Two window cleaners in fatal fall linked to each other by safety harness?

The two window cleaners who plunged to their deaths from the 22nd storey of the the Pacific Business Center on Yan'an Road yesterday could have been linked to each other by a safety harness. (We're not reposting the images here. Click here if you absolutely must see them.)

Zha Minjie of Shanghai Daily reports:

According to witnesses, one worker began to fall after his support rope snapped, taking with him a colleague he was linked to by a safety rope.

"If it's true, then it was against all the rules, as workers should not be linked together," said a former window cleaner, surnamed Zhao, who worked in the business for six years.

Zhao said each two-man team should be equipped with three ropes, with both workers hooking onto the middle one by a device called a latching lock, in addition to having their own safety ropes.

"The lock will hold the workers even if one rope breaks," said Zhao.

"They would just hang in the air instead of crashing to the ground."

Source: http://shanghaiist.com/2011/11/04/two_window_cleaners_in_fatal_fall_l.php