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.

Window Washing Is A Dirty Business

Window washers clean glass on the 23-story One South Market building under construction in downtown San Jose on Feb. 3, 2015.

Window washing is a dirty business, but somebody's got to do it (by Bruce Newman): As a design feature for large public buildings, the window has experienced a long, humbling decline. Preening architects transformed the urban skyline into a high-rise hall of mirrors, while windows that once breathed light became rare as gargoyles. But through all the changes, window cleaners - who now scour entire glass buildings armed with only squeegees and buckets of soapy water have remained indispensable.

The dangers inherent in a job that sometimes requires working hundreds of feet off the ground for hours at a time became painfully apparent during a 10-day stretch in November. First, a pair of window cleaners working 69 stories above the street outside New York's new World Trade Center found themselves suspended for an hour from a scaffold that had tilted to nearly vertical, before firefighters cut through the glass and reeled the men in.

The following week in San Francisco, a workman who had not yet begun cleaning windows at the Sterling Bank and Trust Building plummeted from the roof, screaming as he fell 11 stories, before landing on a moving car. That saved his life, although the still unnamed window cleaner has endured numerous surgeries since the accident.

Thirty years ago, when Andy Shavalia, owner of Superior Window Cleaning in Santa Clara, was learning the business, the sort of safety equipment that almost surely saved the lives of the window cleaners in New York was rarely used. Instead of the motorized scaffold-like devices that are used today, called a "swing stage," window washers were lowered from the tops of skyscrapers on a small chair tied to pipes or air conditioning units. "That's like rappelling down the side of a building," Shavalia says. "I would say rope work is probably the hairiest situation you can be in when you first learn the trade."

Shavalia has cleaned the 40-story McKesson tower in San Francisco and the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose - jobs that can take a month or more. The work is slow and methodical, and often the only thing that breaks the tedium is the occasional surprise encounter. Shavalia has come across couples in the full flower of connubiality. "Especially on hotels," he says, "we've had a couple of incidents where maybe the management forgot to tell their guests that if they want privacy to close the curtains. They tried to cover up. You just turn away and continue with your job."

Most window cleaning companies do a mixture of commercial and residential work, although not all of them ascend to great heights. Tim Zickuhr's R12 Window Cleaning in San Jose is only insured to go three stories high, after which the cost of his coverage would quadruple. "How they figure that there's more danger at four stories than three stories is beyond me," says Zickuhr, who uses an 85-foot articulating boom to reach the glass at the top of triple-decker office buildings.

Unlike most homeowners, who tend to use spray products such as Windex to clean their glass, the pros typically use Dawn dishwashing soap and water, which they slop on with a mop, then remove in a long coiling motion with a squeegee. This is known as "snaking" the window, and Shavalia says the technique can take as much as a month to learn to do without leaving any streaks. Zickuhr uses a 45-foot telescoping pole that hooks to a water de-ionizer that filters out San Jose's notoriously hard water. Windows dry spot free.

Zickuhr has "window washer" among his Google search terms, but he disdains the term. "When you've been doing windows as long as we have, there's an art to it," he says. "It's not just a matter of washing a window. You wash your clothes, you wash your car, you don't wash windows. You clean them. If I come in and clean your house, and I miss some dust, chances are you're not going to notice it. But if I miss a spot on the picture window that you sit next to every morning to have your coffee, you're going to say I didn't do a very good job. The art of window cleaning is having an eye for detail and being very meticulous."

The window cleaning industry used to be quiet, or would switch to gutter cleaning during winter months. But when taggers began etching graffiti onto the windows of ground floor stores and restaurants about three years ago, polishing out the etched messages created a booming new business. Billy Berk's bar and restaurant, on the corner of First and San Fernando Streets in downtown San Jose, has suffered vandalized picture windows several times. Nick Ramezani, who has owned the place for two years, estimates he has gone through seven replacements, costing a total of $1,600. "It's really expensive," says Ramezani, looking at several panels of defaced glass. "To be honest with you, I've just given up. As soon as you put on a new one, they start writing on it."

Along a block of mostly abandoned storefronts on the east side of Second Street between Santa Clara and San Fernando streets, at least 48 separate panes of glass have been defaced with gang glyphs and other etchings. The supplies for a three-step polishing process that can remove the disfiguring marks costs Zickuhr $3,500 to repair 600 square feet. "It's a good business to be in," he says. "Silicon Valley has a lot of people in tech, and they don't have enough blue-collar people who are willing to come out, get dirty and make everything real shiny for them."

