Friday, May 25, 2012

Portland high-rise window washer makes panes shine, come rain or shine

http://media.oregonlive.com/portland_impact/photo/washer1jpg-2c0a74977e8a7f0f.jpg

He turned to the newspaper classifieds, where Clean Services Northwest had this advertisement: High-rise window washer needed.

Welsh was afraid of heights but applied anyway. When asked if he had any experience with high-rises, he lied.

His first job was on the tallest building on Clean Services Northwest's account, the 35-story KOIN Center. He nearly fainted with fear.
When Carlos Welsh was laid off six years ago, he worried how he would support his four young children. He took the first job he was offered, cleaning the exterior windows of Portland's tallest buildings.

He was terrified, but feeding a family trumped his fears. Fortunately for Welsh, he discovered a knack for hanging from a rope several stories above the pavement. 

By now, the 28-year-old is so used to dangling with nothing below him but a bucket of suds and a few stories of atmosphere, he answers cellphone calls in midair.

"I've been cleaning long enough that I don't drop stuff," he says. "The new guys tie their phones to their clothes."

*****

Welsh, of Beaverton, was working as an indoor window cleaner when the boss cut his position.

"I didn't see myself, but I'm sure I was white and shaky," he says. "I was terrified."

Welsh made it through that first descent with the help of an experienced trainer. Within a few weeks, the fear diminished. Instead, his thoughts during a "jump" involved tailoring his window-cleaning strategy to the building's architecture.

http://media.oregonlive.com/portland_impact/photo/wash2jpg-65a83bbd4b4373d2.jpg

Armed with a squeegee and a bucket of soapy water, Carlos Welsh has rappelled from dozens of Portland’s highest buildings as a window washer for Clean Services Northwest. 

"Each one is a little bit tricky," he says. "You have to know what you're doing." 


Now, Welsh is the supervisor working alongside fear-stricken new trainees. He teaches them the ropes while they avoid looking down.

*****
On a recent Tuesday, Welsh and a partner begin a two-week project at The Metropolitan building on Northwest 10th Avenue and Lovejoy Street. At 225 feet, the luxury apartment building is the Pearl District's tallest.

His meticulous hands rarely miss a spot. Leave a streak on a window in those expensive penthouses, Welsh says, and you're bound to get complaints.

"We call it drip, when the water from your squeegee gets on the window," he says. "If your window doesn't look really good, you have to do it again."

After dropping a rope containing his bucket and a small stick of wood to sit on, he climbs over the edge and doesn't stop working until he reaches the ground.

Left to right, down, zigzag back up to the top left corner, then X marks the spot. One window down, countless more to go.

He swings over to the neighboring window and affixes a suction cup to the glass, using it to hold himself in place while he cleans. Right, down, zigzag, zigzag, X.

It's the same routine all the way down. Drop a few feet of rope, refasten your carabiner, dip your squeegee in the dish soap, and swipe.

Eight hours of this is taxing, Welsh says, but it beats sitting at a desk all day.

"I don't like feeling trapped in four walls," he says. "With this job, you're a few days on one building, then you're jumping another one. You're always moving around, and you get to enjoy the weather."

*****

Building managers are required to notify tenants a few days before window cleaners arrive, but Welsh still occasionally catches people off guard when he drops into view. Office workers, in particular, are easy to startle when they're absorbed in a task.

Other washers have caught people in the throes of passion, but Welsh's most extreme encounter was with a naked woman who promptly bolted from the room. She returned in a robe a moment later and opened the window to say hello and laugh about the incident.

"Some people are really nice and give you a tip," he says. "Others shut the blinds in front of you. They think you're looking in, but really you're just looking at the window."

Passing pedestrians often ask questions or shout salutations and words of encouragement. Children, in particular, get excited when they spot Welsh hanging high above.

"They're too little to understand how you're doing it," he says.

*****
Cleaning windows requires more than a head for heights. Today, for instance, Welsh has to contend with exterior beams that jut several yards from the building. To reach the windows, he'll have to swing in, then cling to the suction cup with one arm while the other reaches overhead to clean.

It's not easy on the arm muscles.

