Our Guys Like To Be Challenged

Highrise window washers with Picture Perfect Window Cleaning wash the glass on the Canadian Museum for Human Rights on Tuesday in preparation for the grand opening, which is less than two months away. Names from left - Kyle Dufort, John Burridge (centre) and Chris Tonn (right).

Hard windows of opportunity - Cleaning 2,000 museum panes: To an outsider, the iconic Canadian Museum for Human Rights building looks and sounds like it would be the window-cleaning industry's version of Mount Everest. Not only is it physically imposing - 100 metres in height and 24,154 square metres in size - it also boasts more than 2,000 panes of glass. The glass walls on "the cloud" portion of the 12-storey building are not only curved, they slope inwards. None of this straight-up-and-down stuff found in most glass-covered buildings.

The owners of the Winnipeg company that won the contract to clean all of those windows, Picture Perfect Window Cleaning, are quick to admit the CMHR building is the most challenging structure they've encountered in their 12 years in business. "The whole building, in general, is a challenge," Ken Geron said. "The size of it is a challenge, and the angles (of the glass walls) is absolutely a challenge. Every single angle you can think of, it's here."

But to say it's the window cleaning industry's equivalent of a Mount Everest, the world's highest and arguably most challenging mountain to scale, is probably overstating things just a bit, said Picture Perfect co-owner Dylan Dufort. "There is nothing else like it," Dufort admitted. "But once you get used to doing it, it will be just another job."

The Canadian Museum of Human Rights was the dream of Canwest founder Izzy Asper as a place where students from across Canada could come to learn about human rights. He also saw it as an opportunity to revitalize downtown Winnipeg and increase tourism to the city.

Geron said Picture Perfect beat out three other contenders for the CMHR window cleaning contract. But because of the commercially competitive nature of the bidding/quoting process, the CMHR is not disclosing the dollar value of the contract. Geron said until they landed this contract, Manitoba Hydro's downtown office tower was the most challenging building they had tackled because it's so tall and has so many windows. And the circular, revolving restaurant on top of the Fort Garry Place apartment/commercial tower was a close second. But the CMHR has them both beat, he and Dufort added.

Picture Perfect is tasked with cleaning the inside and the outside of the CHMR's windows, and Dufort said both jobs are equally challenging because of all the weird angles involved. He estimates, taking into account weather delays, it's probably going to take nearly five months to complete both jobs. The inside cleaning is already done, but they've only been working on the outside for less than two weeks. "We're supposed to have it all done by September," Dufort added.

Silas Chipelski (left) and Robyn Hendrickson.

Geron said it took them about two and a half years to come up with a plan for how they were going to tackle the two jobs. And they made sure the plan was approved by provincial workplace safety and health officials before implementing it. A lot of the outside window cleaning is done by workers who repel down the glass walls on bosun's or boatswain's chairs. Some of the techniques they use are similar to those used by mountain climbers, and they've all received special training by a company supervisor who is also a training instructor for the Winnipeg Fire Department.

High Rise window washers with Picture Perfect Window Cleaning wash the windows on the Canadian Museum for Human Rights Tuesday afternoon all in preparation for the grand opening which is less than 2 months away. Pictured - John Burridge.

For those really hard-to-reach spots, Picture Perfect has rented a 41-metre-high boon truck, which is the tallest such vehicle in the city. Geron said the inside cleaning job was completed without any problems, and so far the outside cleaning has also gone without a hitch.

Maureen Fitzhenry, the CMHR's media relations manager, said museum officials expect to spend anywhere from $50,000 to $200,000 a year on window cleaning, depending on how often they feel it needs to be done. "We're just going to have to see what the weather is like and how dirty they get," Fitzhenry added. Geron said he and Dufort are hoping the experience the company gains from the CMHR contract will help the company land other challenging window-cleaning jobs either here or elsewhere in Canada.

"Our guys... like to be challenged. They need to be challenged," he added. 

Winnipeg Window Washer Rescue

A Winnipeg window washer is safe after being rescued while dangling above Portage Avenue.

