Lucky Escapes For Amateurs

PRECARIOUS: Serangoon residents were shocked to see a maid balancing on a window sill to do cleaning.

Maid's safety in the balance for 15 minutes: Residents of an HDB estate in Serangoon were shocked to see a domestic worker balancing precariously on a ledge to clean windows on Saturday. The incident occurred at about 2.30pm at an eighth-floor unit of Block 539 in Serangoon North Avenue 4, Chinese newspaper Shin Min Daily News reported yesterday.

Ms He, a 40-year-old housewife who lives at a block opposite, told Shin Min that she saw a maid climbing outside to clean the windows. "To see that maid standing on the window sill, grabbing on to the window to clean it without any safety measures on the eighth floor, it really frightened me," she added. She said she had wanted to go over to stop the maid but changed her mind when she saw that there seemed to be other people in the unit.

Another resident, Mr Chen, a 45-year-old construction worker, had also witnessed the maid's actions. "I wanted to shout at her to ask her not to do that, but I was worried that if I did, disaster may follow if she got frightened so I could only watch." Mr Chen added that the maid had spent about 15 minutes wiping the windows, most of the time squatting on the sill.

Madam He said this was the first time that she had seen the domestic worker carry out such a dangerous act. "Luckily, she climbed down safely in the end, much to my relief," she added.

Shin Min approached the maid's employer, who said that the woman had worked at his home for about five months. He said the maid was hard-working although they had some difficulty communicating.

After he saw the picture of the maid cleaning the window, the employer was shocked and said that he did not know she had done such a thing. He was normally away from home during the day, with only his mother and children around. He added that he would advise the maid to be more careful and that he had instructed her not to clean the windows' exterior since it would rain anyway.

Another lucky escape for those DIY amateurs. See below for video.

Lucky Escape For Man Stuck in Compost Bin: This guy stood on top of a compost bin so he could clean his gutters. However, the bin couldn't handle his weight, so he fell through and got stuck. He called for his family to help him, but all they did was laugh at his misery. This homeowner got away lightly & shows another case of how hiring a professional to do the job over DIY can pay for itself many times over.

This could have turned out very badly, luckily the man fell in such a way that he didn't harm himself. But in a lot of cases were knee flex is restricted when landing can cause serious damage. Extended knee landing results in serious deformation of the meniscus and cartilage and increases the risk of bone-to-bone contact and serious knee injury when the load exceeds the threshold safety height. This risk is considerably greater than the risk of injury associated with walking downhill or flexion landing activities.

Irish Pensioner Dies While Cleaning Windows

Sarah Phelan - granny who fell from apartment block in Avondale House, Dublin.

Pensioner fell through fourth-floor window she was cleaning: A pensioner tragically died when she fell through a fourth floor window she was cleaning, an inquest heard. Sarah Phelan (82) was washing a windowsill of her flat at Avondale House, North Cumberland Street, Dublin 1, on the evening of July 8 last year when the accident happened.

Gardaí believe she was attempting to clean pigeon droppings off the windowsill when she fell. Dublin Coroner’s Court heard from neighbour Mary McDonnell that she was sitting in her flat in the block opposite Mrs Phelan’s when the accident happened at around 9pm. She said that she could see Mrs Phelan washing the windowsill of the top floor flat.“A few minutes later she was hanging out of the cable wire shouting ‘help, help’. I ran around but when I got there she was on the ground,” she said.

She had fallen four floors to a small garden area directly below the flat window. Neighbours rushed to her aid and were performing CPR when paramedics and gardaí arrived. Garda Kieran Brady said that she was unresponsive at the scene. Mrs Phelan was taken to the Mater Hospital where she was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. The postmortem found that she died as a result of major internal injuries sustained in the fall, including a transected aorta. Gda Brady said that gardaí are satisfied that there was no foul play involved in the death.

The court heard that Mrs Phelan was fastidiously clean and had a dislike of pigeons congregating on her windowsill. Gda Brady said that a cloth was found on the windowsill. When asked by coroner Dr Brian Farrell if he believed that she had fallen across the windowsill while cleaning it, Gda Brady said yes. The coroner expressed concern that the window ledges in the flat were very low and the windows could be opened fully. The family told him that the flat, which is a Dublin City Council property, has since been given to a family with young children. Dr Farrell returned a verdict of accidental death and said that he would write to the housing department of the city council to alert them to the issues raised about the windows at the inquest.