Another Rescue Of Window Washers From Oakland High Rise

The first of two window washers is slowly pulled up the side of 1111 Broadway building in downtown Oakland, Calif., by Oakland firefighters after their platform got stuck on the 19th floor on Thursday.

Crews rescue two window washers from Oakland high-rise: Oakland paramedic and firefighter Brian Fukuhara isn't fond of heights, but it didn't stop him from rappelling down the side of a high-rise building Thursday morning to rescue two window washers trapped some 200 feet above downtown Oakland. "I'm a little afraid of heights," Fukuhara said.

The two window washers with Elite Window Washing Company, had been stranded outside the 19th floor of the high rise at 1111 Broadway for nearly two hours before employees inside realized they were in trouble and called for help about 10:45 a.m.

The two men, who weren't available for interview after the rescue, thought they could get their platform to work again, but one of the motors was broken and getting it to move up or down was impossible, officials said. The window washers were on the Broadway side of the 24-story building, getting baked by Thursday's warm temperatures. Luckily there were no strong winds.

While firefighters were securing equipment on the roof, Fukuhara, who joked that he "half volunteered and half I was assigned," put on a harness and began rappelling down about 11:15 a.m. for what firefighters call a high-angle rescue. He said the two men were in good spirits but a little dehydrated when he reached them, about 50 feet below the roof. They were very calm, and one of them who had been washing windows at the building for more than six years was "clearly was comfortable with heights," Fukuhara said.

Both men had extra harnesses placed on them. One was hoisted to the roof at about 11:30 a.m. and the other about five minutes later, to the applause and cheers of hundreds gathered in the street below. Fukuhara was pulled back up to the roof by 11:50 a.m. He said that because of the potential danger, he did have "a little bit of anxiety and stress, but that's what you train for."

The department's Urban Search and Rescue team trains to make sure such operations are carried out safely and in a timely manner, said Fukuhara, who has four years with the Oakland department and five years of experience with other agencies. "It feels good. We're here to do a job safe and fast," he added. Fukuhara said the window washers said they were "very thankful and still had time for (their) lunch break."

Oakland Fire Battalion Chief Coy Justice said the rescue team has hauled people up steep hillsides, but he could not recall a rescue like Thursday's. He said he had complete confidence in them. "They are well-trained and the best in the business. I'm glad to have them." Broadway was closed in both direction between 11th and 12th streets during the rescue. The front entrance to the building was also closed but could be accessed through side and rear doors.

Window Washers Hand Crank Swing Stage Rescue

Click to enlarge.

As news helicopters buzzed overhead, one of the two window washers passed time by taking photos on his cellphone. Down below, Urban Search & Rescue crews from the Orange County Fire Authority devised a plan to get the men safely off the disabled platform, which became stuck when a motor failed.

Window Washers Rescued From Side of High-Rise Building - The workers used a hand crank to hoist the platform on which they were working to the top of the 19-floor building: Two workers washing windows on the side of an Irvine high-rise building were stuck for several hours before members of an urban search and rescue team helped bring them to safety.

The window washers were working on a metal platform suspended by cables from the rooftop at 4 Park Plaza, an office building north of the 405 Freeway near Jamboree Road. The workers, who were wearing body harnesses, were not injured, according to Orange County Fire Authority officials.

Two window washers cleaning the windows at the Jamboree Center #4 Park Plaza building in Irvine look down after they became stuck on the 17th floor when their swing stage had a mechanical breakdown Wednesday morning.

About 35 members of the department responded to the 19-floor building after the workers became stuck 225 feet off the ground at about 9:30 a.m. By mid-day, crew members secured in harnesses on the rooftop lowered cables that were attached to the platform, called a "swing stage."

The cables were attached to cranks -- a hand-operated crank on one side, a motorized device on the other -- that allowed the workers to slowly bring the "swing stage" to the roof. The workers took turns using the manual crank as they tired. "The sun was beating on them, it's hot," said Capt. Steve Concialdi, of the Orange County Fire Authority. The workers were helped from the platform to the rooftop just before 1 p.m.