Window washer rescued after dangling from Hydro Building: A Winnipeg window washer is safe after being rescued while dangling above Portage Avenue. Authorities say his ropes got tangled yesterday while he was cleaning the Manitoba Hydro building. Firefighters were able to reach him with their ladder truck and lowered him to the ground. They then worked to secure the window washing platform, which was swaying in the wind.

Manitoba Hydro Place was designed using computer modelling to improve performance: A Toronto architectural firm’s unique design approach has helped a Winnipeg skyscraper win the title of the year’s best tall building in the Americas. Manitoba Hydro Place is a 23-storey, energy-efficient building on Winnipeg’s Portage Avenue and it earned the award from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. The $300 million building was completed in December 2008.

“What really differentiated this project from other buildings was from the beginning it was organized and designed through an Integrated Design Process (IDP),” said Kael Opie, KPMB project architect. “This was critical for Manitoba Hydro because we were trying to achieve a high level of energy reductions.” The goal was to achieve a 60 per cent energy savings. “A lot of things went into achieving this energy efficiency saving,” he explained. “The main difference between Hydro Place and a typical building is the heating and cooling of the building is achieved using a passive system, when possible. The shape of the building, orientation and atriums were all arranged to meet the energy requirements of the client.”

The IDP process was enhanced by extensive computer modeling using local wind, sun and temperature data to evaluate design options. The building also has the largest closed loop geothermal system in the province. There are 280 boreholes, each 150 mm (6 inches) in diameter, that penetrate the site 125 metres (400 ft.) underground. A key element in the passive ventilation system is a solar chimney that draws used air out of the building and preheats the incoming cold air in the south atria, during the winter. Depending on the season, a 24-metre-tall waterfall feature in each of the atria humidifies or dehumidifies the incoming air.

During colder weather, recovered heat from exhaust air and passive solar radiant energy is used to warm the fresh air. Manually operated windows on the interior curtain wall, combined with the automated exterior wall vents controlled by the Building Management System allow employees to control their individual environment. Every feature of Manitoba Hydro Place was integrated to make this building one of the most energy-efficient office towers in the world.

UnSafe Work Practises Highlighted

Witness told the Winnipeg Sun that the window washer's rope broke, causing him to fall all the way down through a ground-floor overhead window and into the complex’s lobby.

Province planning crackdown on unsafe workplaces: Chris Piper fell eight stories and survived. Two weeks ago, he was cleaning windows when something went terribly wrong. He's still recovering but the death-defying fall was just one of about 37,000 workplace accidents that happen every year in Manitoba. 24-year old Curtis Martel says he's been injured so many times at work, he's lost count. "A lot of day to day things, like cuts and burns, working in restaurants that's really common, slips, falls, chemical burns," said Martel. From minor injures to fatalities, the province is now cracking down on employers who repeatedly fail to keep their workplaces safe. "I think you can expect to see more fines in the coming months," announced Jennifer Howard, Minister Responsible for the Worker's Compensation Board.

Come Monday, any company with a lot of accidents will be displayed on, www.safemanitoba.com, for you to see. "Some companies need to be named and shamed in order to change their work practices," said Martel. As well, the province will reward good employers by reducing Worker's Compensation rates if there are fewer injured workers, some the Federation of Labour says will cause other problems. "Sadly there are a number of employers out there that use that way to game the system," said Kevin Rebeck, "they use intimidation, pressure or misinformation so workers don't report their claims." "We need to make sure the incentives actually result in safer workplaces," said Howard. The province is conducting a review of the entire Workplace Safety and Health Act, changes it hopes will prevent accidents from happening.

Teng Laguilam hands over donations made by Filipino residents to Jovita Bulseco. Bulseco said her problem began after she fell while cleaning a window in her employer’s home.

