R.I.P. Bob Hoskins The Window Cleaner Who Became A Household Name

Arguably Hoskins was the perfect big-screen Cockney: immensely companionable, and someone you wouldn’t want to mess with. Bob Hoskins, known for roles in films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Long Good Friday, has died from pneumonia at the age of 71.

Bob Hoskins: the window-cleaner who became a household name - Bob Hoskins, known for roles in films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Long Good Friday, has died from pneumonia at the age of 71. As a star – he was certainly that, and at 5ft 6in maybe the shortest one Britain’s ever produced – Bob Hoskins boasted the inseparable Cockney traits of being immensely companionable and someone you wouldn’t want to mess with, often at the same time. His first major film role, it’s true, gave us rather more of the latter: as Harold Shand, the indomitable antihero of John Mackenzie’s The Long Good Friday (1980), he was a fireball of raging ambition, stopping at nothing to consolidate his empire.

It was only later that a cuddlier and sadder Hoskins emerged from that blistering initial impression. If Harold felt like a character practically defined by small-man syndrome, Hoskins charged into the rest of his film career as if determined to seem less angry with every subsequent part. The key transitional film was Neil Jordan’s Mona Lisa (1986) – another classic take on seedy London criminality, but one with an undisguised romanticism at its core. Hoskins’s George seems so obviously tired of the scene that he’s a much more redeemable creation: a gangster with soul.

This performance, which won Hoskins Best Actor in Cannes and an Oscar nomination, was just the boost he needed to make a go of things in Hollywood, and a busy decade followed as the pay-cheques piled up. Robert Zemeckis and co made the noble decision to cast Hoskins, instead of the mooted and much more obvious Harrison Ford or Bill Murray, as the private dick hero of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988). It can’t have seemed too enviable a job, on paper – months on sound stages acting opposite a non-existent lapine co-star? But, through sheer energy and force of personality, Hoskins knocked the role of Eddie Valiant for six. It must have been gratifying beyond belief when the film was a smash hit, and this one-time window cleaner found himself installed at last as a household name.

Another Window Cleaner Dies - More Accidents - More Idiots

A 78-year-old window washer was fatally injured (died).

Window washer fatally injured in fall: A 78-year-old window washer was fatally injured in a fall this morning at Christian Theological Seminary. According to an IMPD spokesman, the accident occurred about 10 a.m. at the seminary, 4251 N. Haughey St. The fall, said IMPD spokesman Michael Hewitt, “appears to be accidental. According to supervisors, there does not appear to be any foul play.’’ The man’s name is not being released pending notification of relatives.

Window washer falls to his death at CTS - Indianapolis (WISH) - IMPD officials say a man fell to his death while washing windows at the Christian Theological Seminary. Officials say the 78-year-old man was washing windows at CTS, which is just off Butler's campus, when he fell from the third floor. The man was pronounced dead on the scene. Officials say foul play is not suspected. This appears to be an accident.

Also see here for HEALTH & SAFETY DOCUMENT CODE of PRACTICE .

A broken handrail at the Harbour View Thai Restaurant on Addison St shows where a window washer fell this morning.

Window cleaner injured in Addison St balcony fall (Illawarra, NSW, Australia): A window cleaner has been airlifted to hospital with a serious head injury after he fell from the balcony of a Shellharbour restaurant. The man was washing the side glass partitions of the Harbour View Thai Restaurant, on Addison Street, moments before he fell four metres into the gutter, taking part of the balcony handrail with him.

New South Wales Ambulance paramedics came to the aid of the man, 42, from Flinders, shortly after 8 o'clock this morning. He lost consciousness in the fall and was confused and disoriented when paramedics arrived. He was transported to Illawarra Regional Airport then airlifted to St George Hospital, where he is undergoing treatment for a possible fractured skull. He remains in a serious but stable condition.

Hamburg City - sure is different. A window cleaner is balancing around 13 meters height on a ladder, while his colleague is holding the rope that secures him. But in an emergency.. both fall.  A reader-reporter photographed this dangerous game, saying.. "That's just crazy."

Dieter Gottschalk (63), operations manager at the Heidmann Building Cleaning Ltd., was horrified... "They were employees of a subcontractor of us. "We will be calling our sub-contractors for a conversation."

These window cleaners have no pane! (No shit!) - Oh man, the reckless! Two window cleaners doing some gymnastics on a 13 meter building. One secures the other with a rope. Just stupid.. he himself is totally unsecured at the roof edge.  If the lower man falls, he takes the upper man with him.  To make matters worse, the man on the roof is on the phone. The office building "Schaumburg Hof" in downtown Hamburg.  A reader-reporter photographed this dangerous game, saying.. "that's just crazy."

When these images were shown to the window cleaning company afterwards, Dieter Gottschalk (63), operations manager at Heidmann Building Cleaning Ltd., was horrified. "They were employees of a subcontractor of us."  "The window cleaner on the roof would have to be secured with a separate belt system and a rope also."  "He is disregarding the accident prevention regulations of the trade association." "We are going to call our sub-contractors in regard to this conversation."

