Ladders Become Safer

The ladder limpet from Laddatec Ltd is now available in the UK & shortly in the US. I have been using the original version of this wonder, for quite a few months now ever since my ladder mat gave way on a slippery surface & the ladders fell with me on top. I can testify this is the only device I can now trust to stop ladder slippage. The LaddaLimpet is based on the original design but the new patented Pin Design and locking configuration is far superior to the original, and with 20 fewer component parts it is easier to adjust and use.

LaddaLimpet® is a ladder stabilizer which gives you peace of mind and confidence to get the task done safely and quickly. LaddaLimpet’s versatility and adjustability allows you to position the ladder at the precise angle that you need to work safely. The LaddaLimpet can be fitted & removed in seconds. Helps reduce outwards slip, ladder twist & sideways movement. They also compensate for uneven ground.

The product was invented and developed by Ian Menelaus (pictured below) of Fishguard in Pembrokeshire. WIN (Welsh Assembly Government) exhibited the LaddaLimpet® at the International Exhibition of Invention in Geneva in April 2007 where it was awarded a Gold Medal and the Prize of the Malaysian Association of Research Scientists (MARS).
LaddaLimpet® is now approved by the Association of Professional Window Cleaners (APWC).

Sticker for Window Cleaners Proposed

Affecting window cleaners Stateside more than Europe, but the fabricating debris issue debate is heating up as previously mentioned. This time, Glass magazine realeased this bulletin:

A design of a sticker for glass that would alert a window cleaner not to use metal scrapers was proposed Feb. 14 during the Glass Association of North America’s Glass Week at the Rio All Suites Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. “I support it to minimize the possibility of a suit,” said Kim Mann, general counsel for GANA, Topeka, Kan. “It supplies information and knowledge. They can’t claim they didn’t know if you have a sticker. It can only enhance your position.”
The proposal came during the construction subcommittee session of the Tempering Division meeting. The proposed sticker would be applied with a static-cling method. The members agreed that a sticker from GANA has more clout than a sticker from an individual company. They also agreed that the sticker should be available to non-GANA members. The group then discussed who would be responsible for applying the sticker but did not reach a consensus.
The subcommittee had formed a task group to create a position letter on surface particles on heat-treated glass in response to a November 2007 letter from the International Window Cleaners Association, Kansas City, Mo. IWCA members say that razor scrapers are the tool of the trade for cleaning glass. The letter states that the IWCA believes fabricating debris is “an easily preventable surface defect” and asked GANA to retract its glass cleaning informational bulletin, which recommends not using metal scrapers. GANA members say that microscopic particles are inherent to the process of heat-strengthened glass. Greg Carney, GANA’s technical adviser, says he continues to communicate with the IWCA and pass on information about the glass-making process.

Bad Egg

A WINDOW cleaner who set up a burglary at a Cambois home has been jailed for four-and-a-half years. Christopher Anderson, 24, maintained he did not commit the burglary at the home in Wilson Avenue on November 19 last year. But he visited the property several days after the break-in and told the owner he could find the missing goods. Anderson, also of Wilson Avenue, then returned nearly all of the stolen items to the homeowner before being arrested. He accepted his part in the raid when forensic scientists found his blood on a fridge inside the property. He pleaded guilty to a charge of burglary when he appeared at Newcastle Crown Court. Jailing Anderson for four-and-a-half years Judge Esmond Faulks told him: "Despite your young age you have a very bad record in relation to burglaries. "In this case you took advantage of your job as a window cleaner. "People want to be able to trust their window cleaner. "But you ransacked this home. I accept that there were a number of people involved, not just yourself. "The court was told the team of burglars made off with £100 in cash, the homeowner's underwear, compact discs and a vacuum during the raid. Robert Adams, defending, said Anderson, who was jailed for five years in 2002 for aggravated burglary, was with two others who took part in the raid.