Window Washers Rescued Hanging Near 17th Floor of Irvine High-Rise: A pair of window washers were stuck for about three hours Wednesday when their platform malfunctioned near the 17th floor of an Irvine high-rise, but they were eventually lifted safely back to the building’s roof. The call for help came at 9:30 a.m. at the 19-story office building at 4 Park Plaza, Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Concialdi said. At about noon, firefighters began raising the platform toward the roof using a mechanical device outfitted with two engines.

Office workers look out their windows as two window washers cleaning the windows at the Jamboree Center #4 Park Plaza building in Irvine became stuck on the 17th floor when their swing stage had a mechanical breakdown Wednesday morning.

Firefighters took turns hand-cranking the workers up the side of the building, Concialdi said. The workers were safely on the roof just before 1 p.m., according to Mike Lyster, spokesman for The Irvine Co., which owns the building. “The pizza (the company ordered) just arrived, so what good timing,” Lyster said.

The window washers work for Newport Window Maintenance, which services the building for The Irvine Co. about three times a year, Concialdi said. The workers were about 225 feet off the ground, Concialdi said. The building is 260 feet high, Lyster said. The workers were going from top to bottom cleaning the windows, Lyster said. It takes about four days to clean the windows on a building that size, he said.

Two window washers cleaning the windows at the Jamboree Center #4 Park Plaza building in Irvine were the center of attention Wednesday morning as they became stuck on the 17th floor when their swing stage had a mechanical breakdown. The Orange County Fire Authority responded and after nearly three hours their platform was hoisted back to the top of the building.

2 Window-Washers Rescued After Being Stuck Outside 17th Floor of Irvine Building:  Firefighters rescued two window-washers who were stuck for hours around the 17th floor of an office building in Irvine Wednesday. The call came in around 9:30 a.m. that the window washers were stuck outside 4 Park Plaza, which is a 19-story building that was built in 1991, according to tweets from the Orange County Fire Authority.

The workers were unable to move the platform due to a mechanical failure on one side of the lift, Fire Authority Capt. Steve Concialdi said. About 35 firefighters arrived at the scene, including 16 “highly qualified” Urban search-and-rescue firefighters, the Fire Authority tweeted. Rescuers secured the workers in harnesses before replacing a cable that would allow the platform to be brought to the top of the building.

The workers had to turn a hand crank on one side of the platform while using a motor on the other side to move the lift “inch by inch,” Concialdi said. “The safety of the two workers and our firefighters was paramount, so we had to go slow,” Concialdi said. Firefighters lowered water down to the workers, who were out in the sun for several hours. Just before 1 p.m., the workers’ platform was raised to the level of the building’s roof and rescuers helped the pair to safety.

Scaffold Rescue In Memphis

Two men escaped serious injury Tuesday morning when their scaffolding failed.

Crews rescue men dangling from downtown building: MEMPHIS, TN -  Emergency crews were called to the Sterick Building downtown where a few men were seen dangling from the building. The men were rescued just after 9 a.m. on Tuesday. Witnesses tell WMC Action News 5 that the men are window washers. The Sterick Building is located at the intersection at North Third Avenue and Court Avenue. WMC Action News 5's Nick Kenney is at the scene where the men were rescued. He will explain what happened and how they were brought to safety on the news at 5 p.m.

Two men escape injury as scaffold fails near top of Downtown Memphis building: Two men escaped serious injury Tuesday morning when their scaffolding failed, leaving at least one of them dangling more than 28 stories above Downtown MEMPHIS, TN. Both men were part of a crew from the Structural Waterproofing and Restoration company, charged with preventing further deterioration of the long-vacant Sterick Building at Third and Madison.

As the men used a motor-driven scaffold to scale the 29-story building a little after 8:30 a.m., one motor malfunctioned. While that motor stopped around the 26th floor, the second one kept climbing to the 28th. That left the scaffold in a precarious position, hanging diagonally, Memphis Fire Department spokesman Lt. Wayne Cooke said.

One of the workers toppled off the lower side of the scaffold, but was saved by his safety harness. Although he dangled off the scaffold for several minutes, the man and his colleague both managed to break open a window in the building and clamber back inside. “One motor got stuck in the down position and basically one side kept going and the other stopped,” said Mike Kennedy, Structural owner. “This rig is safer than most rigs. All the safety mechanisms worked, and nobody was hurt.”