Irish OAP Dies While Cleaning Windows

An elderly woman plunged to her death after slipping while cleaning her windows.

Elderly woman dies after fall while cleaning windows: The 82-year-old was understood to be washing a window sill at her fourth-floor flat in inner city Dublin at the time. Witnesses who saw the incident at Avondale House on North Cumberland Street called the emergency services. Gardai said they were alerted to the accident at around 9pm last night. The pensioner, believed to have fallen on to bark cuttings but who sustained serious injuries, was rushed to the Mater Hospital. But she later died from her wounds. Gardaí said the matter was being treated as a sudden death. While a report is being prepared for the coroner, there is no separate Garda investigation into the incident.

Sarah Theelin (82), plunged to her death in Dublin's inner city last night while cleaning a window of her fourth floor apartment.

Tributes pour for OAP who fell to her death cleaning windows: An elderly woman plunged to her death in Dublin's inner city last night while cleaning a window of her fourth floor apartment. Sarah Theelin (82) was in the process of washing her window on North Cumberland Street at 8.30pm when the tragic incident took place. Known affectionately as Sadie to her family, the woman lived in the flat at Avondale House alone following the death of her husband. The pensioner, who is believed to have fallen into the park area surrounding the complex, was rushed to Mater Hospital, but later died.

Sarah, who hails from a large family of nine girls and four boys, was fondly remembered by her family, who described their shock. Tragically, the Dublin native had just returned from her sister’s nearby flat and was still wearing her jacket. “I can't believe it, I am still in shock,” Sarah's youngest sister Catherine said. “We had asked her to stay with us many times, but she liked living in her own flat with memories of her husband and they had no children.”

It is believed that the 82-year-old had moved a chair across to the window and stood up on it in an attempt to clean bird droppings from the glass using a cloth on a stick. She then lost her balance. “We are very surprised that she even made it up on the chair because she was crippled with arthritis,” explained Catherine. “We are all just devastated, she as a great sister and we were very close.”

Several neighbours told the Irish Independent how they heard the pensioner's cries for help as she desperately clung on to the window-ledge. Neighbour Stephen McCluskey (66) said he saw Mrs Phelan "hang on for about five seconds" before falling. "She was hanging on with one hand and I could see her getting weaker and weaker. She shouted, 'help, help' and then I started screaming for help and trying to get other people's attention but there was nothing I could do," he said. "I could see her panicking and I saw her try to put her right (hand) on the window-ledge as she held on with her left, but she was just too weak to support herself."

Mary McDonnell, who lived directly across from Mrs Phelan, also saw her fall to her death, with her daughter's friend Cameron Byrne (13). "I saw her coming down after she shouted out. She hit the ground and kind of bounced back up again for a second. Then we all ran out to her to see if we could do anything for her. "People said not to touch her because she was on her side in the recovery position," Mary said. One neighbour attempted to give the 82-year-old CPR while waiting for the emergency services to respond.

Mrs Phelan was revived for a time and taken to the nearby Mater Hospital. Mrs Phelan, who was described as a "cleanaholic" and "a devout Catholic", worked as a cleaner with CIE for over 50 years. She had lived all her life in the Avondale House flats and several family members also live there, including her niece and carer Audrey Teeling, who was the first on the scene. "She was always cleaning and couldn't pass a piece of dirt without picking it up," Audrey said.

North inner city councillor Christy Burke today paid tribute to the woman who he described as “very respected in the community”. “She was a lovely, low-key lady and is a very sad loss to the area,” Christy told the Herald. “She was a highly respected senior citizen and was very involved in the community and the type that everyone would know. “The north inner city community is deeply saddened by the loss and she will be missed,” he added. Witnesses who saw the incident at Avondale House on North Cumberland Street called the emergency services. But Sarah was pronounced dead at approximately 9pm. Gardaí said the matter was being treated as a sudden death. While a report is being prepared for the coroner, there is no separate Garda investigation into the incident.

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