Dutch Window Cleaner Dies In Training School

Dutch window cleaner died after falling 20 meters.

Window Cleaner in training dies after fall from ladder: In an accident in Arnhem this Monday morning a man was killed when he fell from a ladder. The accident in the Kleefsewaard district happened when the victim fell from a height of 20 meters. The victim stood on a ladder against a wall (fixed or unfixed) & by some unknown reason he fell.  The man died on the spot from his injuries, police reported. An investigation has been launched to study if the safety instructions were observed.

The training was held on an industrial site.

Window cleaner died after falling 20 meters: (Arnhem, Netherlands) - The district Kleefsewaard in Arnhem on Monday saw a man die after he fell 20 meters.  He was on a course for SVS training for window cleaning. The accident happened on a specialist training course. For unknown reasons, the victim fell just at around 11:00 a.m. local time. When the emergency services arrived, the man was already deceased. The inspection committee will examine whether the safety laws were complied with.  SVS were shocked.  According to industry training is the first time that such a dramatic accident has occurred.

Blood Money For Window Cleaners

A bright yellow hard hat is among the remnants of the broken platform that killed two window cleaners.

One of the workers is reported to have died at the scene while the other was dead on arrival at Shaikh Khalifa Medical City.

Payout for families of window cleaners who plunged to their deaths: The relatives of two men who plunged to their deaths are likely to get Dhs86,000 (approx $23,5K) in compensation as well as any blood money awarded by court, a person close to the case has said. The men had made frantic calls for help to a security guard in the Commercial Bank of Dubai building - on the corner of Muroor Road and the Abu Dhabi Corniche - when the cradle they were working in stalled and would not move up or down. Before help could get to them, the cradle crashed 15 floors to the ground. The men, both from Andhra Pradesh in south east India, earned Dhs1,000 a month and a person investigating the accident said their families would receive the equivalent of three years’ salary from their employers - Modern Building Maintenance, (MBM).

It is understood a lifting mechanism on the workers’ scaffolding platform failed.

The men’s relatives are also likely to receive Dhs50,000 from the company’s welfare fund, but this has not been confirmed. Abu Dhabi courts may also insist on an additional blood money payment, although a dispute about who should pay this has already broken out between MBM and a subcontracted service company that maintains the wires and cradle. MBM blames the company for not providing a safe cradle for the men to work in, a claim the service company rejects. Captain Abdullah Al Tamimi from Abu Dhabi Civil Defence said yesterday that they were still investigating the cause of Tuesday’s incident but initial reports show that the wires holding the cradle had snapped. One of the window cleaners was married in India just three months ago and had only came back to work with the company in the past two weeks.

Abu Dhabi cleaners trapped for four hours before plunging to death: Two window cleaners were trapped on a maintenance cradle 15 floors above Khalifa Street for four hours before it collapsed, killing them both. A technician was called to the scene on Tuesday morning when the motor controlling the cradle malfunctioned. The two men plunged to the ground about 3pm when the metal cradle cords gave way at roof level. Their employer "should have called Civil Defence when they called the technician and recognised there was a problem. Those men should never have been up there so long," municipality health and safety chief Abdulaziz Zurub said. Police said the incident had been referred to the courts.

Mr Zurub said cleaning companies usually rent their cradles from maintenance companies. The municipality's health and safety department set up a special section to oversee maintenance companies but it is still under development. "The problem is how to ensure the cleaning company selects a maintenance company that uses the safety equipment according to our procedures," Mr Zurub said. The cleaners' employer, Modern Building Maintenance, said the men were harnessed but could not say if they were harnessed independently to the building. This lifeline is required so that if the cradle falls, the men do not. When the safety system is intact, cradles can hang from one rope. Various bodies are responsible for cradle maintenance and operation. 

The cradle was provided by the building owner, and the cleaners' employer said it did not know when it was last inspected. Abu Dhabi Municipality approves third-party companies who provide certifications of inspection on equipment for maintenance companies. The equipment must be checked every six months or annually, depending on its type. Cradle makers recommend inspections every three months. "It's like maintaining your car," said Theo Van Der Linde, the operations manager for Cox Gomyl, an international building maintenance company in Abu Dhabi. "If you don't maintain your car you'll have problems. If you maintain your equipment properly then it will last longer and it's safer."

The deaths come a week after two window cleaners had to be rescued when the rope supporting their platform snapped while they were working outside the 15th floor of a building in the capital. Police and Civil Defence secured the platform, at a building on Salam Street, before helping the two Asian men to safety down a rescue ladder. More such accidents are inevitable with the construction of more high-rise buildings unless maintenance companies are controlled and security measures enforced, manufacturers and inspectors said. "When the regulations and rules are not enforced it can increase the accident rate," said Elumalai Jagadeesan, the operations manager for Bureau Veritas, a company that carries out cradle inspections in Abu Dhabi. "There are many companies that are not being approved by Abu Dhabi Municipality. A qualified, competent person must inspect and do the certification." Other companies avoid maintenance entirely, he said. "It could be a monetary thing, it could be that people don't have the money to do it."

