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Safety for commercial and residential window cleaners
Purple Rhino Commercial Window Cleanersare very serious about window cleaning and its safety issues concerning our industry. All of our Rhino's undergo health and safety training at the British Window Cleaning Academy (BWCA before they go out on their own to clean windows. Afterwards a programme of training is introduced to each employee as their employment with us progresses. We make sure our staff are all compliant with WAHR
Including;
Health and Safety 
Waterfed pole
Window cleaning skills
Ladder safety
Risk Assessments
Manual handling
Managing work at height
Harness appreciation
Commercial Window Cleaners in Farnham
Window Cleaning is always done best when it's done by professional commercial window cleaners, why accept anything less?
We also believe that everyone is entitled to smile whilst working, hence the name Purple Rhino, hopefully it will make you smile also.
Working at height is the biggest killer in the UK work force. In April of 2005, the Working at Height Regulations became law.
HSE Statistic - In 2002-2003, 67 people died and nearly 4,000 suffered a serious injury as a result of a fall from height. The use of ladders can be dangerous and it is best to avoid using them on site wherever possible. Purple Rhino Commercial Window Cleaners will only use them as a last resort and by trained staff only.
How does this legislation apply to you, when taking on a window cleaner? What are the legal implications if you fail to comply?
The new legislation puts the onus on you, the customer, as controller of the work, to ensure that any work carried out is not done at height if there is a safer method available.
HSE Proposals for Working at Height Regulations, the consultative document issued by the Health and Safety Executive Commission, states: 'pole-cleaning systems may be used for cleaning windows so that the work can be carried out from the ground.'
You must ensure that no work is done at height if it is safe and reasonably practicable to do it other than at height. If your window cleaner is not compliant to WAHR as controller of the work (customer) you can be prosecuted by the Health & Safety Executive. As controller of the work, if you instruct someone to work at height and damage was done to your property or injury to your clients, would an insurance company pay out on a claim if a window cleaner is not compliant with the WAHR?
In today's health & safety culture, everyone from window cleaners to customers have to play a part in reducing the deaths and tens of thousands of injuries, as one death is too many.
www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg401.pdf
Wether you choose a domestic window cleaner or a commercial window cleaner to clean your windows at home or at your place of work, you have a legal obligation to make sure that they operate in a safe way. For domestic properties this may mean that you cannot expect a window cleaner to start jumping over balconies etc when it would be simply safer to clean the window by gaining access from inside the property.
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