Alligator pit window cleaner found

It started as a bit of a joke for April Fool's day. A zoo in North East Lincolnshire put out an appeal for a fearless window cleaner to clamber inside its alligator and snake pits to shine the glass of the enclosures. But after thinking it over, bosses at the Jungle Zoo in Cleethorpes decided a window cleaner would be ideal to speed up the cleaning process. And after a public appeal, they said they were inundated with offers from people brave enough to tackle the task. Bernard Bale, spokesman for the Jungle Zoo, said the first window cleaner to get in touch was Jim Allen, 42, of Cleethorpes. Mr Allen will begin his new role in the coming weeks. He will be working inside enclosures which contain, among other things, Caiman alligators, 15ft Burmese pythons and a yellow anaconda. Mr Bale said: "Jim didn't think he would be frightened, though he did say 'I don't have to go in on my own do I?' "There will be a member of staff with him at all times when he is inside." He joked: "We've kept a note of the other people who came forward in case he loses a leg." Al Verlaine, owner of Jungle Zoo, said staff had been cleaning the windows themselves but had decided they wanted a professional to speed the process up. He said: "The outside is easy - the inside is a problem. "The main trouble when you come to clean the glass in the inside of an alligator pit is that they are naturally inquisitive, therefore they all come forward to have a look at what you're doing. "And of course if your hand goes too close or your foot goes too close, they will take a bite, and that's really to see what you're made of."

......as one bright forum member mentioned - "Would he use a porcupine to scrub the glass?"

Knife Attack on Window Cleaner

Steven Parez was standing outside his apartment Monday night when his neighbors' fighting got too much to take. Thomas Callahan, 42, was fighting with his girlfriend of five months when he pulled out a pocket knife and told her: "Are you happy now…? Now you are gonna get it," according to a police report. That's when the girlfriend screamed for help. So Parez got involved, though not quite in the way he expected. "I don't want to wake up today and have her come out with a black eye or something," he said. Parez, a 32-year-old window-washer supervisor, said he told Callahan to cool it and go back in his apartment. "Who's got something to say?" Parez said Callahan responded. Then Callahan came up to confront him face-to-face.
"He had his right hand behind his back and I knew he had something so I kind of got sideways," Parez said. "As soon as his arm come around I swung and hit him with a straight jab. I think I broke his nose." The two men tussled in the parking lot outside the Longbranch Apartments at 2175 62nd St. N in Largo. Police said Callahan stabbed Parez. Parez said he was cut several times, including on his thumb and slashes on the back. The crowd standing around the two men eventually tackled Callahan. When police arrived they arrested him.
Callahan is charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, child abuse and domestic abuse. He was being held at the Pinellas County Jail Tuesday without bail.
Parez was treated at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg and released. Despite his injuries, he said he would be back to work on Thursday because he needs the money. He's just glad that the fight didn't turn into something worse. "I don't know what I was thinking at the moment," he said. "I was just trying not to let that escalate into something stupid."

Window Cleaning Add-On?

This product intrigued me for the one reason that it's sold to householders for reaching or spraying at height & specifically for hornets nests. How many householders have poles of 18 feet or over? - not many (unless they have a pool). The "Spray Close Spray Extender" may reach the mark. I'm not sure about the effectiveness of the spray medium for killing wasps or hornets & I wish they wouldn't use the 'green' word.

Russian Window Cleaner Cleans Up!

Mikhail Fridman, 43, is married with two children and has a net worth of US$20.8 billion. He is ranked 20 on 2008 Forbes rich list. He started life as a window washer and later founded Alfa Group in 1990s with college friends and now fellow billionaires. The group is a conglomerate with oil, retail, telecom and banking interests. Altimo is the charity arm of Alfa Group and specialises in telecommunications investments in Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States and Asia. Its asset portfolio is worth $30 billion. He is an astonishingly nice man in conversation - a youthful 38, and by far the most diffident and least sinister figure among the 20 or so tycoons who dominate Russian big business. His latest deal has brought him a star quality even within that elite: his Alfa group and its partners have just sold half an oil company to BP for $6.75bn, the biggest investment in Russia ever by a foreign company. Window-cleaning and small trading yielded the capital for a commodity business and the start-up of Alfa Bank, now the largest private bank in Russia.