Window Cleaning With A Water-Fed Pole

Many buildings can have their windows cleaned with water-fed pole window cleaning. However, there is, obviously, a limit to how far a water-fed pole will reach and the amount of strain that the operator can take. It is possible to buy a water-fed pole of 55’ in length which will clean up to six storeys high, but at this sort of height the pole does tend to become rather wobbly. If the building is a large one, it may well be that there are too many windows at height for the operator to manage in one visit, because handling a water-fed pole can become very tiring. 

Above this height one is looking at rope access suspended from eyebolts installed on the building, but WFP window cleaning is suitable for many buildings, such as schools and retail stores which, in general, do not have many storeys. A water-fed pole is usually made from something like light weight carbon fibre, and soft bristles are used to clean the glass which is rinsed using pure water.

Standard tap water contains many minerals, and while it is fine to drink, if used to clean windows it leaves spots and smears. This is because when the water evaporates it leaves the minerals behind. When you use deionised, purified water there are no minerals in it, so the windows can be left to dry naturally and there will be no spots or marks left behind afterwards.

Eyebolt Installation And Testing On High-Rise Buildings

Anyone working on the outside of high-rise buildings must be suspended from eyebolts and work positioning eyebolt installation must be carried out to strict standards. There are two British Standards involved – BS EN795 and BS 7883:2005.

There is a difference between a Fall Arrest system and a Work Positioning/Rope Access system. Both require the same standard of eyebolt installation but have different uses. The eyebolts can be installed directly into brickwork, concrete, masonry, or steelwork and the anchor systems which are used will vary according to the material.  The actual eyebolts are made from stainless steel or galvanised or powder coated steel and should be marked with the BS numbers and PPE directives. 

Work Positioning eyebolt testing must be carried out regularly as must Fall Arrest eyebolt testing, but the periods are different for a Fall Arrest eyebolt and a Work Positioning/Rope Access eyebolt. The latter must be tested every six months, while the Fall Arrest eyebolt must be tested every 12 months. They are tested using a test meter which itself must be calibrated every 12 months and at any time the meter is damaged or is dropped. The load testing meter has to be loaded to 6 kN (kiloNewtons) and it must hold for 15 seconds without the anchor point moving. (A kiloNewton is a measurement of force as opposed to a kilogram which is a measurement of mass).

While a Fall Arrest eyebolt only needs to be tested every 12 months, it is there to save a worker from a fall on ONE occasion only. After this, it must be replaced with a new eyebolt in accordance with HSE and LOLER standards.