"Rock climbers have applied before, thinking it will be kind of like a sport," he says. "But it isn't as easy or fun as it looks to them."

His only protection is a breathable waterproof coat and pants, a baseball cap and a white beanie. No amount of padding would save him if he fell anyway, and accidents are extremely uncommon. Clean Services Northwest has never had one.

The Metropolitan project begins on a rainy, windy and frigid morning at the outset of a particularly wet week. Window washers squeegee through the elements.

"We try to work on the opposite side of the building so we're shielded from the wind," he says.

They cancel gigs only when the weather is unbearably bad. For all the job hazards, Welsh is paid $20 an hour.

At home, he cleans the windows only on nice days, about four times each year.

"I have little kids, so right after I clean the windows the handprints are all over anyway," he says.

Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/05/everyday_people_portland_high-.html

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Crews rescue window washer

NWML rescue 2
Rescue workers are trying to reach a window washer who reportedly has chest pains and is on the Northwestern Mutual Life building in downtown Milwaukee, according to television reports.
The Milwaukee Fire Department Deputy Chief Randy Zingler told WTMJ-TV (Channel 4) that a man was experiencing chest pains and was given nitroglycerin before being lowered from a downtown building. At 12:30 p.m., the man had reached the ground and was being treated, Zingler said.
WISN-TV (Channel 12) reported the fire department conducted a "rope rescue."

Read more: http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/crews-try-to-rescue-window-washer-report-says-4j5e88p-151564735.html

MILWAUKEE -
A man was rescued Tuesday afternoon from the fifth floor of the  Northwestern Mutual Life building at North Marshall and East Wells streets in Milwaukee.

WISN 12 News learned the man, possibly a window washer, was working on scaffolding outside the building when he suffered some type of chest pain.

The man also had chemicals with him on the scaffolding.

The Heavy Urban Rescue Team was called to the scene.  It was being called a rope rescue.
Streets in the area are blocked off, 12 News reporter Mike Anderson said.

News Chopper 12's Matt Salemme said there were 35 mph sustained winds in the area when he approached. 

Read more: http://www.wisn.com/news/south-east-wisconsin/milwaukee/Man-rescued-from-outside-NWML-building/-/10148890/13404916/-/tfo76az/-/index.html

Friday, May 11, 2012

GRIPPSTER LADDER STOPS (PAIR)

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Update Window washer survives 13-story fall

BIRMINGHAM — A window washer plunged 13 stories down the side of an Alabama hospital tower and survived after falling into a garden-like area with newly planted shrubbery, authorities said.
The worker was getting onto a platform outside the building Thursday when his safety equipment malfunctioned, Birmingham Fire Battalion Chief C.W. Mardis said.
The worker’s safety gear did slow his descent somewhat, so he didn’t “free fall,” Mardis said.
He was also fortunate to land where he did, Mardis said.
“He fell into a landscaping area with freshly planted bushes and mulch,” Mardis said. “So that kind of broke his fall.”
The worker was conscious when he was taken to UAB Hospital, where he’s recovering, Mardis said.
The 14-story building, part of Children’s of Alabama, has been under construction, hospital spokeswoman Rachel Olis said. The window washer is a subcontractor with Atlanta’s Hoar Construction, which is involved in the hospital project, told WBRC-TV.
“We are working closely with the general contractor to understand the circumstances of the accident and to ensure the highest safety practices are in place,” Everclear Enterprises of Atlanta said in a statement Friday.

Read More: http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20120414/NEWS02/304140032/Window-washer-survives-13-story-fall?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Frontpage|s

Thursday, May 10, 2012

RAW VIDEO: Firefighters climb to dangling window washer

Firefighters help stuck window washer; ‘all in a day’s work’ for washer


Gregory Shaver Window washer John Marks hangs on the side of the City Hall Annex, 800 Center St., Friday morning May 4, 2012, after his gear malfunctioned as he was washing the windows on the building. / Gregory Shaver gregory.shaver@journaltimes.com/ Gregory Shaver gshaver@journaltimes.com



