Northern Lite Water Fed Pole

Alex takes a look at the new Northern Lite Water Fed Pole from our friends up North! The Northern Lite water fed pole is a great 2-3 story water fed pole for residential or commercial window cleaning. With a short collapsed length of only 63", a true length of 29' and a reach of 32'.  Weighing only 5.6lbs without the brush this is a very user friendly water fed pole. Comes complete with brush, tubing, angle adapter and fittings. More details in the video below!

New Canadian WaterFed Pole

The new 32ft Northern Lite WFP.

Northern Lite 32ft Full Carbon Fibre (including bonus brush) CAD$995.00: Introducing the new Northern Lite water fed pole. The perfect 3 story pole with a 32ft reach. Pole weighs only 5.6lbs - 2.5 kg (not incl. brush). A very rigid pole with the shortest collapsed height in its reach class. 

Comes complete with brush, pole hose and garden water connector. Optional 10ft extension sections coming soon for even greater reach. Product launch special; receive a bonus 10" radius brush from now until July1st.

Vancouver Window Cleaning Restrictions Dropped

Allowing only commercial window cleaning companies to clean window would be unfair and cumbersome to enforce, contends city.

City may relax window cleaning bans during future water restrictions: It was one of the most punitive municipalities in Metro Vancouver during the 2015 drought when it came to enforcing water restrictions, but now the City of Richmond is proposing to relax its own water use bylaws, for practical purposes. In a report to Richmond city council’s public works committee Wednesday, city planners are proposing to lift a ban on all aesthetic window washing during Stage 2 water restrictions.

The reason for the change, outlined in the report, is that because the Greater Vancouver Water District Board (Metro Vancouver) approved water use by commercial cleaning services for aesthetic purposes last month, city staff believe enforcement would be difficult as bylaw officers would be required to determine if the cleaning service was performed commercially or privately prior to issuing a ticket.

Furthermore, the city contends the new GVWD amendments are unfair to residents who cannot afford professional cleaning services. “This causes the issue of financial disparity and presents unfair treatment to low-income residents,” noted the report. It’s noted that Metro Vancouver prefers to have its rules align with those of each municipality, however it is not able to issue fines or penalties to municipalities applying discretion.

Metro Vancouver conducted a review of its water restrictions in November, following an unprecedented drought in the region, last summer. One of the problems discovered, via consultation with municipalities and businesses, was monitoring and enforcement challenges. “Local government staff noted that inconsistency in monitoring and enforcing the restrictions resulted in confusion for residents and businesses, which hindered compliance with the regulations,” noted a Metro Vancouver report.

Meetings were held with businesses associated with water use, such as golf courses, window washers, turf farms, irrigation companies and nurseries. Another major concern raised was the financial impact to such businesses.

In addition to the immediate lift on aesthetic cleaning during Stage 2 restrictions, the board will also allow exemption permits to water new lawns or for treatment to control the European chafer beetle during Stage 3 restrictions.

In 2015, the City of Richmond came down hard on water wasters during the summer’s record-setting heatwave — to the tune of $208,200 in fines. On the back of 50 written warnings, a total of 407 violation tickets at $500 each were issued, mostly in August, by city bylaw officers during Stage 3 restrictions, which banned lawn sprinkling of any kind. The proposals must still be endorsed by Richmond city council.

The Window Cleaner & The Wreath

A window cleaner in the Inglewood Drive and St. Clair Avenue East area spotted a green bag in the back of his truck, opened it and found the wreath.

It's a Christmas miracle: Stolen wreath found by Toronto window cleaner: Remember this Christmas wreath, the victim of a brazen theft earlier this month? The wreath was stolen 20 days before Christmas, from a home in the Yonge Street and Summerhill Avenue area. This is “the Grinch that stole the wreath off my door at 3 a.m.,” Sabrina Magyar posted on Facebook on Dec. 5. Well, the wreath has been found.

A window cleaner in the Inglewood Drive and St. Clair Avenue East area spotted a green bag in the back of his truck, opened it and found the wreath. He then gave it to a friend, thinking nothing if it, until he heard a radio interview on Monday where Magyar was describing it. He went home and told his family. His daughters looked up the video on the internet and they all agreed it’s the same wreath.

He then called his friend to get the wreath back and emailed CityNews. CityNews showed the wreath to Magyar and she confirmed the sparkles are in the right spots – it’s her wreath. The thief was a well-dressed woman, bundled up for the cold in a sleek, quilted coat and wearing a square messenger bag.

Magyar alleges the thief that took her wreath is a repeat offender. In a later post, she wrote that the woman can be seen leaving her property “and picking up a second wreath which is likely acquired from someone else in the neighbourhood.” “At the end of the day, it would be great for her to return it. It would be a Christmas miracle,” Magyar said. It appears that that miracle has come true.

A woman is seen taking a $200 wreath off a door in this image taken from security camera video in Toronto, Dec. 5, 2015. (Sabrina Magyar).

Stranger returns Christmas wreath stolen by 'Grinch' - A Christmas wreath has been returned a week after a Toronto homeowner posted security camera footage of the theft online. Sabrina Magyar posted video of the theft on Saturday, Dec. 5, saying the woman in the video stole her wreath at approximately 3 a.m. The wreath was reported stolen from a home on Macpherson Avenue, in the area of Avenue Road and Dupont Street. The video went viral, being shared more than 5,000 times, and viewed nearly 320,000 times.

Police are still investigating, but Magyar told CTVNews on Tuesday that the wreath had been returned. She said a window cleaner found a bag in the back of his truck, and opened it to find the wreath. Magyar said he'd heard her story on the radio, and suspected it was her wreath. The wreath was returned to her home on Tuesday. "It's hard to believe, but I guess it was a Christmas miracle," she said.

