Tools of the Commercial Window Cleaner in Perth

Window Wipers the preferred commercial window cleaner in Perth. Cleaning windows can be a straightforward process or a highly complex. It’s important for us as professional commercial window cleaners in Perth to consider all the tools of the trade allowing us access to challenging areas of a building and ensuring the site is safe for our staff who are completing the window cleaning and safe for pedestrians and traffic to get the job complete on time and on budget.

We have put together a blog article  highlighting all the tools of the commercial window cleaner in Perth. For more information on our commercial window cleaning services and applications, please visit links below from our website.

 

• Commercial window cleaning tools
• High Rise Window Cleaning tools

 

In this article we will cover:

• Commercial Window Cleaning in Perth
• High Rise Window Cleaning Tools
• Advantages and Applications the tools are used for.

 

Tools of the Commercial Window Cleaner in Perth- Rope Access

At Window Wipers we pride ourselves on being a specialised high rise rope access window cleaner in Perth.  If we have access to certified and inspected anchor points installed on any high rise building we can provide rope access window cleans.

When conducting rope access window cleaning on high rise buildings there are key safety factors that need to be considered prior to commencing work. All our high rise window cleaning rope access technicians are qualified and trained to IRATA standards.

Prior to commencing rope access window cleaning tasks, a job checklist needs to be completed.  See below an example of our high rise rope access window cleaning checklist.

Basic Checklist for High Rise Window Cleaning Rope Access Technicians

1. Have all staff allocated for the job appropriately trained.
2. Do you have enough rope access equipment and personnel to do the job safely?
3. Do you have a supervisor on the job? Ie IRATA
4. Do you need a permit?
5. Have you done the appropriate inductions on this building?
6. Have you conducted a risk assessment and method statement?
7. Have you inspected the equipment?
8. Have you inspected the ropes, and do you have enough rope to reach the ground?
9. Do you have a rescue plan in place?
10. If you are working outside, is the wind and weather acceptable?
11. If you are working inside, is there enough light?
12. Do you have means of communication at all times e.g. visual, radio, etc?
13. Are all window cleaning rope access technicians working in pairs?
14. Have you considered if you need extra edge/rope protection while descending?

Commercial Window Cleaner Rigging Checklist:

1. Have the anchor points been checked test and tagged certified and recommended for rope access?
2. Has the testing organisation filled in the installation plaque?
3. Is there a backup system in place?
4. Are your anchors sharing the load equally (taking stretch and angles into account)?
5. If your anchors are further apart than 2m, have you taken steps to back-up the anchors to mitigate an uncontrolled swing?
6. Are your rigging angles lower than 90 degrees?
7. If your angles are higher, have you taken steps to back-up the anchors?
8. Are your knots appropriate and well-dressed?
9. Can your knots be loaded without touching on the edge or another object?
10. Have you put knots in the ends of the ropes?
11. Have you bundled them for safety purposes e.g. wind
12. If your drop is longer than 100m, is it possible to install re-belays?
13. Do you need to install any deviations, re-belays or extra ropes to comfortably reach the worksite?
14. If your deviations mean deviating further than 2m (or 15 degrees), have you taken measures to back-up the deviation?

 

    

Commercial Window Cleaner Edges Checklist:

1. Any person within 2 m of an unguarded the edge should be appropriately secured.
2. Do the ropes pass over any sharp edges (including lower down the drop)?
3. Can you deviate or re-rig the ropes to avoid these edge/s? If not, have you adequately protected the ropes against the edge/s?
4. Do you need to take extra rope protection with you for sharp edges lower down?

 

Commercial Window Cleaner Safety Checklist:

1. Have you barrier-ed-off the working area below?
2. Is your exclusion signed, or do you need a spotter to keep people out?
3. Have your team performed this work before, and do they know what is expected of them?
4. Have you performed a toolbox meeting before you start?
5. Have you performed a buddy check?

Many of these tasks take place automatically by our commercial window cleaners due largely to their training. But from the readers point of view it is important to note that when we conduct the window cleaning whether it is on a city high rise / multi storey or a lower rise building. These are the questions we need to consider before and during the window cleaning process.

 

Anchor Points for Commercial Window Cleaning Use. 

All commercial window cleaners working on the job need to be safe when working at height, anchor points are  installed to prevent fall fatalities. The are 3 types of anchors or fall restraints which relates to the type of work being complete by our professional commercial window cleaners.

An anchor point is a looped bolt capable of being secure to a roof or elevated work area that is designed to protect the user from a fall. There are several types on anchor points, one of which is an abseiling anchor.