OFWs help ailing housemaid (Jeddah) — Kindhearted Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) taking part in a basketball tournament here donated money to help an ailing Filipino domestic helper who is collecting money to finance an operation to remove a tumor in her spine. Audience members, players and organizers of the Filipino Basketball Tournament all donated money to help 37-year-old Jovita Bulseco pay for her operation. “I am very happy seeing my fellow OFWs donating money from their hearts and I am convinced that bayanihan spirit among Filipinos is still alive,” said a teary-eyed Bulseco.

Teng Laguialam, President of the Filipino Salesman and Merchandizers (FILSAMA) and Commissioner of the Filipino Basketball League said it is their duty as Filipinos to render assistance to any fellow countrymen in need. Acknowledging the amount donated was not very big, Laguialam said the compassion he saw from the kababayan after he informed them of Bulseco’s situation, made him proud to be a Filipino.

Bulseco said her problem began after she fell while cleaning a window in her employer’s home. Two months later, when her condition worsened, she was finally taken to the hospital. She said she isn’t ashamed to ask for help and will do anything for the sake of her children’s future. Due to her condition, Bulseco has difficulty walking and relies on a walking stick. She learned of the tumor in her spine after an advocacy group in Jeddah brought her to the hospital to have her spine checked.

Bulseco said she began asking for financial assistance from her compatriots because her employer is unlikely to shoulder her medical expenses or the costs of her operation. “I still have hope that my employer will help me. I hope I can survive this problem for the sake of my children,” said Bulseco.

The Science Of Falling & Walking Away

A worker nonchalantly cleans up broken glass after Chris Piper fell 7 storeys without a broken bone.

Friends, family call recovery a 'miracle' - Family and friends of a window washer who fell about eight storeys from a Cambridge Street apartment say his survival is nothing short of a miracle. Chris Piper, 27, was on a crew, washing windows at an apartment at 850 Cambridge St. on Wednesday afternoon when he plunged eight storeys, smashed through a pane of glass and landed on the floor of the lobby, said a witness. But after being rushed to Health Sciences Centre in critical condition, Piper managed to escape the fall with no broken bones. "Eight storeys and still alive? It's a miracle," said Cathy Piper, the man's aunt. She said Chris had surgery to his knee and foot, but was doing well. She visited him in hospital Wednesday and he was talking. "We love him and he's just our miracle," she said. "We're all just wishing the best for him."

The Winnipeg Police Service and Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health are investigating the incident. Chris Piper was between the apartment building's seventh and eighth storeys when a rope broke and he fell, hitting the top of a glass solarium on the building's ground floor. Patricia St. Godard, of Class A Service, said the man was working with his uncle, an experienced window washer with 15 years with the company, when the fall happened. "It's a terrible day, but we're very grateful," she said. "This could have been such a much worse day. "This day, we're only worrying about a knee surgery... I can't begin to tell you how wonderful that makes us feel."

Chris had a safety net and safety harness, she said. She said he'd worked for the company for three years. "He did everything that he could have done, but accidents happen, and that's why we have Workplace Safety and Health," Godard said. She said people at the company were shaken by what happened. She said the business was in its 25th year, and nothing like this had happened before. "We've never had anybody fall," she said. Chris Piper sent a statement through the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority on Thursday saying he was in "good spirits," and offering thanks to people for their concern.

Window washer's luck astounds - The science of falling and walking away: Chris Piper's eight-storey fall landed him squarely in a club of people who, almost inconceivably, survive plunges from significant heights, experts say. "It's not so much physics. It's luck. Very seldom would someone survive a fall of about 80 feet, which is what I figure this is close to," said University of Manitoba kinesiology and recreation professor Marion Alexander.

Piper's survival was so rare, Alexander actually sat down and calculated the odds. And she said the odds of survival were infinitesimal. "If you fall from 50 or 60 feet, you're likely to die. So, the fact that he survived really was just luck," Alexander said. "He would have hit the ground at about 50 miles per hour, if he didn't hit anything," she said. But Piper did hit something, with luck shaping up in the form of a glass ceiling panel of the apartment block solarium. That would have cut 15 to 20 miles an hour off his velocity, Alexander said.