Connecting Canadian Window Cleaners With Home Owners

The owner of a window cleaning business was impressed with Sher's work ethic and hired him as a salesperson.

Guelph student connecting homeowners with ‘the best’ contractors: When University of Guelph student Dylan Sher was in high school he got caught between irate homeowners and his boss, a fly-by-night window-washing contractor, and it inspired him to start his own contracting service. "I was faced with a valid problem, which is mistrust in the home service industry and I sought to fix it," said Dylan Sher. "I had the means and the ability at the time to go and look after it so that is what I did."

Sher (pictured) is the founder of Fixopolis an online service that connects homeowners with contractors in their community. "We feel that we really encompass a sophisticated way to find contractors," he said. "It is not so much a listing service or one of the many other ways to find contractors online. We knew right away that we had to find a new way of presenting ourselves."

The Fixopolis website has many of the same features as established online contractor listing services but what sets them apart is their quoting engine. "What the quoting engine actually does is it understands the scope of the project from the homeowner's perspective and packages it up into a nice, what we call, job shadow, which we send to the contractors," Sher said. "It has all the job specifications lined up so the contractor can go and quote on this job accordingly."

People looking for contractors fill out an online form on the Fixopolis website then wait for the contractors to contact them. "Homeowners like it because it is free and gets them in contact with the best contractors and it is a relatively easy process," Sher said. "Once you take three minutes out of your day to fill out the form you start getting phone calls back as opposed to making phone calls to all the people you might want." They follow up with homeowners to rate contractors. Reviews posted on the site are limited to clients that have interacted with listed contractors thereby eliminating false reviews from being posted.

Sher was born in Richmond Hill. He started his first business when he was 10, shoveling driveways. "Any business you start when you are 10-years-old is going to be by mistake," he said. "People thought it was cute and asked for my phone number. That kind of got me into the feeling of the whole thing. It was such a cool feeling."

As he grew so did the business. "Eventually, when I was a teenager I got a snow blower and a lawnmower and had a little landscaping business in the neighbourhood," he said. "The whole Fixopolis journey started as a spinoff from that."

The owner of a window cleaning business was impressed with Sher's work ethic and hired him as a salesperson. "He was kind of my mentor and he was a really smart guy because he paid me on commission," Sher said. "He would take me to the door with him and who is going to say no to a little kid. I got the experience and confidence that I brought back to my own business clearing driveways."

Sher worked his way up to sales manager and hired his friends to work on commission but what he didn't know was his boss was cutting corners and the quality of work was suffering. "We were out of the loop and had no way of hearing the feedback from clients," he said. "I had no way of knowing about the complaints until it all started to catch up with everyone. I thought, if I can't trust the company how can I expect people to trust us when we knock on their door?"

When the owner fled to California Sher decided to start Fixopolis. "I was in Grade 10 when all of this went down," he said. He sought advice from other contractors and business people and by the time he was 17 he had secured $100,000 in seed money to launch the business. "We used that money to build the platform, incorporate and pay for advertisement," he said. "Fixopolis became an entity in February 2012. The GTA is our main service area and we are just opening up Hamilton and Guelph as we speak. As soon as we have a minimum of five contractors per category in our back end to open up those categories then we will do them."

He hopes to see the service grow well beyond Southern Ontario. "I see Fixopolis as a driving force in the industry and I want to make it happen whether it be across Canada, North America and so on and so forth," he said. Sher is in the second year of a five-year agri-business program at the University of Guelph and hopes to have his own farming operation some day. "People ask me why I am developing an app and a website when I want to get into agriculture and I think they are going to be one in the same in the future, really," he said. "Agriculture is my passion and where I want to end up as a career. If an opportunity presents itself in the future where I can come up with some sort of web-based farming idea, I will take it."

Is This The Best Window Cleaning Video Ever?

Pat Maher is James Bond. Is this the best window cleaning video ever?

Pat Maher of "Belles Vitres" in Quebec, Canada has produced what is probably the best window cleaning video around today. Pat being a street artist, utilises many of his props' to make the video possible. Featuring his dog driving a car, doing the 'moonwalk', pedalling a mini-bike, window cleaning in a knights coat of armour, a themed 007 - James Bond, an out-take from 'psycho' & cleaning many different styles of glass to show the versatility of the Wagtail brand.

Featuring the Wagtail, the fastest window cleaning squeegees in the World, Pat swears by them. Pat is a regular contributor on the facebook Wagtail Squeegee Network. As this video gets shared, I'm sure Wagtail, will be seen by more window cleaners that are losing out on not owning one! If you haven't tried them yet, take a peek at the Wagtail full range of tools, some of the squeegees utilised by Pat in his videos. To see the video in HD - go here.

Waterfed Pole Prohibited In Vancouver

The Men in Kilts gutter cleaning service use’s hand cleaning and vacuuming and therefore results in no wasted water!  They are also cleaning windows by hand & can clean up to 10 houses or 1,000 windows with a single bucket of water.

Vancouver businesses feel the pinch of drought: If you’re in the business of keeping things clean, stricter water restrictions are proving to be a challenge. Under level two restrictions that have been in effect since July 3, companies like Men in Kilts have not been able to offer pressure washing. As the drought continues and water levels in the region’s reservoirs continue to drop, Metro Vancouver now says that level three restrictions will go into effect starting the afternoon of July 20.

Pressure washing for cleaning, and washing windows and building exteriors with a water-fed pole, are both prohibited, said Nicholas Brand, CEO of Men in Kilts. Brand said his company is still offering services such as window washing by squeegee, gutter cleaning and pressure washing if it’s in preparation for painting.

But if the restrictions continue, or move into level four, the most stringent restrictions, the company may have to lay off summer students who are normally hired until the end of August. Brand has looked into trucking in water, but concluded it would be too expensive.

