Applying pressure with safety


Here’s a question for you. What does bootleg booze in 1920s America have to do with the removal of discarded chewing-gum from the streets of the United Kingdom today? The link may not be immediately apparent – but the most interesting links seldom are. This one takes the form of Mr Frank W. Ofeldt II, a resident of Pennsylvania during the long, dry years of prohibition, and a fruitful observation he made one night in 1926.


On the night in question, Frank, whose day job involved working on water heaters, was busy in his garage, making a little extra cash on the side. A local moonshiner had asked him to make a portable (and, of course, highly illegal) whiskey still, and it was while tinkering with this device that Frank noticed something unusual. When he fired it up a pressurised jet of wet steam hit the greasy garage floor, and the grease began to crawl away from the steam, leaving clean floor behind.


Frank was no idiot. He immediately saw the potential of his discovery, and on that night in 1926 the basic idea behind the first High Pressure Jenny Cleaning Machine was born!


Since the early days, steam cleaners and pressure washers have come a long way. They are now used in an ever-increasing range of cleaning situations, both domestic and commercial, as leading Window Cleaning and Property Maintenance Company J V Price has discovered.


J V Price initially set up its Pressure Cleaning Division to cater for general external stone and cladding cleaning, and in the early days much of the work involved sprucing up domestic and residential driveways and patios. However, the commercial arm of Price Group gradually saw larger works coming in that required pressure washer treatment, so new divisions to cater for retail and commercial situations were developed.


For reasons that don’t bear too much examination, buildings close to public houses or night clubs often require special treatment, as do doorways in which vagrants congregate. When tackling such jobs, J V Price’s workers are undaunted!


‘Our teams have state-of-the-art clean-up kits that enable them to treat solids with a special granule,’ says Charlie Price. ‘The granule absorbs the solids, which can then be cleaned up. Following that, the teams pressure wash and sanitise all contaminated areas.’


Discarded chewing gum is another major problem that Charlie and his teams have to cope with. Nearly a billion packs of chewing gum are sold in the UK every year, and 28 million regular chewers enthusiastically chomp their way through them. It’s been estimated that up to 3.5 billion gobs of chewy have ended up on our streets, and that a staggering 92% of city paving stones have had gum stuck to them.


‘It’s no fun at all,’ says Charlie. ‘Chewing-gum on our streets and pavements is like a plague of monstrous acne on the face of modern London, and it costs a fortune to treat.’


The effort involved in that treatment, and the cost, really is staggering.


‘It takes three months to clear about 300,000 splodges from Oxford Street alone,’ said Charlie.


‘And as every councillor will tell you, this scourge is costing us all, as taxpayers, millions of pounds a year.’


J V Price has two custom-built vans with pressure washing and steam cleaning equipment specifically for cladding and car park work, which includes chewing-gum and graffiti removal.


‘We provide a quick-response service for graffiti and gum removal,’ said Charlie. ‘We’ve also set up cost-effect maintenance contracts that combat the problem before it has chance to become the kind of eyesore that results in a costly cleaning bill. And because all our vans have a built in water supply, we can get to work quickly without having to waste time looking for an external water source.’


In all aspects of its work, J V Price takes safety very seriously, and the Pressure Washing Division is no exception. All members of staff are put through a City and Guilds QCF Level 2 in Window Cleaning, which is supplied by the excellent trainers at IMPACT43. The course covers many elements of the profession, but the unit dealing with Hazards and Working at Height is particularly relevant.


‘IMPACT43 shows our employees how to be vigilant and enables them to identify hazards and carry out risk assessments,’ says Charlie. ‘Larger projects are now assessed by members of our Health and Safety Team, who are all NEBOSH certificated.’


The essential emphasis on safety generates work for the company, too. A recent fire brigade inspection of a client’s property identified access stairs that had algae and moss growing on them. This was assessed as a slip hazard, which resulted in a special clean and pressure wash.


Article by Impact 43 Group Media


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