As the men worked to save themselves, an MFD special operations team trained in such rescues was slowly making its way up the building’s stairwell. Nine firefighters carrying rope and other mechanical gear in bags weighing up to 100 pounds climbed all 29 stories before determining that the men were safely inside. “We hiked it all the way up,” MFD Battalion Chief Ronny Beasley said, “and when we got to the top, they told us the service elevator was working.”

The drama played out as several Downtown workers watched in amazement. “I looked back and saw glass shatter. The scaffolding broke,” said Kimberly Thompson, a nearby parking-lot attendant who said she watches the men work every day. “The harness saved him. That’s what saved his life.” Greg Tate, a security guard at a nearby hotel, guessed that the man dangled for at least 10 minutes before working his way back inside. “I saw the guy hanging off the edge,” Tate said. “They’ve very fortunate people.”

Perhaps surprisingly, each witness said the man remained calm as he dangled over Third. “No, no, he wasn’t yelling. I would’ve been,” said Frederic Merritt, who works in a barber shop directly across from the Sterick Building. “I joke when those guys all the time, ‘You don’t get paid enough.’”

Life At The Top - Hearst Tower

For many years, being a window cleaner in Manhattan was regarded as one of the most dangerous occupations in the world.

Life at the Top - What a window washer sees (by Adam Higginbotham) - Abstract: Our local correspondents about window washers in Manhattan. When the architect Norman Foster initially presented sketches for the Hearst Tower, the first skyscraper approved for construction in Manhattan after September 11th, one of the questions the building’s prospective owners asked was: How are we going to clean those windows?

In early 2002, Foster + Partners’ associate architects approached Tractel-Swingstage, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of scaffolds and window-washing platforms, to provide a solution. The result, a rectangular steel box the size of a Smart car, supporting a forty-foot mast and a hydraulic boom arm attached by six strands of wire rope to a telescopic cleaning basket, houses a computer that monitors sixty-seven electromechanical safety sensors and switches, and runs around the roof of the Tower on four hundred and twenty feet of elevated steel track.

The commercial window-washing industry in New York emerged with the rise of the skyscraper, at the end of the nineteenth-century, after one Polish immigrant organized a team of expert window cleaners whom he let out on contract. By 1931, when the Empire State Building was completed, there were between two and three thousand unionized window cleaners in New York. The size of any building cleaned by scaffold is measured in drops. Every three floors, Bob Menzer and his team at the Hearst Tower anchor the wire ropes from which they’re suspended to steel buttons on the façade, to prevent the basket from being pulled away from the building by the wind.

Every three floors, Menzer and his team at the Hearst Tower anchor the wire ropes from which they’re suspended to steel buttons on the façade, to prevent the basket from being pulled away from the building by the wind.

Once the glass has been wet down with a sponge or a wand, the water is wiped away with a squeegee. Given good weather, it takes a month to clean the whole tower from top to bottom. For many years, being a window cleaner in Manhattan was regarded as one of the most dangerous occupations in the world. Today, the work of washing windows in the United States is significantly safer than driving a cab. Most injuries on the job are the result of falls (from elevation). The culture of the trade has gradually changed. Many veteran window washers no longer expect their children to pursue the occupation.

Adam Higginbotham looks at the evolution of the commercial window-washing industry, as New York City has become “a crystal garden of geometric forms and irregular shapes,” owing to advances in technology that allow for more intricately designed architecture. Since the rise of the skyscraper, at the end of the nineteenth century, when window washers simply stood outside on a window ledge and gripped the frame, the profession has become less dangerous and more efficient. Modern-day buildings such as the Hearst Tower, which features “curtain walls of glass and stainless steel hung in a diagonal grid . . . known as ‘bird’s mouths’ by the architects,” require advanced window-washing technology.

Hearst Tower’s distinctive facetted silhouette rises dramatically above Joseph Urban’s existing six-storey Art Deco building, its main spatial event a vast internal plaza, occupying the entire shell of the historic base. Designed to consume significantly less energy than a conventional New York office building, it is a model of sustainable office design.

The rig that cleans the Hearst Tower, “a rectangular steel box the size of a Smart car,” took three years to design and was finally installed at a cost of three million dollars. When Higginbotham joined the window-cleaning crew to descend the tower, “a frigid wind scythed down across Columbus Circle, humming in the rigging overhead, and each time I shifted my weight the narrow platform swayed sickeningly, like the world’s most appalling fairground ride,” he writes. Although “the work of washing windows in the United States is significantly safer than driving a cab,” Higginbotham writes, “deaths persist.”