Other pressure washing companies are in the same boat, Brand said, and it’s difficult to predict how long the restrictions will continue. Summer is normally the busiest time of the year for pressure washers. “They say September 30, we’ve got a lot of customers that we’ve scheduled work into October for them, but we’re giving them the heads up that we might not be able to do it in October,” Brand said.  “If we have a long dry August and September, they’re not going to lift [the restrictions].”

Public and commercial water fountains and water parks not on a timer have already been shut off. Under stage three, other restrictions that come into effect  include no lawn watering at all and no outdoor washing of cars or boats. Commercial car washes, however, are allowed to continue operating in stage three, but would have to shut down in stage four.

Given the challenges pressure washers are facing, Brand said that was frustrating. “People are allowed to pay someone to keep your car clean, they’re not allowed to pay someone to keep their house clean,” he said. “And painters are allowed to prep for painting with pressure washing. From our industry, and speaking to others in our industry, it’s frustrating that we’re that far down on the totem pole.”

Commercial car washes are allowed to keep operating because they recycle much of the water they use, said Darrell Mussatto, mayor of the City of North Vancouver and chair of Metro Vancouver's utilities committee.

The previous stage two restrictions did result in water usage dropping, but didn't have enough of an effect, Mussatto said. Metro Vancouver has now started using some of the high alpine lakes it has access to to refill the Capilano reservoir. As a backup, the regional district also has access to BC Hydro's Coquitlam reservoir, which is currently not being used to produce electricity because of the drought conditions. Metro Vancouver has budgeted $862,000 to pay for up to 68 billion litres from that water source.

If current water restrictions don’t have the desired conservation effect, and if no rain falls to refill reservoirs, Metro Vancouver would move into stage four, said Greg Valou, a communications officer for the regional district.

Under stage four restrictions, municipal outdoor pools are closed, all outdoor cleaning with water is prohibited and vegetable gardens and plants cannot be watered with treated drinking water. The last time the region had level three water restrictions was during the summer of 2003. The region has never put in place stage four restrictions in response to a drought.

Window Cleaning In The Courts

Canada, Hong Kong & UK in the law courts.

R v. Skyreach Window Cleaning Inc. (unreported, October 28, 2014, Ontario Ct. Jus Triantafilopoulos J.P.) - This case was a prosecution under the “general duty clause” alleging that the employer failed to take the reasonable precaution of showing workers a user manual for a custom built swing stage system on a building.  A piece of the swing-stage had fallen off the device to the ground below.  The Crown alleged that the swing stage had been improperly parked.

The Court granted a non-suit motion brought by the defence on the basis that the user manual did not specifically specify that the machine should be parked in any particular place for safety purposes. The Court also found that nobody had provided a user manual to the employer in any event.

This case is one example of a prosecution based on an alleged failure of an employer to show a worker the user manual.  In such cases careful attention should be paid to what the manual actually requires the worker to do from a safety perspective and whether other types of training addressed the issues set out in the manual.

What employers should know

The best way to avoid a prosecution, not to mention potentially devastating workplace accidents, is to ensure your due diligence program is fully implemented and continually refreshed and improved.  At the 2015 Ontario employment law conference, employment lawyer Ryan Conlin will provide guidance on scope of employer OH&S duties. This session will review:

Changes to the definition of a "worker" under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and its implications,

Recent cases involving criminal prosecutions and jail terms for employers and corporate officers, and

Trends in enforcement of the Act by the Ministry of Labour and how to manage Ministry investigations.

Attending the 16th annual Ontario Employment Law Conference, presented by Stringer LLP and First Reference Inc., is more essential than ever.

The Ontario Employment Law Conference will take place at the Centre for Health & Safety Innovation in Mississauga on June 4, 2015. We look forward to seeing you and helping you apply the latest employment and labour law changes.

Measures to prevent accidents arising from window cleaning: Hong Kong (HKSAR) - Following is a question by the Hon Chan Kin-por and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Mr Paul Chan, in the Legislative Council today: Question:

It has been reported that in recent years, accidents have happened from time to time in which people sustained injuries or even died as a result of falling from heights when cleaning windows. The causes for such accidents include that people fell from heights because they had lost balance due to overstretching of their bodies from windows, or people fell from heights together with dilapidated windows whichhad been dislodged as the latter could not support their body weights. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) whether it has compiled statistics on the number and resultant casualties of accidents in which people fell from heights when cleaning windows; if it has, of the statistics in the past five years; if not, whether it will collect such statistics in future;

(2) given that a number of private buildings are not included in the Mandatory Window Inspection Scheme at present, of the measures that the authorities have put in place to ensure window safety of such buildings;

(3) of the procedures adopted by the authorities at present for inspecting and repairing windows of public rental housing blocks; and the monitoring measures in place to ensure that the inspection procedures comply with the relevant safety requirements; and

(4) of the current publicity work through which people are reminded of the need to pay attention to safety when cleaning windows; whether the publicity channels include television announcements in the public interest, or posters posted in the lift lobbies of buildings; the amount of resources deployed by the Government for conducting the relevant publicity work in each of the past five years; whether it has plans to allocate more resources this year to conduct large-scale territory-wide publicity activities with a view to enhancing the coverage of the publicity work, or to create a cartoon character similar to the "Big Waster" in the Food Wise Hong Kong Campaign in order to enhance public awareness about safety in window cleaning in a lively manner; if it does, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

President,

Hon Chan's question touches on matters under the purview of different bureaux and departments. My reply to the four-part question, in consultation with the relevant bureaux and departments, is as follows:

(1) Relevant departments have not maintained statistics on accidents in which members of the public fell from heights when cleaning windows. According to the records of the Labour Department, between 2010 and 2014, there were four accidents in which employees fell from heights when cleaning windows, involving four deceased employees.

(2) The Buildings Department (BD) fully implemented the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme and the Mandatory Window Inspection Scheme (MWIS) on June 30, 2012 to tackle the problem of building neglect at source. According to the Buildings Ordinance (BO) (Cap.

