sleeping and took tablets to stop fits. Mr Morris said after the case: “He’s got what he deserves and I hope being in jail teaches him a lesson.” Following the violent incident, the footballer was sacked from Bristol Rovers.

Most people have just one pedicurist, but a new salon has opened in London where you can have your toes worked on by 150 beauticians at the same time. The only thing is they're fish. Yes, the vast majority of staff at Aqua Sheko in Kensington, west London, are miniature carp no more than four inches long. And to them, sucking dead skin from your feet is not so much work as lunch. There's no doubt that the feet I pull out of the water, after 30 minutes, are lighter and tinglier than the ones I put in. They're smoother and a lot less lino-like around the soles and heels. The local window cleaner is impressed, too. "Very nice," he tells Ho and Chan. "Could your fish get rid of my corns, too?" The answer is yes, provided he comes back for a couple of follow-up sessions. For generations, it seems these finned therapists (species Garra rufa) have been employed in the treatment of skin conditions far worse than window cleaner's toe or athlete's foot.

York coroner issues warning after heroin deaths of Scott Wade and Adrian Leetham: Inquests have heard how two men – both in their 30s – died in their York homes after using heroin. York Coroner Donald Coverdale warned that even small quantities of the drug could kill, particularly in the case of people who were not regular users. “Any injection of heroin can have fatal consequences,” he said. The hearing heard Mr Wade, an unemployed window cleaner, was known to have smoked cannabis in the past, but not to have used heroin. He was in a good, normal mood when he was last seen and went up to bed, but the following day he was found dead on the bedroom floor. Injection marks were found on him and tests on blood and urine samples showed the presence of heroin.

Day in Pictures: A window cleaner abseils down the side of the Sage music center in Gateshead, England (U.K.). AP Photo/Scott Heppell.