Hearst Tower is the first building to receive a Gold LEED certified rating for core and shell and interiors in New York City. In 2012, Hearst Tower earned a Platinum LEED Rating for Existing Buildings, becoming the first building to receive both Gold and Platinum certifications.

The window washers’ union has prided itself on its safety record, due in part to its apprentice-training program, which requires all new union window cleaners to take two hundred and sixteen hours of classroom instruction, followed by three thousand hours of accredited time with an employer. But a growing number of non-union workers aren’t held to the same standards, and they “were involved in roughly two hundred accidents, more than seventy of them fatal,” between 1983 and 2008. One widow, whose husband fell from a window at 40 Fifth Avenue, said, “People don’t realize . . . being married to a window cleaner is very much like being married to a fireman or a policeman.”

But the culture of the trade has also changed. “The recession has led to less frequent cleaning cycles on the big buildings, smaller permanent crews, and layoffs,” Higginbotham writes. “Yet the work of the men with buckets apparently remains just beyond the reach of technology,” Higginbotham writes. Although a glass manufacturer has developed windows with a self-cleaning coating catalyzed by sunlight, and scientists in Germany and Japan have built a series of costly façade-cleaning robots, “neither has yet gained a foothold in New York.”

The Hearst Tower is a building located at 300 West 57th Street, 959 8th Avenue, near Columbus Circle in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York. It is the world headquarters of the Hearst Corporation, bringing together for the first time their numerous publications and communications companies under one roof, including, among others, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Marie Claire, Harper's Bazaar, Good Housekeeping and Seventeen.

Six Facts About Cleaning New York City Skyscraper Windows: The current issue of The New Yorker has a fascinating (and, sadly, subscription-only) article about how the windows of NYC's skyscrapers get washed. It turns out newfangled skyscraper architecture can make it difficult to use conventional window-washing methods—and that's just one of many fun facts we learned from the story. Here are five more:

1) The Empire State Building is particularly tough to clean because tenants on higher floors often throw things out of the windows. "One time," says one building window cleaner, "they threw, like, twenty gallons of strawberry preserves—and it went through ten floors, all over the windows. And it was the winter, so it froze on there and we couldn't get it off."

2) Designing a cleaning rig that could that clean the Hearst Tower took the engineers at Tractel-Swingstage three years (and around $3 million); the company's vice-president of engineering had never seen anything like what Foster and Partners' called the building's "bird's mouths."

3) A building's size is measured, for cleaning, in "drops"—"a single vertical section of the facade running from the roof to the lowest point the basket can descend." That lowest point might be a setback or other architectural feature, or it might be the ground.

4) The city's first scaffolding for window cleaning was built in 1952 and used to clean Park Avenue's Lever House.

5) Because of the way they move, most window cleaners will end up leaving a "signature" on the window glass.

6) Cleaning the windows of Manhattan skyscrapers takes a long time: "One days' work on an average drop takes around four hours; given good wather it, it takes a month to clean the whole [Hearst] tower from top to bottom. Work on larger skyscrapers in the city takes much longer: a single cleaning cycle on the eighty-story black glass curtain walls of the Time Warner Center, where the central 'canyon drop' alone descends seven hundred feet, from the roof to the fourth-floor setback, can take six men four months."

Window Cleaning Swing Stage Collapse in Calgary

Two men dangling from ropes at the side of a Calgary high-rise were rescued today by firefighters after one side of their swing stage collapsed.

Two workers rescued after hanging by ropes from downtown Calgary office tower: A dramatic rescue of two men left dangling 10 stories in the air off of a downtown high rise captivated the attention of hundreds of office workers Monday. Fire crews was called to the Elveden Centre in the 700 block of 7th Avenue SW. around 10:30 a.m. to rescue two workers who had been left stranded, clinging to their life lines, after the platform beneath them collapsed. Both men were successfully lowered into the bucket of an awaiting fire truck shortly before noon.

Two window washers are being rescued from hanging by ropes from a downtown building after a platform collapsed beneath them shortly before 11 a.m. Rescue crews are on the scene at the Elvenden Centre on the 700 block of 7 Avenue S.W.

