I used those harnesses as well. Not only would they hurt your back if you fell, but you would end up face down. 
Hereās the beltwork I was talking aboutā¦
http://www.michiganhouse.com/web%20pic8.jpg
Thatās way to scary for me LOL. Ferget it! Iād tell them to get a boom truck or a stage even. I guess you canāt put beams over that damn roof but thereās no way Iād do that. I thought I cleaned windows every which way but I never did that. I thought thatās how they did things in the 20ās and 30ās.
It looks scarier than it actually is.
ā¦ the guys in the pic are only 2 floors up from a wide ledge.
Yeppers, just like mine! They were designed to have 2 ropes wrapped around the dog bone. here is a pic of mineā¦
Over 20 years.
Bumble bee, I can visualize how two ropes would go through the genie but what do you hook your genie line to when you want to stop repelling and work? What we would do is wrap the genie line up and over the top piece so that it fits snug between the genie line (where all the tension is) and the genie itself. If there was another rope going in there that technique would be blocked. Also, what is teh purpose of the 2nd line? Does it replace the safety line?
Yes Mike, I am only an employee.
Hey Mikie,
I donāt vote, buuuuuuuuuuut I did here ! Mikie try a rack they work much better than that coffee can. I used one years ago and your point about shoving it through brought back memoriesā¦It works though but your required to use only use genie line ! I still have one in my tool box but Iām still using the chair from genie !
Mikie your low temp for Monday is @ 9 degrees F man that is cold is that pretty standard there or does it get even colder, Toronto is @ 53F. You guys are Ice People ! Buurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Yikes
Dange
[COLOR=ā#ff8c00ā][SIZE=ā4ā][FONT=āCourier Newā]LOVING THIS THREAD ![/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]
J-ster,
Looks like the thread is going MEGA, good issueā¦simple but well fed !
You know when I first started riding the ropes we used block and tackle with a cornice hook or a beam. youād have to foot the hook then slide down to the chair and then slip inā¦the seat was at least 8ā to 10ā from the top of the peraipit wall.
One of the guys who first trained me a[COLOR=ā#ff8c00ā]āSon of ETTOREā[/COLOR]would go over without any safety belt at all, "absolutely crazy. I told him I wanted one or I wasnāt going over so he threw one at me and called me a sissy, then we both laughed. It was the standard of the industry in the early 70s back to the 30s and 40s.
The company who trained me started in 1940, they had guys doing belt work all the time. Those buildings are in a marine environment so most all the old buildings have condemned their terminals for belt work, theyāll snap right off !
There is a building built in 1930 that I would clean from the inside reaching out, the terminals were condemned. I met a guy doing one a block over and it was 10 years older, and he was belting it.
I told him about the one I was working on and how the terminals were condemned and that if his building was 10 yrs older then that one should be also. He said āNAAAAWā, Iāve been doing it for years no problemā¦I said OK but be careful and aware,his name was Bill !
6 months later one of the terminals snapped and he pulled tight on the 2nd one which in most cases would save you,because you need 2 failures in order to have an accident when doing Hi-Rise.
Well his belt broke at the buckle, it was leather and he would oil it everyday and that rotted the leather which caused it to fail ! He fell 6 floors head first into a air conditioning unit. Maybe the other terminal would of snapped also if his belt hadnāt failed, but whoās to say ! He died, he was thirty, with a wife and young kids ! May God rest his soul !
The moral of this story Yawlā¦ Famous last words " Iāve been doing it for years,what me worry NAAAAW".
Anything can happen to anyone,anytime,anyplace. Safety is key, solving problems is key, knowing limitation is key, applying the tried and the true is key, thinking, rethinking, then thinking things through a 3rd time is key !
Those of us who use ladders need to realize it only takes one failure to have an accident, ladder work is far more dangerous than Hi-rise as Mr. Mikie pointed outā¦when hi-rise accidents happen theyāre more news worthy but those ladder accidents happen in the trenches by us grunts doing the grunt work!
More accidents happen off ladders then those doing Hi-rise and a dead persons or a hurt person is just that no matter how it happens !
Like Simon in the UK who fell off his ladder, things happen and we in the industry need to realize
[COLOR=ā#ff8c00ā]"SAFETY FIRST "[/COLOR]. I hope and pray Simon in the UK pulls through, may God bless him !
BE SAFE YAWL
Dangerous / Only because our industry is Dangerous !