123), MWIS applies to private buildings aged 10 years or above (except domestic buildings not exceeding three storeys). BD may issue a statutory notice to the owners of these buildings, requiring them to appoint a qualified person within a specified timeframe to carry out a prescribed inspection and supervise the prescribed repair works found necessary of the windows of the building.

Building owners are responsible for properly maintaining and managing their properties. We encourage owners to carry out regular inspections and repairs of their windows as necessary on their own initiative to ensure safety.

Even if a building is not included in MWIS, where BD has identified dangerous or defective windows, it will take enforcement action under BO, including issuing a repair order to the owner requiring him to carry out repair works, and instigating prosecution against owners who have not complied with the repair orders. BD, the Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS) and the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) have also launched various schemes to provide financial and technical support to building owners in need to assist them in maintaining and repairing their properties including windows.

(3) The Hong Kong Housing Authority attaches great importance to building safety, including window safety, of its public rental housing (PRH) flats. While MWIS does not cover PRH flats, the Total Maintenance Scheme of the Housing Department (HD) includes window inspection which is conducted by trained inspectors.

If there is a need to repair the windows, the case will be referred to contractors registered under BO. HD will also supervise the repair works to ensure its quality.

(4) BD has launched television and radio Announcements of Public Interest (APIs) in respect of window safety, published a booklet "Important Notes about Window Safety", etc. to provide practical information about proper maintenance and repair of aluminium windows, minor works relating to windows and MWIS to the public for reference.

The "Important Notes about Window Safety" booklet has been uploaded to BD's website. BD will regularly arrange the APIs to be broadcast on television, radio and public transport vehicles. It will also launch newspaper supplements and issue letters to owners' corporations (OCs) and mutual aid committees to remind building owners and occupiers to pay attention to safety when cleaning windows.

Moreover, BD will organise large-scale publicity events for members of the public such as "Building Safety Carnival" and "Building Safety Week" to enhance their understanding of the importance of building and window safety through diversified activities. To complement the launch of MWIS, BD, in collaboration with HKHS and URA, will organise district briefing sessions for owners of target buildings throughout the territory to explain the details of the scheme. BD will also attend residents' meetings and seminars arranged or organised by district organisations or OCs to publicise MWIS in the community and answer residents' enquiries.

BD will continue to promote window safety through different channels. The relevant work is part of the overall duties of BD in promoting building safety and there is no breakdown of the expenditure for the related work. As regards whether publicity would be carried out by means of a cartoon character, BD will adopt an open mind in considering the suggestion.

Concerning PRH, through various channels, HD from time to time reminds tenants of the proper use of windows and draws their attention to the safety issues when cleaning windows, including posting up notices, holding estate activities, distributing newsletters, etc.

In order to prevent accidents, HD also reminds tenants to immediately report any damages to windows in their units to the estate offices for repair.

Separately, the Occupational Safety and Health Council (OSHC) has issued publications relating to the work of domestic helpers, which covers safety measures for household window cleaning. OSHC will also continue to organise regularly courses on working-at-height safety for household workers and domestic helpers and publicity activities to enhance their safety awareness of window cleaning.

Man died after Royal London doctors ignored his symptoms: Doctors missed out on many chances to save the life of a stained glass window craftsman who died of a rare complication after he fell off a ladder.  

Edward Perry, 57, fractured his spine on February 28 2013 whilst trying to get a suitcase out of the loft at his home in Victoria Park Road for a holiday to Portugal. His daughter was told by doctors at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel that his injury was very common and he would be out of hospital within a week, but by March 8 he was dead.

An inquest at Poplar Coroner’s Court heard how doctors failed to act on the fact that his stomach had swollen up by March 2 through paralysis of the bowel, a rare complication of spinal injury caused by surrounding nerve damage. Eventually he suffered “catastrophic vomiting” and cardiac arrest.

Dr Bunker, ICU consultant and anaesthetist, who was drafted in after a year to lead the delayed investigation into his death, said it had been repeatedly noticed in the medical records he had a distended abdomen. He said: “We could have intervened more aggressively to prevent what happened on the night of March 7, the trouble is we continued a conservative approach on the 4, 5 and 6 despite him not getting better.”

However the barrister acting for the family said: “When you say the conservative approach was adopted regarding the abdomen, that’s not the case is it? There was no plan in place regarding the abdomen.” 
Dr Bunker agreed and went on to detail how junior members of staff now receive training on how to manage deteriorating patients, and how neurosurgeons are responsible “not only at the brain and nerves but the whole patient”.

There was also a recognition the major trauma centre was understaffed, as there was only one registrar working that night. Coroner William Dolman recorded a narrative verdict, ruling Mr Perry died of an extremely rare complication of a spinal injury caused by a fall, which wasn’t recognised in time.

He said: “From the facts we are getting very close to neglect but we don’t reach the standard required by law. The real problem arose because the gravity of the clinical picture was not appreciated, the doctors saw the signs but didn’t recognise their significance.”

Window Washer Injured In Niagara Falls

A contract worker injured at the Hilton Hotel in Niagara Falls was airlifted by Ornge ambulance. Emergency services personnel attended the roof top of the North Tower on the approximate 53rd floor, where the male was located with serious injuries. The man had become entangled in the platform rigging and lost his balance. He was pulled up to the north tower roof of the hotel and taken by an Air Ambulance to a hospital in Hamilton.

Window washer seriously injured at Niagara Falls hotel (Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada) - A 26 year old window washer was airlifted to hospital in critical condition after becoming entangled in the rigging of the platform he was on 53 storeys high. Shortly before 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, emergency crews responded to a 911 call of a man dangling from a window washer-type platform at the Fallsview Blvd. hotel. "When we arrived the man was on the roof of the hotel," said Staff Sgt. Bill Harris of the Niagara Regional Police, adding the man had suffered serious injuries when emergency crews arrived.