Piper hasn't spoken with the media yet, and it's unclear if he even recalls the miraculous landing. But Alexander figures the position in which he landed, his age and his physical condition all added up in his favour. "So he was lucky because he hit the glass and then he was lucky he didn't land on his head. He would have shattered his skull and likely died on the spot." By comparison, landing on his feet, he would have broken leg bones; on his back, he would have pulverized his vertebrae; and by landing on his chest, his rib cage would have crushed his heart and other vital organs.

To drive home the lesson of human frailty, the Winnipeg professor said older people fall all the time and break their hips. "And that's a three-foot drop." In Ottawa, the president of the Canadian Physics Association said surviving a fall of eight storeys is something so rare the first comparison she thought of wasn't even human. "Cats are known to survive falls from significant heights. Their flexible bodies being able to absorb the shock of free fall," said Béla Joos, from the University of Ottawa. "The window cleaner most likely survived because he fell through the glass solarium." Precious few survive long falls, but when they do they make news:

• Flight attendant Vesna Vulovic holds the world record for surviving a fall, dropping 10,160 metres while inside part of a Yugoslav DC9 that was destroyed mid-air by a bomb in 1972.

• RAF Flight Sergeant Nicholas Alkemade survived an 5,490-metre jump from a blazing Lancaster bomber in 1944.

• Skydiver Michael Holmes fell 4,570 metres when his main chute tangled and his reserve failed. He broke an ankle.

• Chris Saggers escaped with a broken elbow after falling 22 storeys from a Salford tower block.

• Window washer Alcides Moreno survived a 47-storey fall off a Manhattan skyscraper in 2007.

Winnipeg window washer who fell eight storeys in good spirits:  A window washer is lucky to be alive after falling eight storeys and smashing through a glass solarium, said a witness who saw the man minutes after the workplace incident Wednesday. The window cleaner is 27-year-old Chris Piper. Piper had been working with his uncle, an experienced window washer, at the site when the fall occurred. Patricia St. Godard, with Clean A Service, said Piper was due to have knee surgery. She said Piper had a safety net and a safety harness when the fall happened. She said she was very grateful Piper survived the fall. The company is in its 25th year and hasn`t had a similar incident, she said.

Piper has been upgraded to stable condition after being taken to hospital Wednesday after the fall from Cambridge Gardens at 850 Cambridge Street. A statement was released by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority Thursday afternoon confirming he was in stable condition. ``He is in good spirits and thanks everyone for their concern,'' said the statement. ``He does not want to speak with media at this time and has asked that his privacy and that of his family please be respected.''

James Warren said he was leaving his grandmother`s apartment when he saw Piper inside the building shortly after the fall. Emergency crews had yet to respond to the scene. ``He was covered in blood and glass. He was awake and he was sitting up but he was obviously in shock,'' Warren said. ``His co-worker said he`d crushed a leg. He was bleeding profusely from the head and mouth.'' Warren said Piper just missed being impaled on a picket fence around the plants in the solarium by the foyer. ``If you were inside, you would have seen the picket fence and he probably missed it by half a foot. He`s lucky to be alive.''

Winnipeg Window Washer Fall

A window-washer wash seriously injured after falling while working at the Cambridge Gardens apartments at 850 Cambridge St.

Window washer stable after fall: A window washer who plunged between seven and eight stories while cleaning a River Heights apartment building is in stable condition, his employer says. The cleaner fell around 3 p.m. Wednesday while working at a 10-storey complex at 850 Cambridge Ave., and he was taken to the Health Sciences Centre in critical condition, where he remained the following morning. "At the moment, he's at HSC, and he's stable. He's got no broken bones," said Jim St. Godard, the owner of Class A Service Ltd., adding he had no other information about his employee's injuries. "We're concerned for him and his family and hoping the best for him." The employee, who has not been named, has worked for the St. Mary's Road business for "several years," St. Godard said. He couldn't say how the incident unfolded, saying it was under investigation.