Dange-ster
Thatās a real shame what happened to your friend, Bill. The fact that the belt snapped (not the clip) seems to almost make it more of a shame.
I think the repetition that gives us confidence also makes us a little less aware.
There are times when Iāve been on ladders and I swear I can almost float up there.
Meaning, I swear I am perfectly balanced in almost a āzen-like state.ā (hope that makes sense.)
I have two guys who continually frustrate me; one is young enough to physically handle almost anything I put in front of him. But he does stupid sh*t like move his piece ladders with his arms stretched straight out in front of him.
I have literally walked up to him and swatted his laddersā¦ to drive home the point that he has no control over them if a gust of wind came.
He reminds me of those guys who used to take their safetyās offā¦ old habits are hard to break.
I donāt target work in Mercer County, but I do have many jobs in the Pennington area as well as Princeton. I had targeted that area in my early years so I do have some clients there. I try to stay in Burlington, Camden and Gloucester Counties but give me a shout if you have something and Iāll check it out. No storefront though. Thanks and good luck to ya.
Soon as I started reading this the whole disaster flashed through my mind. Same thing when I saw JeffDās pics.
Iāve saw lots of those āterminalsā but Iāll just hold them with my finger while Iām cleaning the window on a rope chair with a safety line. A lot of those old buildings have bad over hangs. I never had one come off on my hand but Iāve seen plenty of windows where there was just one. I would never risk my life on those things. I know for a fact (I think:)) that nobody in my entire time as a window cleaner in my city cleaned windows like that.
Itās scary just reading that storyā¦ I remember one time I was unhooking my chair at the bottom of a drop and this yuppie comes up and tells me I must have nerves of steel. But I was thinking, no Iām chicken **** of falling, LOL.
Itās just that I set up right on the roof, I canāt fall.
EDIT: I just remembered an incident. My company was caulking a tower. Big job 22 miles of cut out and replace anyway, one day they sent me and a guy over to bring down a stage. It was on a sub roof about 15 stories up and we twisted it around the corner then came down the alley with no safety lines. I was kind of insistingā¦ sort of for a safety line. I can still remember the guy saying āDo you think the cable will suddenly snap?ā I knew the chances were very very low and we went for it. But it didnāt feel right the whole way down. Stupidity.
Even though I bitch about stupid labour laws, when I think of things like that I think we need even more work place safety inspectors.
Interesting pole results so far. I wouldnāt have thought the biggest segment of the WCR population would have over 20+ years of experience.
good to hear.
I am surprised to, I donāt know anyone my age the surfs the net like I do. I only got the internet when I was 34 (I think). Most people my age have a very different opinion about the net, they think the internet is MSN home page and thatās it, a series of tubes or whatever.
10 years, started working for a friendās dad in 2004 part-time. Still working for a company, looking to buy out route when time is right.
Started in 2008, feels like forever ago now.
Mike Radzik
Pro Window Cleaning
Central Massachusetts
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14yrs and ready to start my own business!!! Just started up and hoping to make it my full time deal by next spring!!
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Started in April of 2003. Time goes by so fast!
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1978
- I was a chef at a French restraint that went belly up.it was the only time I was ever on unemployment. I donāt know how to not work so among other jobs I washed the windows in this house.it took all day with glass plus and paper towels (I can do it know in 45 min) my next door neighbor saw this and said ādo mine tooā. And I did I was more fastidious about cause I was getting $75 ,she loved and told a few friends. I ran a $4 print ad and it generated 20 jobs. I know now it was the May frenzy but I ve never been unemployed since. When I worked for other people I was unemployed regularly and underpaid mightily.
I keep getting better at the trade even this year my WFP technique has become totally reliable in all cases. Even old putty windows come out beautiful with the right application. I havenāt taken the ladders off the truck all week. I love the trade,itās easy on the body and mind. I enjoy it really
I ve seen new entries into the market with every recession. 81. 87. 91 93. O1. O8. But the new situation with WFP and new competitors is different. As the work is easier cleaner and safer and I predict more will stay in buisness. Almost all went out previously as if you donāt do the work yourself, most of the profit goes out of the job, and most people donāt want to work hard.
I could be wrong, never having had employees, except once I hired a girl to do the insides in the eighties cause she was good looking, and she ripped off my customers Tag Hoyea watch. I had to write him a check for 1500. She was a junkie
So thatās the tale told by an idiot. Loudly.
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