I just wanted to put my .02 in on high rise safe work practice. (Toronto area)
To start, I don’t have high rise window cleaning experience. However, I do have lots of experience working on rope at heights up to 1200 ft. I have both SPRAT and IRATA certificates, Fall arrest cert., Rescue from Height cert., Technical Rope Rescue cert., and I also teach Rescue from heights and safe climbing for the wind turbine industry so I know a thing or two about safety at height.
I have been running a small window cleaning company on the side for a couple of months now and based on the positive response, I have decided to go full force and expand into high rise work as well. I know all of the rules and reg’s for this in my area and I am comfortable with moving forward and conquering this feat.
So just to get some hands on experience in high rise window cleaning, I applied to 2 companies. Both located in Toronto. I will not name names as they are both great companies and do excellent work. I respectfully turned down job offers from both of them at their interviews because of my own safety issues.
The scope of the job was to work solo, on ropes with no other employees on site which is EXTREMELY unsafe. Nobody can ever put up an argument that would make me even come remotely close to thinking otherwise. When working at height, on rope (boatswain’s/bosun’s chair) There should always, ALWAYS be at least a second person and they should never leave each others site. If visual contact absolutely cannot be maintained 100% then radio contact should be maintained at least every minute.
In the rope access industry, in addition to being trained in self rescue, every person on site is trained in rescue which is crucial should someone encounter/develop suspension trauma (which is DEADLY)
Suspension trauma- once the first symptoms appear- can be deadly in as little as 15 minutes. Does anyone know how long it takes (on average) for the fire department to perform a rescue at height? Very long. First, someone has see the person dangling there not moving (without a partner that could be a long time) Then the 911 call 1.5 min. on the phone. They will generally take 5-7 min to arrive (much longer during rush hour) When fire/rescue arrives, they have to do their own assessment 10 min. Find the engineers documentation stating that the anchor points are approved and inspections are up to date (hopefully they are on hand and not with the building management who may have stepped out). They have to call that engineer and verify that it is their signature on the documentation (again, hopefully they are available) once this is done, they have to determine the equipment that will be needed to perform a rescue to NFPA standards (this is in Canada) If that equipment is not all on that truck, they must dispatch another unit (Technical rope rescue unit which are not at every fire hall, they could be 20 minutes away) Then, once everyone is there, they have to get all of their men AND equipment to the top of the building and devise a rescue plan to get this person down (which by this time, if the victim is unconscious, this rescue will most certainly have turned into a recovery due to cardiac arrest as a result of suspension trauma) Then they have to perform the rescue/recovery slowly and safely.
All of this can be avoided if workers are trained in rescue, write up a quick rescue plan, work safely and by the guidelines and never EVER work alone.
This may seem like a rant but This doesn’t even scratch the surface of working safe and preventing accidents.
Murphy’s law “if it can happen, it WILL!” and at the worst possible time.
PS Anyone who has a high rise window cleaning company within an hour of Toronto who is hiring, I can work a couple days a week. If this hasn’t driven you away
Thanks for reading
Jeff