A witness told the Winnipeg Sun that the window washer's rope broke, causing him to fall all the way down through a ground-floor overhead window and into the complex’s lobby. “His eyes were open and he was sitting up — just bleeding from his head, profusely,” James Warren said at the scene, adding the injured man, apparently “in shock,” did not speak. “He was just a guy sitting in a crumpled heap on the floor of the lobby. It was pretty hard to believe he was conscious.” Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health is investigating and the division's executive director declined to comment on the specifics of the incident. "As we do with all serious workplace accidents, we immediately dispatched an investigator to make sure nothing is disturbed," said Joanna Guerra. As part of the probe, Guerra said investigators will speak to witnesses, take pictures and measurements as well as examine equipment. "It's quite an in-depth investigation," she said. The focus is on trying to prevent similar accidents in the future, Guerra said, although Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health has the ability to send files to the Crown's office for possible prosecution.

Window washer badly hurt in fall - Man rushed to hospital in critical condition: A man was in critical condition in hospital on Wednesday night after falling about eight storeys from a Winnipeg apartment building while washing windows. The shocking mishap occurred about 3 p.m. at the 10-storey Cambridge Gardens in River Heights, when — according to a witness — a rope used by the commercial crew member broke, causing him to fall all the way down through a ground-floor overhead window and into the complex’s lobby. “He landed there — he went straight through,” James Warren, visiting his grandmother who lives at the building, told the Winnipeg Sun while pointing to the broken glass awning near the front entrance. Warren added that he passed through a surreal scene in the lobby “about a minute after” the accident, and before an ambulance arrived. “His eyes were open and he was sitting up — just bleeding from his head, profusely,” he said, adding the injured man, apparently “in shock,” did not speak. “He was just a guy sitting in a crumpled heap on the floor of the lobby. It was pretty hard to believe he was conscious.”

A co-worker called for an ambulance, which took the man to Health Sciences Centre. Staff Sgt. J. Anderlic confirmed that the man remained in critical but stable condition. “He’s got some lower-body injuries,” he said. Police and provincial workplace safety officers investigated at the scene at Cambridge Street and Carter Avenue, near Pan Am Pool, long after the man was removed from the lobby. The floor below the smashed awning was strewn with broken glass, mixed with blood. Two running shoes remained on the floor. Warren said he had been told by another window-washing crew member that a “rope just snapped” above the worker, leading to the fall. Warren said the injured man was fortunate to fall where he did, less than a metre from a spiked, iron barrier in the lobby. “About another foot over,” he said, “and he could have impaled himself.”

Window washer falls 7 storeys from building: A professional window washer remains in critical condition in a Winnipeg hospital after he fell at least seven storeys from an apartment building in the city's River Heights neighbourhood. Emergency crews and workplace safety investigators spent hours late Wednesday afternoon at the Cambridge Gardens building on Cambridge Street, just south of Grant Avenue. An atrium window near the main entrance to the apartment complex appeared to be smashed. Inside the building, a pool of blood and bits of broken glass were visible in the lobby.

John Huizinga, who lives in the building, told CBC News the rope that was supposed to support the window washer appeared to be broken. "It was really a heavy thud," Huizinga said of the man's fall. "We're seven floors up, and it was like it was [happening] right below us." After falling along the side of the building, the window washer fell through the atrium window and landed on the floor of the lobby. "He started yelling, you know, 'Get me out of here, get me out of here,' but nobody could get him out of there," Huizinga said. James Warren said he could only watch in horror as the injured window washer sat in the lobby, his face covered in blood. "I wished I could do something for the guy, but I don't know first aid or any of that stuff," he said. "That might be something I might look into doing, just in case I ever see something like that again — I won't feel so useless."

Police officers inspect the scene of an accident at an apartment block on Cambridge Street Wednesday where a window washer's rope broke, causing him to fall eight storeys into a solarium.

