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Safety harness

mark lee

Member
Messages
192
Location
Wiltshire
Every now and again I get gutter jobs that involve climbing out of a window and walking up and down them, I think it’s time to invest in a safety harness

So my question is what’s a good one what sort of price should I be looking at?

And no I’m not putting money before my life just an idea where I should be heading

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Every now and again I get gutter jobs that involve climbing out of a window and walking up and down them, I think it’s time to invest in a safety harness

So my question is what’s a good one what sort of price should I be looking at?

And no I’m not putting money before my life just an idea where I should be heading

Sent from my iPhone using Window Cleaning Forums




Petzyl is the best gear for working restraint or fall arrest but it’s not just a case of buying a harness and putting it on what training have you had ? What’s your risk assessment as to lowering the casualty to the ground to prevent suspension injury’s ? You cannot work on your own doing this type of work , what anchor points are you going to use ? Also you have to keep records of pre and after use inspection and have them professionally tested annually to make sure that they are safe to use m they also have a maximum life span of ten years ( type and make can alter this ) whether it’s used in that time or not , for a sole trader it’s not cost effective to do this type of work and generaly not safe either , try and find a different way of doing the job or just stick to jobs that don’t require this type of equipment. Fall arrest stuff is good but I have personally seen several people that have had horrific injuries due to falling and the harness causing sever groin and stomach injury’s and the equipment was being used by seasoned professional abe sailers , I’me in the fire service and we had to rescue and lower these people to the ground, one guy had to be castrated due to the injuries suffered and the other guy had internal injuries and never worked again after 18 months rehabilitation he struggles to walk more than a hundred yards , these people were professionals and doing it every day , the question has to be asked is it worth the risk to empty a gutter for a few quid , Ime not trying to scare you but people don’t realise what can and does happen sadly to often 

 
What does the customer say when you tell them I'm just going to climb out of your window?

The job isn't worth doing at all if that's the only way to do it.

 
This is a 3 storey victorian commercial building I clean. The landlord told me I was to access that side of the building via a roof access hatch at the front of the building. I went up there. It has one of those walls victorian buildings often have at the front on the roof so that was safe. The access to the back on the other hand was basically over the top of the roof with this drop in front of me. The gutters were too full for the vac so needed to be done by hand.

Scaffolding cost the client £1800. He has agreed to have the gutters cleared every 6 months to ensure the vac can do the job. If it isn't safe to do and the customer isn't willing to pay to make it safe then don't do it, simples!

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All this cost to clean a couple of gutters. I met a guy in my last job who worked for a big company. His company offered him high rise window cleaning for £25 an hour, all expenses paid working in central London. For that kind of thing the company are probably charging a fortune and making a pretty profit even paying him £25 an hour but to clean some domestic gutters its all too much effort if you ask me.

 
This is a 3 storey victorian commercial building I clean. The landlord told me I was to access that side of the building via a roof access hatch at the front of the building. I went up there. It has one of those walls victorian buildings often have at the front on the roof so that was safe. The access to the back on the other hand was basically over the top of the roof with this drop in front of me. The gutters were too full for the vac so needed to be done by hand.
 
Scaffolding cost the client £1800. He has agreed to have the gutters cleared every 6 months to ensure the vac can do the job. If it isn't safe to do and the customer isn't willing to pay to make it safe then don't do it, simples!
View attachment 15280
Very True. you couldn’t have put that in better words


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Hi all these gutters are around 2ft wide going out to guess 4 ft in places and have a wall so not to bad, I’m thinking future bigger jobs good to be prepared have one in the van,
Sorry for late reply forgot all about this no notification [emoji15]


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All this cost to clean a couple of gutters. I met a guy in my last job who worked for a big company. His company offered him high rise window cleaning for £25 an hour, all expenses paid working in central London. For that kind of thing the company are probably charging a fortune and making a pretty profit even paying him £25 an hour but to clean some domestic gutters its all too much effort if you ask me.
I normally use a hoover but the houses in Bath more a trench [emoji23]


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