From a south-facing window on the 17th floor of Sun Life Plaza, Shovik Sengupta watched this morning’s harrowing scene unfold. The data analyst said he looked out the window shortly before 11 a.m. to see two men dangling from ropes. “At the first they weren’t moving. They were staying very still. I don’t know if it’s because they are injured or because they don’t want to mess up their safety harness,” said Sengupta. Sengupta watched as a rescuer lowered himself to the men who were clinging to ropes approximately 10 stories above the ground.

Another angle captured.

Below where the men had been dangling, the ground appears to be littered with debris, including buckets and window washing equipment. “We missed the fall but we heard the sirens and we all came to the window,” he said. “At first it was pretty jarring to see two guys hanging from the building who aren’t moving.” “It’s never a comfortable thing to see first thing on a Monday morning and you hope for the best.” A spokesperson with the Calgary fire department said both workers were wearing lifelines when the platform collapsed. No injuries have been reported and investigators are looking into the cause of the accident.

Emergency crews try to rescue second man after his scaffolding gave way on a downtown highrise in Calgary.

A man is wheeled off on a stretcher after being rescued from a Calgary highrise when some scaffolding broke.

Workers dangling from Calgary scaffolding saved: Two men dangling from ropes at the side of a Calgary high-rise were rescued today by firefighters after one side of their swing stage collapsed. Fire crews reached the first man just after 11 a.m. MT in a rescue basket. Gathering crowds applauded as he was brought to the ground. He then walked himself to a stretcher and was brought inside the building. Crews reached the second worker about 30 minutes later. He gave a thumbs up to onlookers as he was being loaded into an ambulance. Both men were dangling eight to nine storeys above ground. The extent of their injuries is unknown.

Firefighters Rescue Window Washers - North Carolina

4 rescued from platform outside Durham Courthouse: Durham firefighters successfully rescued four window washers stuck on a platform nearly 200 feet in the air Thursday afternoon. The rope rescue took two hours as Firefighter Brandon Elliott descended 15 feet from the rooftop of the new Durham Courthouse onto the scaffolding. "One or two of then looked a little nervous, but no one was physically injured," said Elliott.  "It was all mental stuff, they had been there for a few hours and they were ready to come off and we got them down."
Steve Broussard was one of the four workers stuck on the platform ten stories high. "It scared me, when I get scared... you know it scared me and it takes me to a point of you know get me out of here," said Broussard. One by one a team of 20 firefighters harnessed and hoisted the men to safety on the roof. Fire Captain David Elston told NBC 17 News the scaffolding company brought in a part to fix the platform and lower it to the ground. Mangum Street from Pettigrew to the Durham Freeway was closed for part of the day. You can listen to more reaction of this daring rescue in the video monitor above.

Firefighters Rescue Window Washers Outside New Courthouse: Durham firefighters made a dramatic rescue of four window washers Thursday after they got stuck between the eighth and nine floors outside the new downtown courthouse. The platform they were on called a swing stage locked up just before noon as the washers for Sparkle and Shine were cleaning the windows. Firefighters from the Durham Fire Department's Technical Rescue Team responded, taking the elevator to the roof of the 11-story building under construction at South Mangum and Dillard streets. Using a rope system, they lowered a firefighter and one of the scaffolding company's engineers about 12 feet to the platform.

They determined that a piece of equipment was needed and sent for it, according to Battalion Fire Chief David Elston. Meanwhile, firefighters used ropes and harnesses to raise the washers off the swing stage and onto the roof to safety. A company engineer from Associated Scaffolding fixed the problem and firefighters lowered the swing stage to the ground. No one was hurt. Elston said the call came in to firefighters at 11:49 a.m. and the platform was lowered to the ground at 2:09 p.m.

He said Durham County Emergency Medical Services personnel stood by, and Durham police blocked off Mangum Street at Pettigrew Street to traffic. "The window washers were very appreciative to get off there," Elston said. "They were pretty spooked when they were stuck." Elston said firefighters train for similar emergencies all the time, but are seldom required to put that knowledge into practice. "It's nice sometimes to be able to use what we train for to help somebody," he said. "We were completely confident in being able to get them out safely."

Durham firefighters made a dramatic rescue of four window washers Thursday after they got stuck between the eighth and nine floors outside the new downtown courthouse. The platform they were on -- called a swing stage -- locked up just before noon as the washers for Sparkle and Shine were cleaning the windows.