RACINE — Scott Nelson was looking outside the window of City Hall Annex, 800 Center St., Friday when he saw ropes and two feet dangling.
Nelson, who works for Car 25, the city’s video channel, then saw a fire truck down below and headed outside.
Above his window, a window washer was stuck suspended in the air four stories up. He had been
calling for help earlier to get people’s attention.
When firefighters arrived at about 10:30 a.m., the window washer gave them a thumbs up saying he was OK. But he was stuck.
Racine Firefighter Jim Zarbock climbed up an aerial truck ladder. When he got up there, he learned the man’s hoisting system was locked up and he needed weight lifted off it to help him rappel down from the top of the building. Standing on the ladder, Zarbock helped support the weight of the man, whom
Zarbock said identified himself as John Marks, 68.
But Marks didn’t let the incident shake him up too much. On the way back down, he went back to work cleaning windows.
When he reached the ground several minutes later, he didn’t want to talk about getting stuck. But when asked if it was frightening or if it was just a part of the day’s work, he said it was the latter.
“All in a day’s work,” Marks said.

Window washer survives 13-story plunge in Ala.

A window washer survived a 13-story fall from near the top of a Birmingham, Ala., hospital still under construction, the Associated Press reports.
The unidentified worker landed on recently planted shrubbery and mulch, which helped break the 200-foot fall Thursday at the 14-story Children’s of Alabama, a fire official said. WBRC-TV reports the accident happened Wednesday.
The worker, a subcontractor with Everclear Enterprises in Atlanta, was conscious when taken to another hospital for treatment. WBRC says he’s in stable condition.
He was climbing onto a platform when he fell. His safety equipment helped slow the plunge. The fire official told AP the safety equipment had failed, but a spokesperson with Everclear told WBRC today that a preliminary investigation shows no such failure.
Children’s of Alabama is scheduled to open this summer.

window cleaners in turf war



Padiham window cleaners in turf war

FINED Andrew Bond

‘TURF wars’ led to a window cleaner attacking a rival and threatening to ‘rip off his head’, a court heard.
Burnley magistrates were told how Andrew Bond, 39, set upon Paul Bailey in front of customers, after Bond was said to have flouted ‘window cleaning etiquette’ and poached the victim’s patch on a Padiham housing estate.
Bond nudged Mr Bailey so hard he knocked him off balance.
The victim, who had thought he was going to be headbutted as he fell to the floor, was then hit in the face by the defendant who used a ‘martial arts-type manoeuvre’.

 Bond, who had a record for violence, was fined and has now been banned from approaching or communicating with Mr Bailey or his colleague Lee Rushton, under a six month restraining order.
The defendant, of Oat Street, Padiham, admitted assault by beating on January 24.
 
Claire Grant, prosecuting, said Mr Bailey, who is in his forties, and Mr Rushton were working in Wordsworth Avenue, Padiham.
Mr Bailey had been cleaning windows for more than 11 years.
Last November, he and Bond had words about each having their own patch, the court heard.
The defendant said he would fight Mr Bailey at the gym over it. He told the victim he did martial arts and they should sort things out that way.

Ms Grant said: “Mr Bailey wanted to let matters lie. It would seem they did lie until January 24. He just wants to be able to get on with his job and his business, upon which his family rely.”
She said Bond had been jailed for grievous bodily harm in 2003 and had convictions for other assaults.
Bond, who was not legally represented, said: “There is no window cleaning etiquette. The original owner didn’t sell the round. When I knocked on those doors, I was told: ‘Oh, good, we haven’t had a window cleaner on here for years’.”
The defendant said he was 12 per cent disabled, after a nine and a half ton JCB drove over his leg in 2007 and he went up his ladders ‘very slowly and very carefully’.
He said: “Martial arts? No thanks. I am not a violent person, believe it or not. The case where I got sent to prison was a crime of passion. My heart got the better.
“Did I do this? No. Am I willing to take it on the chin just to get it out of the way, forget the whole thing? Yes."
Bond was fined £30, with a £15 victim surcharge and must pay Mr Bailey £75 compensation. The bench, who said they did not feel the assault was pre-meditated, added there had been ‘a long history of antagonistic behaviour between both parties’.
They added, in imposing the restraining order, that they were keen not to stop the defendant earning a living.