An initial investigation suggests the man, who was a sub-contractor working on the property, became entangled in the rigging of the platform and was pulled up to the roof. An air ambulance took the man, who has not been identified, to a Hamilton hospital. The incident is under investigation by the Ministry of Labour.

Window washer injured at Niagara Falls hotel: Emergency services were called to the Niagara Falls Fallsview Hilton Tuesday morning for reports of a man dangling from a window washing platform. The man was taken by air ambulance to Hamilton hospital for treatment of serious injuries. A 26-year-old man working at the Niagara Falls Fallsview Hilton was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries after an incident at the 54-storey hotel Tuesday morning. Just before 11:30 a.m., emergency services were called to the hotel at 6361 Fallsview Blvd. for reports of a subcontractor dangling from a window washing platform. The contractor is an employee of Koala Construction.

Ministry of Labour spokesperson William Lin said the man fell from the 53rd floor, but his fall was arrested. By the time Niagara Falls firefighters arrived at the scene, the man's co-workers had pulled him back onto the roof and had begun administering first aid. He was later treated by paramedics. An Ornge air ambulance was called in and picked him up from the Imax theatre parking lot to take him to Hamilton General Hospital for serious injuries. The scene was held for the Niagara Regional Police forensic services unit and the Ministry of Labour. Niagara Parks Police also assisted by controlling the hectic scene from the road.

A contract worker injured at the Hilton Hotel in Niagara Falls was airlifted by Ornge ambulance.

I Want To Be A Rope Access Technician. What Will My Salary Be?

Though training programs typically only take one week to complete, rope access technicians are required to log 1,000 hours and 12 months on the job before advancing to the next level.

I want to be a rope access technician. What will my salary be? Industrial rope access technicians are hired to do a range of tasks that are made more difficult because they have to be done while wearing a harness and suspended from a rope. Tasks range from high-rise window cleaning to the repair and inspection of infrastructure – such as power plants, wind turbines and bridges – which can only be reached by rope.

“A rope access technician is basically a jack of all trades, a handyman that works on rope systems in a variety of industries,” said Greg Korpela, the general manager of Canadian Rope Access Specialists, which offers training in Vancouver and Montreal. “The trade skill is being able to move around on rope, and the specific task depends on the industry.” Mr. Korpela adds that rope access technicians are used most frequently by the energy industry for basic maintenance and inspection.

Salary: There are three training levels for industrial rope access technicians, each with its own average hourly wage. Level one rope access technicians earn between $20 and $30 an hour, level two technicians earn between $25 and $35 an hour, while level three technicians typically earn between $35 and $60 an hour.

Furthermore, rope access technicians who have additional trade skills and are qualified to complete more complex tasks on ropes are paid a premium. Mr. Korpela says that rope access technicians also enjoy a high proportion of overtime pay.

“Most of the time when we’re called in somewhere, it’s for some maintenance task, and often that requires a shutdown of some kind, so you have this big industrial facility that isn’t making money because this maintenance task has to happen,” he said. “Sky’s the limit in terms of pricing, they just need to get it done now, which means the hours are sometimes incredibly long.”

Salaries range widely based on location, work frequency, and overtime pay. Mr. Korpela estimates that level one technicians typically earn between $25,000 and $60,000 a year, while level three technicians can make anywhere from $50,000 to $140,000 annually. Level two technicians typically fall somewhere in between, earning between $40,000 and $90,000.

Education: While some provinces, including Alberta and British Columbia, have strict rope access regulations in place, others have yet to adopt them. According to Mr. Korpela, however, uncertified rope access technicians are unlikely to find work in any province, for insurance and liability reasons.

“There might not be a legal requirement for people to have training, but in practice in the industry, no rope access company would hire anyone that isn’t trained,” he said.

Rope access technician training programs can be found all across Canada. Students typically complete a week-long, 32-hour, hands-on course at a training facility for a cost of approximately $2,000, depending on the level of training, before being tested by a third-party trade association, such as the International Rope Access Trade Association (IRATA) or the Society of Professional Rope Access Technicians (SPRAT).

“It’s a performance-based test; they go through all the manoeuvres,” Mr. Korpela says. “It’s a three-strikes-and-you’re-out situation, so any safety infraction or anything considered even a little unsafe, on the third strike you’re removed from the program and you need to do it again.”

Though training programs typically only take one week to complete, rope access technicians are required to log 1,000 hours and 12 months on the job before advancing to the next level.

“The facilities are often in remote locations, so you might be flying up to some remote mountain environment, crawling through tunnels, going down dark shafts, you might end up in the tar sands working in an oil and gas refinery,” he said.

Job prospects: While the oil and gas industry provides better-than-average job prospects in the western provinces, there are job opportunities for certified rope access technicians across Canada and abroad.

But Mr. Korpela says that level one rope access technicians often struggle to find work when they begin their careers.

“People who have never logged any hours, companies tend to shy away from them a little bit,” he said. “Once you get out there and you’ve accumulated a few hours, people know you can do the job and your employability goes way up.”

Level three rope access technicians are in constant demand, not just in Canada but all around the world. That is because industry standards require a top-level industrial rope access technician to act as supervisor on each job site. As a result, level three technicians are flown around the world to supervise projects in places where there are a lack of qualified professionals.

Challenges: Finding work as a beginner is difficult for new entrants to the industry, while sporadic and inconsistent hours make it difficult to predict work schedules and annual pay. Furthermore, Mr. Korpela says, industrial rope access technicians often work in some “fairly undesirable conditions.”

“The facilities are often in remote locations, so you might be flying up to some remote mountain environment, crawling through tunnels, going down dark shafts, you might end up in the tar sands working in an oil and gas refinery,” he said.