Window washer survives eight-storey fall: A window washer is lucky to be alive after falling eight storeys and smashing through a glass solarium that probably saved his life, said a witness to the workplace accident Wednesday. The window washer was reported in critical condition after a fall from Cambridge Gardens at 850 Cambridge St. just after 3 p.m. Winnipeg police remained on the scene with Workplace Safety and Health investigators long after emergency crews transported to man to hospital.

James Warren said he was leaving his grandmother’s apartment when he saw the worker just after his fall and minutes before emergency crews responded to help. "He was covered in blood and glass. He was awake and he was sitting up but he was obviously in shock," said Warren."His co-worker said he'd crushed a leg. He was bleeding profusely from the head and mouth." Warren said the worker just missed being impaled on a picket fence around the plants in the solarium by the foyer. "If you're inside, you would have seen the picket fence and he probably missed it by half a foot. He's lucky to be alive."

The worker was part of a three-man window-washing crew. The solarium that broke the worker's fall juts out perhaps a metre from one small portion of the front of the block. The back of the building is covered in concrete, with a row of metal trash bins lined up by the building. A fall there would likely have been fatal, the witness said. The accident sobered residents who expressed horror at the fall. One resident who gave her name as Maureen pointed to the solarium window on the ground floor and, like Warren, reported the glassed-in structure had broken the worker's fall.

Another resident who arrived home after work said the accident spooked her because it happened a day after she saw a window washer at work, hanging from a harness outside her office window. Residents, said the woman, had recently received a notice from building managers that window washers would be at work outside their apartments. "I was happy when we got the letters they were washing the windows but to hear something like this? That's sad," the woman said.

Window washer safety rules lax in Manitoba:  A Steinbach businessman says Manitoba needs to improve its safety regulations for window washers. Kris Jennings says the fall of a washer on Wednesday from a Winnipeg apartment building is an accident that has been waiting to happen. "It was only a matter of time for one of these window washers," he said. After falling along the side of the building from between the seventh and eighth storeys, the window washer went through an atrium window and landed on the floor of the lobby. He remains in critical condition in a Winnipeg hospital.

Jennings briefly worked for a window washing company in Winnipeg before opening his own company, Axis Coatings. He says the majority of Winnipeg window washing companies don't give employees enough training to be safe on the job. Most of it is from on-the-job training. And the focus of most training seems to be about having two anchor points for the ropes. However, the condition of the equipment is overlooked, Jennings said.

His employees are certified with extensive training on how to be safe in high and dangerous places, he said. "You need to be trained and that means, you know, going into a classroom and doing physical training on ropes, not being trained on the job," he said. "You need to be in a classroom setting, and in a controlled environment to learn how to do this stuff." Winnipeg Police Services and Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health are investigating Wednesday's fall.

The Latest Window Cleaning Videos - Good & Bad

Chris gives details on the WCR sticker contest. Get creative and win CA$H.

Three engineering students of PolyU won the first Runner-up prize for designing a window cleaning robot at the Student Contest Final organized by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers International (ASME) in Boston on 2 November 2008. It was also the first time that a team from Hong Kong came to the top in this international competition.

TaskBroadcast is a site for service professionals, to bid against each other & hence push down prices. The site works by allowing the customer to upload a photo or video of their task creating a "home service auction". Very rarely do these type of service hunters look for anything other than best price.

It makes washing your windows a breeze! The EasySqueegee™ is extremely easy to use and one should be in every household.


Here Jody Wright tackles a $190,000.00 Dale Chihuly chandelier....located in Corona Del Mar. She gives a basic explanation as to her plan of attack. This fixture is hung over a spiral staircase which makes matters a bit more twisted. (get it?) Scaffold was specially built to provide us access to this fixture...It hung from a sky light, that got very hot around lunch time.


Cleaning the dome at a South Korean Airport. The Dome covers a fantastic and amazing inside garden. The cleaners climbed to the top with no safety equipment whatsoever.


Winnipeg, Canada - I can't believe he tied off to a staircase railing!


In the Phillipines last week, window cleaners on a cradle get caught out unexpectingly from the strong wind and rain that came that afternoon.