Scaffold Collapse Recalls Previous Tractel Disaster

The failure of the window-washing machinery high atop Hearst Tower ended well Wednesday, when both workers on board were rescued by first responders. That wasn't the case in 2007, when a window washing accident sent two brothers on a 47-story free fall. The lone survivor filed suit against Tractel, one of the companies that maintained the scaffolding system. I-Team reporter Chris Glorioso reports on that incident and the possible connection to the latest scaffolding incident.

Scaffold Collapse Recalls Deadly '07 Accident: Two window washers plummeted 47 stories from a collapsed scaffolding on the Upper East Side in 2007. The two workers who were rescued from a collapsed scaffold atop the Hearst Tower Wednesday were not hurt, but a similar incident on the Upper East Side years earlier left one man dead and another with serious injuries. In 2007, two window washers, who were brothers - were working on scaffolding alongside 265 E. 66th St. when the structure plummeted 47 stories to the pavement.

The surviving brother, 43-year-old Alcides Moreno, filed a lawsuit against Tractel, the company that helped maintain the Upper East Side window washing scaffold that fell. After that accident, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued Tractel three serious citations for improper installation of parts that supported the platform’s load.

Marketing literature published online shows Tractel is also the company that provided a window washing scaffold that looks identical to the one that failed Wednesday alongside the Hearst building. Tractel "provided a unique façade maintenance unit” for the Hearst Headquarters, according to the product information. Tractel personnel had not returned the I-Team’s phone message seeking comment at the time of this article's publication.

It is not clear if Tractel was responsible for installing or maintaining the window-washing mechanism atop the Hearst Tower. The two workers who became stranded were technicians for Tractel Harness, according to first responders. The New York Department of Labor regulates window washing scaffolding mechanisms. In 2008, state labor regulators issued Tractel a notice of violation for failing to maintain the scaffold that collapsed at East 66th Street. The initial investigation found the hoist rope was attached to the scaffold with a faulty compression device.

Back in December 2007, when two “window washing” brothers—immigrants from Ecuador—plunged 47 stories from a luxury apartment building on the East Side, we marveled that one of them survived the fall that killed his brother instantly.  37-year-old Alcides Moreno was considered the “miracle  man” who was able to walk again, after grieving the death of his brother, Edgar. At the time, PIX 11 did a special report on the sometimes-fatal dangers of window washing, especially when the scaffold is faulty.  It turns out the high-tech scaffold being  used at the Hearst Tower on 57th Street, where two window washers were rescued Wednesday, was operated by the same, Long Island City company that was fined thousands of dollars in the fatal 2007 accident involving the Moreno brothers.  When contacted by PIX 11 Wednesday, a Tractel Company representative who answered the phone said, “In regards to the Hearst Building, we have no comment.  Please direct your questions to the Fire Department of New York.”

Man trapped in midtown Manhattan scaffold collapse says feared he'd be ‘crash-test dummy’ ‘You see everything happen in front of you. All I heard was the metal snapping,’ reveals survivor Victor Caraballo. Clinging to a broken scaffolding suspended 44 stories above midtown, 26-year-old maintenance man Victor Caraballo feared becoming a “crash dummy.” A day after he and coworker Stephen Schmidt, 49, endured a heart-pounding, 90-minute scare 450 feet up the face of the Hearst Tower, the Bronx man said he was lucky to be alive to tell the tale. “If anything goes wrong, I’m the crash dummy,” Caraballo told the Daily News Thursday of the fear that ran through his mind as firefighters raced to the rescue.
Caraballo, who lives in the Bronx with his mom and two pit bulls, said he has an “ordinary job,” but the horror above W. 57th St. proved his work takes guts. He said he and Schmidt were conducting a test drop of a window-washing rig about 2:45 p.m. when suddenly an average day turned into a thriller. “It was pretty scary at first,” said Caraballo, who works for Tractel Inc. “You see everything happen in front of you. All I heard was the metal snapping.” Despite dangling from the twisted scaffolding, praying for help to arrive fast, Caraballo described the incident in retrospect as a rare “technical difficulty.” “I have gotten stuck plenty of times, but not like this,” he said. “The way this happened it was pretty scary, but you deal with it.”
Still, he couldn’t suppress thoughts that “if it goes, I go with it.” Firefighters from Rescue Co. 1 executed the high-rise heroics with aplomb, cutting a hole in a 44th-floor window of the glass-and-steel skyscraper to pull the men to safety. “When the FDNY sent me the safe line, I knew everything was fine,” Caraballo said outside his Bronx apartment building, happy to be on terra firma and to have the day off. “They responded fast. Everything went good. I was very appreciative of what they did for us.” As soon as he was rescued, he called his mother. “She was a little shaken up,” Caraballo said. “She hates my job to begin with. So this makes her not want me to go back to work.” But Caraballo said he’s not about to give up his job, even for his mother. “Of course it crosses your mind,” he said of the occupational hazards. “But you got to stay positive. You don’t want to think like that.”

Weather Got Your Window Cleaning Service Down?