Why they do it: Mr. Korpela says that each industrial rope access technician is attracted to the job for different reasons. While some come from mountaineering backgrounds and enjoy working outdoors, others enjoy the variety of projects and travel opportunities, while others simply enjoy a job that, as Mr. Korpela put it, provides a salary “disproportionate to the amount of training it takes.”

Misconceptions: According to Mr. Korpela, most people have no idea what an industrial rope access technician is, and those who do assume it’s a very risky job.

“There’s a perception that it’s a dangerous thing,” he said. “People that are not in the know see us hanging on a rope and think it’s dangerous, but it’s really not.”

In fact, according to a 2013 health and safety report by IRATA, there were only two fatalities in the industry between 2009 and 2013 in a working population of 30,000. According to the report, “the accident rate for work on rope was 0.46 per 100,000 hours worked for all injuries, maintaining a rate of less than 0.5 [reported accidents per 100,000 hours on the job] for the last four consecutive years.”

A New Twist To A Dangerous Line Of Work

Philip Walter (left) extricates Mark May in a basic straight-line rescue at the Pacific Ropes Contracting training centre.

A new twist to a dangerous line of work: New regulations governing work in high places raises questions about safety of traditional procedures used in B.C. It’s a line of business not for the faint of heart: painters, window washers and maintenance workers who do their jobs suspended hundreds of feet in the air, dangling off bridges or highrise buildings.

Now some Vancouver companies are heralding new regulations being introduced by WorkSafeBC in February, which they say will improve worker safety. But they’re also calling for more action on a method of suspension – bosun’s chair, often used by window washers – they say is archaic and unsafe.

“Window cleaning sort of has a history of being a cowboy occupation,” said Vadim Pokotilo, owner of Pacific Sky Services, who recalled nearly falling out of his bosun’s chair as a newbie window washer. Like several other Lower Mainland window washing companies, Pokotilo has moved to a system called rope access. Already common in Europe and the United Kingdom, rope access is growing in popularity in North America, say its adherents.

The method, which incorporates a two-line system, a harness and special training, can be used not just for highrise maintenance but also for engineering, inspection and maintenance work on bridges, hydro dams and oil and gas facilities. Companies that use it say it’s safer  because training is standardized and rescue methods and planning are emphasized. “It’s a lot faster, it’s more efficient and there’s the safety aspect,” said Tim Zagiel, general manager of Pacific Ropes Contracting in Richmond. “We’ve seen big growth over the past eight years we’ve been in business.”

He added that rope access companies based in the United Kingdom or the United States are now looking at Western Canada as a growth opportunity. The system is safer than using scaffolding, a crane with a basket or other methods for working in high places, Zagiel said.

The new WorkSafeBC regulations require rope access workers to be certified in one of two internationally recognized certification standards. It’s a good first step, said Greg Korpela, general manager for Canadian Rope Access Specialists, but his company is actively lobbying WorkSafeBC to take a hard look at bosun’s chair.

“Anybody that is using a traditional classic bosun’s chair system, they can continue to do what they’re doing,” Korpela said, adding that current regulations do not specify whether a specific standard of training is required before workers can use a bosun’s chair.

“The bosun’s chair system is entirely unsafe and, in our opinion, unjustifiably so, and should not be allowed.”

Pacific Ropes and Canadian Rope Access Specialists consulted with WorkSafeBC before the new regulations were drafted. Both companies also offer rope access training. Andre Genesse, owner of Skywalker High-Rise Services, said several of his workers have been trained on rope access. But he plans to continue to use the bosun’s chair because rope access is very expensive for window washing.

While a bosun’s chair platform costs about $125, a rope access harness costs around $1,600 and the per-person training is around $2,000.

“In 12 years that I’ve used it I’ve never had one [accident], not even a close call,” Genesse said. “There’s nothing unsafe about the bosun’s chair.”

In an email, WorkSafeBC said the bosun’s chair method is legal and that workers must wear a “personal fall protection system.” Regulations also require new workers to be trained and for extra training to be provided if workers request it.

Pokotilo said for his company, rope access has been worth it. “If everyone started demanding rope access, it would mean that [anyone] working on ropes in any capacity would have to have that certification, which to me makes sense.”

 

Retiring Window Cleaner Was Innovator

Les Hulicsko, founder of Rite Way Manufacturing and Python Manufacturing, is finally retiring at age 78 from the Regina company he started.

Hulicsko retiring on his own terms - Innovator built many devices: Les Hulicsko escaped from Hungary on Dec. 8, 1956, after the revolution he supported was crushed by Soviet forces, forcing him to flee to North America. But the Russians couldn't crush the engineering student's revolutionary spirit. In many ways, Hulicsko never stopped being a revolutionary - revolutionizing everything from rock picking and street sweeping to pothole patching and window cleaning. He was always designing, building and marketing new products and starting new businesses from the time he arrived in his adopted country in 1957.

"Think outside of the box. That's the way we did things," said Hulicsko, on the eve of his last official day at work at Superior-Roads Solutions/Rite Way Manufacturing, the company he founded more than 40 years ago. "And, of course, they're going to tell you it cannot be done. But I said a lot of times: 'Well, watch me!'" Hulicsko said with a laugh.

Of course, serendipity played a role in the 78 year old serial entrepreneur and inventor's remarkably eventful life. But his luck was largely of his own making, driven by a relentless desire to find ways of doing things better, faster and more efficiently.

When Hulicsko left Hungary at 20, he went to France, where he stayed in a refugee camp and worked at a manufacturing plant for eight months. But he dreamt of going to the U.S. "As a young boy, my dream was to go to the Americas. Of course, it was out of the question because of the Iron Curtain. But the opportunity came when the revolution came. And, as it turned out, it was a necessary thing for me to do.'