Firefighters from the Durham Fire Department's Technical Rescue Team responded, taking the elevator to the roof of the 11-story building under construction at South Mangum and Dillard streets. Using a rope system, they lowered a firefighter and one of the scaffolding company's engineers about 12 feet to the platform. They determined that a piece of equipment was needed and sent for it, according to Battalion Fire Chief David Elston. Meanwhile, firefighters used ropes and harnesses to raise the washers off the swing stage and onto the roof to safety.

A company engineer from Associated Scaffolding fixed the problem and firefighters lowered the swing stage to the ground. Elston said the call came in to firefighters at 11:49 a.m. and the platform was lowered to the ground at 2:09 p.m. He said Durham County Emergency Medical Services personnel stood by, and Durham police blocked off Mangum Street at Pettigrew Street to traffic. "The window washers were very appreciative to get off there," Elston said. "They were pretty spooked when they were stuck." Elston said firefighters train for similar emergencies all the time, but are seldom required to put that knowledge into practice. "It's nice sometimes to be able to use what we train for to help somebody," he said. "We were completely confident in being able to get them out safely."

A Day In The Life Of A Window Washer

Erick Soulard weilds normal brushes and soap as he hangs off the sides of buildings to wash the windows.

A day in the life of a window washer: If you're interested in a job as a window washer, it helps to get used to climbing things. For example, Erick Soulard said he was always climbing trees as a kid. "Now, I like to climb windows and sides of buildings to get my job done," he said.

Armed with Sunlight soap and a normal scrub brush, Soulard said he works from either a platform (called a stage) or a harness called a bosun's chair. He and his brother Rob are the third generation of Soulards to do the job. "My dad showed me . . . how to clean a window back then and I knew what I wanted to be – a window cleaner," said Erick, who said he had wanted to do this since he was six. "I just love it."

The tallest building Erick has worked on was 35 storeys, but he said one of his scariest encounters had nothing to do with the building he was working on – he was attacked by a Peregrine falcon. "It was actually in its nest and got off the nest, swooped back at me," he said. "It had the babies and basically just kept swooping until I got off the top of the building."

The job of a window washer can also hold surprises of another kind – what's going on behind the windows you scrub. "Unfortunately, I can't share what I see through the windows," he said. "That's for me to know and you to find out!"

Swing Stage Incident In Indonesia With Fatality

Gondola Victim Evacuated Wednesday (10/26): Fachrudin (33), a dead casualty of a crashed gondola at Batavia Tower in Tanah Abang has been evacuated to Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (RSCM) for autopsy treatment.

Johanson Ronald Simamora as Head of Tanah Abang Sector Police explained that before the incident, Fahrudin was at the balcony of 29th floor. He crashed into a gondola which was shared by two other workers while cleaning the windows on 33th floor. “It is alleged that the victim was about to move one gondola security rope to another one." "Then, he fell down to the 29th floor." When falling down, his head hit the building divider and spotlight." "Finally, he was dead at the scene in a face down position."

Kardiman as a witness and the victim’s co-worker expressed that when moving the rope, he did not use sling cable which was used as a safety function to stop a fall. “If you want to park the gondola, you must use sling rope - but, he didn’t use it,” he added. One of the victims was wearing a helmet. As a result, his right hand fractured and the left side of his head was bleeding.

A gondola/window cleaning staging at Batavia Tower in Tanahabang, Central Jakarta, Indonesia failed. At the present time the reason of the cause of the collapse is unknown. However, due to the incident, one of the workers was killed. Ronald Simamora of the Malaysian police, said the incident occurred around 10:00 a.m. "The cause of the accident is not known but will certainly be investigated," he said on Wednesday (26/10).

The information collected by the newspaper, is that two workers fell from the gondola on the 33rd floor of the building and were stuck on the 29th floor. At that time, the workers were in the gondola to clean the glass roof. The victim who died was known by the surname Fachrudin, of Ciputat, South Tangerang. Meanwhile, other workers suffered cuts and the identities of the workers are unknown.

Rica, one of the staff at the Batavia Tower, said people are slow at coming forward on the incident & do not want to give evidence. He said "the party's management is still collecting information and will give evidence after lunch." "Just after the hour lunch break we will pass it all on to the authorities." "At the moment the authorities are still on site going through the evidence."