Mike Draper of "Clearly Windows" in Illinois shows us how it's done.

Weather Got Your Cleaning Service Down? Has the weather got you down? You are not alone! Snow, sleet, ice...STOP WE CAN'T TAKE IT ANY MORE is the cry I am hearing from many. There is no doubt about it. When you see piles of snow, your balance sheet is likely to see RED...and there is nothing more depressing than that. Staff can't get to work, clients become indifferent, and the phone definitely stops ringing. What can you do?

Move, Don't Cancel - One way to reduce the pain of foul weather and to take charge with your clients and reschedule due to weather, and take no prisoners. Saturdays, Sundays, whenever. Nothing is off limits. Tell your staff, that you know it is going to be painful to miss out on the income, so you are scheduling extra jobs for them to make up for it. When your clients try to say "let's just skip it", use your powers of persuasion to let them know that your staff who is counting on income, has room on Saturdays, and we are even throwing in some free snow-day extras.

Become a Chauffeur - If it is safe jump in your car early and go pick your staff up and ferry them to and from the jobs. Clients will be impressed that you made the effort, and staff (though sad they did not get the day off) will be happy to not lose out on the revenue.

Money Talks - Do everything in your power to be sure that your staff does not come out of a two week period with no money. One year we had a big snow storm that hit Seattle between Christmas and New Years. What horrible timing! Clients all said "I'll just spend time with my family and see you next time". Oh dread. Nobody made money for ten days, and then came in the on-slot of resignations.

For Next Time - Make sure that for the future you have a "foul weather policy" that protects you from lots of losses. Make it your policy that in case of foul weather client homes will automatically be rescheduled, and that staff know exactly how they will be notified of what to do, so you don't scramble to fill schedules, only to find out that staff isn't coming into work.

Plan Your Spring Attack - Spring Cleanings can add tens of thousands of dollars onto your income, but only if they are well thought out. Take the time now to create a tantalizing package that nobody can resist. Think of 10-12 extra things beyond your normal cleanings that really make your spring cleaning a "must have" event for your clients. And, plan how you will get this message out. Press release, door hanger, direct mail, newspaper advertisement. How will you get fresh new leads in the door ready to spend money in the spring, and beyond.

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow - Hang on...I guarantee that the second it looks like spring that phone will ring and you can be ready to start making some money again.

Severe Weather - 5 Tips For Coping With Weather Stress (by Sara Healy). When severe weather is upon us, we experience weather stress. Our bodies go into crisis mode. Adrenaline starts to flow in reaction to the emergency situation. This helps us take action. We seek safety and protect ourselves and our family from the impact of the weather. It's after things calm down that weather stress begins to turn on us. The adrenaline that helped us during and immediately after the severe weather does not go away. Even as flood waters begin to recede, stress levels often continue to rise. This is when weather stress can be very dangerous.

Unfortunately, we frequently don't realize what's happening. The physical crisis has passed. Therefore, we may ignore our stress. That is, until our normally calm and cool neighbor suddenly blows up in anger, our children begin to have nightmares, or we find ourselves crying on the shoulder of a stranger for no particular reason. Suddenly, we realize somethings not right. We got through the worst of it, but our friends, family and others are still showing symptoms of severe weather stress. What can we do? Here are some tips that may help you, or people around you, cope more effectively with prolonged weather stress:
 

Recognize that people may feel irritable, sad, angry or guilty after a weather disaster: These feelings are very common! So, be patient with yourself and others. People may not act normally after severe weather hits. Like any crisis, this kind of weather causes emotional trauma. Usually with time, this trauma heals itself. If it doesn't, seek out qualified help for yourself or encourage others to seek it.
 

Share your experiences with others: Getting your feelings out about a weather disaster is very important. It helps you feel more in control and less vulnerable. In addition, sharing what's happened to you and hearing the stories of others, creates a feeling of togetherness in the weather crisis, which keeps you from feeling isolated.
 

Take good care of your physical condition. Stress takes a BIG toll on your body. Eat healthy foods as much as possible. When it's safe, find ways to exercise or get out of your house. Also, remember to relax and rest, even if you've got a lot of cleaning up to do. Taking good care of yourself and your family will help relieve the effects of weather stress.
 

Help others in your neighborhood, community and town: Assisting others in your community is a way to do something positive. When you're involved in helping someone else, you don't have as much time to feel stressed about your own situation. In addition, sharing the work created by a weather disaster reinforces your sense of community.
 

Remember to laugh: However incongruent it may seem to laugh, it's actually good for you during a weather crisis. Laughter is a wonderful stress buster. It has been proven to reduce stress, lower blood pressure, improve the immune system and, in general, make you feel better. So, go ahead and laugh and encourage others to do so too.

Severe weather is a fact of life. When it hits where we live, there WILL BE weather stress. Therefore, as we prepare our homes for severe weather, so too should we prepare ourselves emotionally for the impact of this weather. Recognizing weather stress and taking steps to alleviate it is the best way to keep it from overwhelming us.