A few years ago, Hulicsko discovered that Hungary's infamous death squad - the so-called Pufajkas, named for the large WWII vintage Russian overcoats they wore - had searched his former residence in 1957. "They were looking for me. They raided the place. (His former roommate) was afraid they were going to shoot him if they found my rifle. They didn't find my rifle ... I really didn't know how lucky I was.'

Another bit of serendipity was his decision to relocate to Regina. "My hope was to get into the U.S. ... but the quota (for refugees) was filled. I got tired of waiting, and Canada was open, so I came to Canada." He chose Regina because it was in the middle of the continent and close to the U.S. where he intended to immigrate. But, once he got here, he never left.

Another bit of luck was aggravating an old wrestling injury while working construction in Regina. "I reinjured the knee ... and couldn't work in construction. So a friend said, 'why don't you come and clean windows?' That was my break. I got into an industry that was very simple, I couldn't speak the language," and his boss (ironically, a Russian immigrant) was illiterate, but very successful.

"He was telling me how successful the business was, but I saw the inefficiency in the business.' So after a year or two, Hulicsko started Rite Way, a window cleaning company "because I thought I could do better.' Soon Rite Way was cleaning windows in the tallest buildings in the city, including the Legislative Building, because of innovations Hulicsko introduced.

http://www.cfee.org/en/pdf/spiritofadventure5.pdf

For example, Hulicsko noticed that window cleaning was labour intensive, with highly skilled and paid workers doing the labour; so he replaced the laborious process of cleaning windows with a sponge, cheesecloth and chamois with a simple device, known as a squeegee. And he gave his cleaners several sizes of squeegees to clean various sizes of window panes.

He also invested an astronomical $7,000 into a "Sky Climber,' a motorized scaffold or deck for cleaning windows on skyscrapers. When Hulicsko complained about the cost, saying he could buy two Volkswagens for the same money, the salesman told him: "Les, if you can clean windows with Volkswagens, go ahead and do it." He also learned a valuable lesson. "If you build a tool that is valuable, it doesn't really matter what it costs."

Hulicsko's next business venture was rock pickers. As a sideline to his window cleaning business, Hulicsko set up a machine shop to design and custom build one-off pieces of equipment and road signs in the late 1960s. During a slow period, an employee suggested he manufacture rock pickers, which were used for clearing rocks from agricultural land. The problem was you needed two rock pickers: a rotary machine to pick up small rocks and a fork-type machine to pick up large ones.

After considerable thought and experimentation, Hulicsko designed a rock picker that could do both, utilizing hydraulics to increase the power of the machine. "I had the idea of using hydraulics to drive the reel, then we could do both jobs.' He also simplified the design, reducing the number of bats on the reel, which reduced the incidence of rocks clogging the machines.

His rock pickers were such a runaway success that other manufactures soon copied Hulicsko's design, making hydraulic-driven rock pickers the standard in the industry. Since 1972, Rite Way has been manufacturing several sizes of rock pickers at its plant in Imperial, north of Regina.

In the late 1970s, Hulicsko stumbled onto another business that needed his talents. As part of his window cleaning business, Hulicsko was doing parking lot maintenance, using street sweepers to clean the lots. "I would (harangue) the engineer who designed these machines because they were always breaking down and if you needed to fix the machines you had to tear them apart."

So he designed a tow-type sweeper that could be pulled behind a tractor, using hydraulics in place of "sprockets and chains' to reduce the number of moving parts. "We built 75 of these machines. Some of them are still running. So that got me into the sweeper business.' Sweeprite Manufacturing, as the street sweeper company was called, began in 1978. "Shortly after I built a self-propelled unit - the Sweep-Rite 2400 - and a slightly smaller one called the Sweep-Rite 2200. It was really revolutionary."

The S2500 uses proven  sweeping technology to provide you with excellent sweeping performance. The S2500 takes on millings, trash, sand, gravel, dirt, leaves, bottles and paper. And, no special driver's license is required to operate the S2500.

Once again, using hydraulics, Hulicsko improved the power, capability and reliability of self-propelled street sweepers. "It revolutionized the street sweeping industry." And just like the rock picking business, all street sweepers use hydraulics today; Hulicsko was just the first.

Of course, not all Les's inventions caught on like wildfire. Hulicsko designed a combine in the early 2000s, called the Python, which replaced all the pulleys and belts of a conventional combine with - you guessed it - hydraulics. While he did manufacture a number of the machines, the Python faced some pretty tough competition, in the form of the giants of the industry, New Holland, John Deere, to name a few.

The combine project died a natural death, but the name lives on in the Python 5000, a one-person pothole patcher that probably ranks as one of Hulicsko's most ingenious inventions. It can patch a pothole in two minutes, while the operator sits safely in an air-conditioned cab, reducing both labour costs and workplace injuries. The Python 5000 continues to be built at the Regina plant,

In 2012, Python Manufacturing Inc. was taken over by a Saskatoon-based venture capital fund, Golden Opportunities, and the federal Business Development Bank of Canada, which bought the business from Hulicsko. Earlier this year, the company changed its name from Python Manufacturing to SuperiorRoads Solutions to manufacture and market the pothole patcher and street sweepers, while Rite-Way Manufacturing remains the company's brand name for rock pickers, harrows, land rollers and other field preparation equipment.

As a businessman, Hulicsko has had his ups and downs, having started, lost and bought back his various businesses several times. "It's been an interesting, roller-coaster ride, but overall it's been a very rewarding ride,' he said, without a trace of bitterness or regret.

While he won't be coming into the office at 1891 Albert St. N. on a regular basis anymore, Hulicsko isn't ready to give up working. "I can't see myself retiring. I've got to do something. I've got ideas on many things and, of course, not all of them can be achieved. Some of them may be out of reach, some of the things I'm going to be working on ... (will be) on a project by project basis.' During his long career, Hulicsko has been called many things: a dreamer, an inventor, an entrepreneur, even a genius. Hulicsko prefers to think of himself as an innovator, rather than an inventor.

