You make a great point, Seth. Especially about the fact that nobody knows the owner or has spoken to him about the video posted in this thread.
However, I think the gutter cleaning photo on the website was sort of the straw that broke the camel’s back for many of the members here. It’s obvious this company does not put much priority on safety, so “blasting” them is not necessarily what’s going on.
What would you suggest should be done? Contact the owner and see how he feels about the video, the photo on his website, and the fact that this thread is going to soon outrank his website? If he swears on a stack of Bibles to change his business practices, then have Chris go through and edit out all mentions of his company? (which he did before for Flower Window Cleaning in San Diego)
I don’t know. What do you think, Seth? That’s a serious question… no sarcasm.
Just for the record I had looked at the website before I even used the company name in any of my posts.
As for Seth’s charge that I took the lead in this I will point out that it was another member who posted this video while another member found the company name and still another member who listed the company website. Even after that it was another member who suggested that the SEO power of this forum might make this post come up on the same page as the company.
Maybe Seth just has an issue w/ me? Personally I feel that if this thread is the worst that happens to this company they should consider themselves lucky. They could be up on serious legal charges for the death of an employee.
I started an email last night before I announced the name of the company. I figured I would let this thread run it’s course and see if the owner or someone who knows of the company would pop up and say something.
If the owner was in fact aware of the unsafe practices of this video, the one video taping or even doing the unsafe work I think the thread should stay up. If his numb skull employees were the ones behind these unsafe shenanigans then it should be taken down.
Either way I think Seth and Tony should both hug it out and have a bacon eating contest - I think that would be good for morale.
Chris,
We’ve all had a good laugh and the thread has gone ugly. I think you should throw it in the fridge and call the guy tomorrow. His employees were just having fun with their camera. Hope they don’t get fired.
I’m sure Chris has better things to do than warn this guy his video is on a site and being critiqued by other window cleaning companies.
Having fun with a camera is one thing - video taping some obscenely dangerous “s” and posting it on youtube is something completely different.
His employees should be fired if they were in fact acting alone. Above all things I tell my guys is “BE SAFE”. Anything considered to be unsafe or actions which could jeopardize the safety of other crew members is something I would fire someone for immediately.
This is the only company I’ve looked at the website and under the “testimonials” section it all sounds like the same post. “low Price low price cheapest price” Wonder why? I worked for a company that made us clean a building using 8 sections of 6 foot sectional ladder. It wasn’t until I quit and opened my own business did I realize that they were not rated for anything near that. Not excusing these guys, anyone should be able to look at this situation and realize it’s dumb. Just saying it’s sad that people go to such lengths for … drumroll please … MONEY.
Mike, this would probably be construed as a popularity contest and a polarizing effect. I’d suggest against it personally.
I’ve met Seth twice and electronically chatted with Tony many times and they are both great level-headed guys.
Hmm all of a sudden it’s gone once the owner/recipient of your email is asked/told about it - interesting. Although after seeing the picture for gutter/eaves cleaning I wouldn’t be surprised if they knew about the video all along.
I agree! I was just wondering how other people feel about the two ways of looking at the thread.
Hey! I was wondering? Did the guy in the video think he was a brave window cleaner? Would he have posted the video on YouTube if he thought he was an idiot?
I’m curious, does Canada have anything like OSHA? If that video was in the U.S. and seen by anyone at OSHA, I can only imagine the fine, whether the owner knew about it or not. I’ve seen construction companies fined for photo evidence in a newspaper.
I don’t think anyone wants to see this company put out of business, but no one wants to see, as was mentioned earlier, a Robinson’s Solutions blog entitled “Canadian Window Cleaner Falls to His Death”.