This type of anchor is designed to take the load of the window cleaning technicians at all times.

 

The Fall Arrest Anchor Points for Commercial Window Cleaning Use.

A fall arrest anchor on the other hand, is a type of anchor that is designed for if a window cleaner is in free-fall. It ‘arrests’ there fall mid-air and prevents impact at a lower level. The anchor is designed to bend to lessen the impact.

A Static line system is a permanent or temporary safety line from point a to point b on a roof that provides effective access and fall prevention.

To find out more information on safety at – click here

 

Tools of the Commercial Window Cleaner in Perth – Water Pole

The commercial window cleaning industry over the last few years has been (surprise surprise) a very proactive and innovative industry. The water pole is a tool that allows that us to clean a high rise / multi storey commercial or residential building from the ground.

In the past many of these buildings would have been cleaned with very tall ladders, putting many people at risk.  This innovative tool is known by several names, depending on mostly where you reside in the UK for example it is called reach and wash and here in Australia, we call it a Water Fed System. The name describes what it does is reaches and washes the window and the other describes how it works pumping purified water that is fed through the system up into a pole and that water is pumped into a brush head that cleans the window.

At Window Wipers, a Perth based commercial window cleaning specialist in Perth with 25 years looking after commercial high-rise/ multi storey, low rise and even single storey buildings we simply call it a water pole.

We have heard of companies cleaning 5 and 6 storey buildings with this equipment. However, at Window Wipers it is our policy to do a maximum height of 4 storeys, this way it guarantees quality and eliminates the risk of the water pole becoming less controllable on high rise and multi storey buildings. Any building above 4 storeys we prefer to Rope Access or using EWP. (Elevated Work Platform).

The Water Pole work’s by purifying the water. Tap water is full of sediments and minerals. It is these impurities that cause spotting and streaking when tap water is left to dry on a surface of a window. The intensity of these impurities varies and in different Perth suburbs where the impurities can be higher the water fed pole system purifies this water.

Our commercial window cleaners in Perth purify their water by passing it through a series of filters and resins, making use of processes like reverse osmosis and deionisation. This purified water then runs directly into a special hose which feeds through a telescopic carbon fibre pole and out through a brush head where jets of purified water come out through the brush head to help wash the windows.

The windows still must be thoroughly cleaned, the window cleaning technician scrubs and rinses away any dirt. Because the cleaning process has used pure water the windows can then be left to dry naturally, with a perfect, crystal clear finish.

Our commercial window cleaners know to regularly test the quality of the water with a TDS meter or a (Total Dissolved Solids meter) looking for a of zero reading. Once all the impurities have been removed from the water, you no longer need soaps or squeegees to remove the dirt on the glass. Pure water that has a TDS reading of zero is extremely good at removing dirt. Pure water attracts any dirt on the glass and with the right technique removes it effectively.

The water pole system is a very flexible tool and can be set up as a backpacks, on Trolleys, a trailer and even in  Van. Other applications for the water pole are solar panels, window frames, skylights and high angled windows.

 

 

Water poles allow window cleaners to clean windows without the use of harmful soaps or chemicals making the process more streamlined and environmentally friendly which is a huge plus.

Water fed equipment provides a better clean most of the time over traditional window cleaning methods. Pure water cleaning uses only water that is purified. Any impurities such as dissolved solids such as minerals, salts, metals, etc. have been removed from it, leaving the window spotless and shiny.

 

Tools of the Commercial Window Cleaner in Perth – Squeegee and Mop (applicator)

The hand-held window squeegee is the basic tool for us commercial window cleaners. This has a handle and a channel, the channel houses a thin rubber blade that’s used to remove the soapy water from a glass surface. A soapy water solution acts as a lubricant and breaks up the dirt, then the squeegee is used to draw the dirt off the glass leaving a clean surface.

There are many brands and types of squeegees that are available to the commercial window cleaner. Many window cleaners have a strong preference for their own brands and use the squeegee in a variety of ways that gets the job done in their own way.

Window Wipers is Perth’s commercial window cleaning specialist in Perth, we use several different squeegees for various purposes. For example, we use the one below for our high rise rope access team whilst they are abseiling because it has the mop and the squeegee as one tool. This is preferable because when we work at height you need to have a lanyard on our tools if you had both a mop and the squeegee separately in the bucket the would constantly get tangled causing too much time bring spent untangling them.

 

 

Some of the squeegees we use at Window Wipers the commercial window cleaner specialists in Perth are:

https://sorboproducts.com/