"I had the image of an inventor - I've seen so many of them - they could dream, but they could never really put (their dreams) into practice. I had dreams, but I didn't try to sell (an idea) until I could build it and produce it. I'm more of a realistic inventor, if there is such a thing.'

Falls While Cleaning Windows

Window Cleaner fell from scaffold he was working on in Montreal.

Delicate rescue operation to rescue a window washer (Montreal): A dramatic rescue operation to rescue a window washer who fell several stories took place on Wednesday afternoon in Montreal. The workplace accident occurred around 15 pm at the rear of a commercial building located at 8255 Mountain Sights Avenue, in the borough of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.

For some unexplained reason, the worker of 32 years fell from the scaffold he was working on. The scaffold dropped at least three floors before landing heavily on the roof of a building annex. Specialized in high angle rescue, firefighters were called to the scene to conduct the delicate operation. In less than an hour, they managed to secure the worker and get him back down to the ground. The victim, groaning in pain, was then placed on a stretcher and taken to the hospital.

According to Urgences Santé, he was suffering serious injuries to the pelvis, back, arms and legs.
His life would not however be in danger. Two inspectors from the Commission on Health and Safety (OHS) have visited the site in the late afternoon to try to establish the circumstances of the accident.
Representatives of the CSST were to meet several witnesses who attended the scene.  The working methods used by the worker will also be studied to determine whether they complied and were safe.

Window washer tumbles four stories: A window washer fell four stories Wednesday afternoon when the piece of scaffolding he was standing on gave way for an unknown reason. The worker was on the sixth floor of a building on Mountain Sights Ave., between De La Savane and Sorel Sts. at around 3p.m., when he tumbled four stories onto a secondary roof on the second floor of the building. The Montreal fire department's special Spiderman unit was called in to perform the delicate rescue operation. The man was conscious when he was taken to hospital. The extent of his injuries is not yet known.

A woman was injured after plunging from a ladder while cleaning her windows in Winchester.

A woman has been injured after plunging from ladder while cleaning her windows. The 42 year old fell around 10ft while she cleaning a dormer window set in the roof of her home in Winchester. She fell on to the flat roof of the house’s ground floor extension, which she had used as a base to pitch her ladder on and prop it against the house, in Crescent Close, Badger Farm.

Her husband raised the alarm around 4pm on Saturday after hearing her scream. It is thought the ladder gave way on the roof, which has a gravel surface. Firefighters had to lower the woman from the roof on a stretcher using a pulley system. They reported that the woman had cuts and grazes, but there was also concern she might have a spinal injury.

A spokeswoman for South Central Ambulance Service said an ambulance and rapid responder attended to reports that the woman had suspected injuries to her arm and leg. She was taken to the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester but it is not known how serious her injuries are.

Woman who suffered fatal fall from ladder had 35 minute wait for ambulance, inquest told - A woman died after falling from a ladder while cleaning the gutters on her bungalow, an inquest heard. Celia Farrell (65) died at Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown, on August 4 last year, two days after sustaining severe head injuries when she fell backwards off a ladder at her home at The Mayne, Clonee in Co Meath. Dublin Coroner’s Court heard that Mrs Farrell had been due to celebrate her wedding anniversary that evening with her husband Noel Farrell. He told the inquest that they had gone to 10am Mass that morning and afterwards he was cutting the grass while his wife started to clean the gutters on the bungalow. He said he had asked her to wait because he wasn’t happy with the ladder she was using and they were in “no hurry”. However, when he went to help her at around 1.45pm, he found her lying on the ground with the ladder beside her.

A Squeaky Clean Business

Mark & Leonor put the right window cleaning tools in your hands. Local recognition in Canada.

A squeaky clean business: After a few years of living in a high-rise condo downtown you start to notice things about the building you may have never even realized. For example, cleaning the outside of a high-rise condo window. One day, I was driving into my parking lot and saw a man raised up high into the sky cleaning windows from what looked like a hanging balcony that was lifted a few storeys up into the air. I wondered how long it would take someone to clean an entire buildings set of windows and it dawned on me why my building only cleans theirs twice a year.

My excitement for this month’s feature is due to my curiosity about window cleaning. I am featuring Beautiful View: The Window Cleaning Store, and when I found out this store, which has only been open for a few months, was in the Emery Village BIA I was quite thrilled to be able to ask all my questions about window cleaning to the store owner, and professional window cleaner himself, Mark Strange. Strange was a window cleaner for over seven years before he realized that his passion for teaching and his ability to clean windows for the rest of his life was not going to be entirely possible. With the help of his wife who not only supported him opening a store but also designed the entire layout herself, Mark is in business and was happy to talk. Needless to say, the windows are streak free and clean as a whistle. His teaching skills are tested with every customer who walks into his store. Strange not only has used every product, he knows exactly what would suit the customer the best and wants the customer to be prepared.

He has a test window where he shows the customer the right way to use the product and the best way to get a streak free clean in the quickest amount of time. I think I was one of the worst students, as I did not realize how technical cleaning windows are.

The store is a speciality-cleaning store, but you don’t have to be a professional to use the equipment. Anyone who cleans their household windows or even their car, if you do a lot of do-it-yourself car washes, could use Mark’s products and expertise. With a wide range of window cleaning products and even some videos to show you how to use them the store is for everyone.

It is located right at 1805 Wilson Avenue, unit 107. If you are interested in getting the best value for your money and want to learn the right way to clean a window, check out Beautiful View: The Window Cleaning Store near you! 

Also see:

Professional Window Cleaner Puts The Right Tools In Your Hands

Window Cleaning Skills DVD Competition

A nonchalant Mark, gets to the TV section.