The municipality will fully oversee maintenance companies "very, very soon", Mr Zurub said. "I think that would be a good thing, to ensure that the maintenance companies are competent to do what they need to do," said Mr Van Der Linde. "You have people servicing the building maintenance units who are not specialists. "Preventive maintenance is very important and I think much more care could be taken by selecting the companies that do the maintenance." The government should revisit regulations annually, Mr Jagadeesan said. "Every year new technology and new solutions are coming into the market," he said. "The biggest priority, above anything else, is human life."

2 Die As Scaffold Drops 15 Floors In Abu Dhabi

Civil defence units struggled to pull the two out of the scaffold but they died minutes later.

Window cleaners plunge to death in Abu Dhabi. The scaffold they were using to clean the glass of tower snapped: Two Asian workers were killed after the scaffold they were using to clean the glass of a tower in Abu Dhabi snapped at the 15th level and plunged down to the ground. Police and civil defence units who rushed to the building on Khalifa Street in the town centre struggled to pull the two out of the scaffold but they died minutes later. Emarat Al Youm Arabic language daily quoted a civil defence official as saying they would join hands with the police to investigate the cause of the accident. It was the second scaffold accident in the capital in nearly a week but the two workers in the first incident were rescued by the civil defence. “Cleaning companies should regularly maintain their scaffolds to prevent such serious accidents,” said Captain Abdullah al Tamimi, director of the customers service and public relations section at the civil defence department.

Two cleaning workers fall to death in Capital: Two Indian workers plunged to death after the suspended platform from where they were cleaning the windows of a tower in the capital crashed to the ground on Tuesday. According to eyewitnesses and the building management, the accident happened as the duo were cleaning the windows on the 15th floor. The cradle crashed just around 3.20pm. Both the workers died on the spot with the platform completely smashed. Their bodies were cut into pieces by platform metals and due to the impact of the crash. Major Ismail Mohammad Saeed Al Shamsi, from the Operations Department at the Abu Dhabi General Directorate of Civil Defence, said primary information indicated that the incident occurred when the two workers were cleaning the facade of a high-rise tower and the suspended platform they were mounting suddenly fell down. As soon as the operations room was reported about the mishap, the civil defence engines and ambulance rushed to the accident site where the two cleaners were found breathing their last.

This is the second such incident to happen within a week. Last Monday, two Asian cleaners escaped death when they were rescued by the Abu Dhabi Police after one of the wires holding the suspended platform the two workers were standing on at the 15th floor of a building at Al Salam Street in Abu Dhbai got loosened. The 25-storey building, Baniyas Tower, is located in a prime location at the Corniche at the Muroor Road junction. “I was inside the building when the accident happened. I heard a sound but never realised it was the suspended platform that had crashed, and soon one of the cleaners came to me and told me about the accident,” said a staff member of the building management. He said he had immediately called the building management and reported the incident. Soon the police, civil defence and paramedical teams arrived and removed the bodies of the two workers in police ambulances.

He identified one of the window cleaners as Raj Kumar, an Indian aged between 26 and 27. “I know Raj Kumar. He has been cleaning the building for quite some time. The other worker who died was new and I don’t know him,” he told Khaleej Times. The fatal accident and the two fatalities have also been confirmed by the Abu Dhabi Police that is investigating the cause of the suspended platform falling to the ground. No officials from the cleaning company were available for the comment. An eyewitness from Bangladesh said: “I saw the cables of the suspended platform breaking. There was huge sound as the suspended platform landed on the ground on the Muroor Road side. It was horrible to see these two workers in blood.” Another nearby resident said: “When I heard the big bang, I rushed out from a nearby shop to check. Their bodies were beyond recognition and it was a terrifying scene to see.”

The broken maintenance cradle lying on the ground near the building on the corniche street in Abu Dhabi.

Two window cleaners fall from 10th floor: Police still investigating cause of accident that killed two window cleaners in Abu Dhabi. Police on Wednesday were  still investigating the cause of an accident that killed two Asian window cleaners. The cleaners died after they fell from the 15th floor of the Dubai Commercial Bank building located on Khalifa Street in Abu Dhabi when their scaffolding collapsed on Tuesday afternoon. A witness working at the café in the next building told Gulf News that the accident took place at approximately 3:20pm. Major Esmail Mohammad Saeed Al Shamsi, from the civil defense, said that the two men were trapped under the fallen platform where they died, as the defense team tried to rescue them. Al Shamsi said that upon receiving the news, Abu Dhabi police cars and ambulances were sent to the scene, along with the civil defense and security media.

First Lieutenant Abdullah Hamad Al Tamimi, head of the Customer Service Centre at the General Directorate of Civil Defence in Abu Dhabi, urged all those working in the construction and maintenance field to carry out regular checks on their equipment to make sure that these have not been subject to wear and tear. These safety measures must be taken in order to ensure the safety of their users and those surrounding keeping in mind that the Civil Defense carried out the Salamatak (your safety) campaign to raise workers awareness in the industrial sector, Al Tamimi said. Last week, two workers were rescued by the Abu Dhabi Police after the rope supporting their scaffolding snapped.