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TOMORROW’S CLEANING APRIL 10

What would you rather use?

WORKING AT HEIGHT IS NO EASY JOB, LET THE DRAGONFLY GIVE YOU A LIFT IN A SAFER DIRECTION.

It is common knowledge that a fall from a height, big or small, can shatter lives. In 2008/9 alone, over 4,000 employees suffered a major injury as a result of a fall from height.

Any task that needs to be carried out at height is an occupational hazard, and window cleaning is no exception. You may argue that, ‘we’re mainly only clean first floor stuff.’ Recently a window cleaner sustained broken ribs, broken fingers and a broken arm when he fell just 2 metres from his ladder while cleaning the windows of a show home on a new housing estate. No method statement or risk assessment had been carried out.

When using ladders, many considerations need to be made and simple risk assessments carried out, even if only mentally (in the cases of domestic cleans), for ‘every day’ tasks, as the case study above illustrates. Things need to be considered, like - how high is the surface to be cleaned from the ground, what is the state of the surface to be worked from (sloping, muddy, uneven), if you fall what will you fall onto, what are the weather conditions and how will they affect the method used for the task on hand?

Quite simply, these days there are safer ways and methods for reaching and cleaning surfaces at height than with ladders. The introduction of the telescopic waterfed pole systems has probably made the largest impact in changing the way window cleaners go about their daily cleans. But there are other

areas of a building which now can be safely cleaned from the ground, where previously ladders or other access equipment would have had to be used.

product which has proven over and over again that its greatest advantage is the time saving made when used in the cleaning of stairwells, atriums, or other large areas of internal glass, where previously ladders or spiders would have had to have been employed. It is the ideal kit for car showrooms, shop fronts and airport/train/bus terminals where large expanses of glass both at low level and at height need to be cleaned and maintained. There is a selection of pads too which can be used with the Dragonfly to suit the surface to be cleaned, ie. internal glass panels, glass doors, windows, cladded walls, ceiling tiles, etc.

These days with more and more equipment becoming available which enables high reach cleaning to be carried out from the safety of the ground, the cleaning contractor needs to seriously consider whether the use of traditional methods of cleaning can be

Varitech Systems specialises in such equipment, providing quality van and trailer mounted waterfed pole cleaning systems for window cleaning, pressure washer power pole systems for jet blasting at heights up to 40 feet, vacuum systems for gutter cleaning at heights up to 48 feet.

Our latest innovation is the Dragonfly which facilitates the cleaning of windows and other hard surfaces internally. Glass is being used more and more in new and modern building projects and there is a need to clean and maintain it. This is a simple yet effective

WORKING AT HEIGHT

64 | TOMORROW’S CLEANING | The future of our cleaning industry

justified, and what the consequences would be from the use of such equipment in the event of an accident, when safer means could be used.

It is needless to say that method statements and risk assessments need to be completed in any event, no matter what equipment is used.

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