The window cleaners of one of Britain's tallest buildings have given their backing to a national safety campaign warning about the dangers of slips, trips and falls in the workplace. Canary Wharf Management, managers of One Canada Square and the contractors for Classic Cleaning Services, the firm which cleans the windows of Canary Wharf in London, has said it is lending its support to the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE's) Shattered Lives campaign. Peter Kyte, managing director of Canary Wharf Management, said that safety needs to be put first whether this is when constructing buildings or managing them.
"We are conscious of the fact that many accidents in the workplace can be directly related to slips, trips and falls. We do all we can through training to make sure that all workers on the Canary Wharf estate are aware of hazards," he added. Earlier this week, Dr Paul Stollard, HSE director for Scotland, said that slips, trips and falls shatter the lives of thousands of British workers every year.

Two drunken revellers who savagely attacked a man in Bradford city centre were locked up overnight to be sentenced by a judge. Maciez Malacha was found lying in a pool of blood after he was beaten unconscious outside Funkys Nightclub in Ivegate, Bradford Crown Court was told today. Talented footballer Jamie Sugden admitted punching Mr Malacha once and stamping five times on his head. Sugden, 26, who plays for Bradford Park Avenue reserves, had been out on the town celebrating his birthday, the court was told. In the dock with him was Adam Hodgson, 22, whose powerful uppercut knocked Mr Malacha, a Polish national, to the ground. Sugden told police he was out drinking to celebrate his 25th birthday. Hodgson said he had downed ten pints of beer and three Jack Daniels whiskies. Rob Casey, solicitor advocate for Sugden, said he was a family man who had stopped binge-drinking. He worked as a window-cleaner and played football at the weekend. The judge branded it “a premeditated, gratuitous, attack” and warned the defendants to expect jail sentences.

Personal Assistant Awarded Million in Lawsuit Alleging Forced Oral Sex: Miami, FL: A Million settlement of punitive damages has been awarded to a former personal assistant to Rev. Ike Eikerenkoetter, who alleged that he performed oral sex on the preacher under threat of termination. Augusto Medina, the assistant, also alleged that the reverend grabbed his crotch while he was giving him a massage. Massage was one of his job duties as well as being the reverend's chauffeur and window washer. At trial, Medina presented his clothing with Eikerenkoetter's semen on it.

James Sanchez Castillo (pictured) last year shot and killed a man who jumped out of a car and into his face. On Friday, Castillo walked out of the courtroom with a probation term and four months already served in county jail, the result of a plea bargain in a case that, according to the judge, contained a major slice of self-defense. "In America, you still have a right to defend yourself on your own property," Sacramento Superior Court Judge Maryanne G. Gilliard said from the bench. Castillo, 31, gunned down Leopoldo Velasco III, 23, last April 24, in a deadly conclusion to a week's worth of warfare between the women in their lives.
A window washer who makes ,200 a month, Castillo's record contains convictions for drunken driving and resisting arrest. But his court file also was stuffed with 17 letters from friends, bosses and relatives who called him a hard worker, a good father, son and husband, a committed youth football coach and concerned parent who helped out at his kids' school. Recounting last April's shooting, Gilliard said, "These things don't happen in slow motion. They happen very, very quickly. And in a split second, a living, breathing person is now dead in the street." The judge said it was a killing that "never should have happened."

The Beijing People's Procuratorate has sued 21 suspects in the CCTV Tower fire case. Last weekend, the procuratorate released a 9page indictment, from which people can learn how the fire started. According to the indictment, the direct cause of the fire was sparks from fireworks that dropped into a window cleaner's store, which was full of inflammables. The document also said that Xu Wei, director of the construction site office, without authorization, planned to set off fireworks to celebrate the Lantern Festival on February 9, 2009. Two of his subordinates arranged the celebration and set off the fireworks, both were later arrested. On the night of February 9, the fireworks were set off. Liu Jun and Gao Hong, two safety production directors of the construction site did not stop it. The fire caused 160 million yuan (.49 million) in losses, killed one and injured eight.

A drunken father held his one-year-old daughter out of an upstairs window during a six-hour police siege at his home. Window cleaner Geoffrey Fairclough was warned he could face jail after pleading guilty to child cruelty along with a charge of common assault on the child's mother. Fairclough, 45, stumbled as he stepped on to the window ledge 15ft up at his home in Eldon Street, Plungington, after snatching the baby from her cot at her mother's home. Prosecutor Sarah Gruffydd told Preston magistrates Fairclough had gone back to the mother's house in Lawson Street – where a teenager was babysitting – after drinking in the Market Tavern, Old Bull and Assembly pubs on October 16 with his former partner and mother of his baby. The woman had ended the relationship when a drunken row broke out, during which Fairclough claimed he was kicked. The row escalated and Fairclough took his sleeping daughter from her cot in her mother's bedroom and left the house. The child's mother, Renee Middleton, tried to stop him, but Fairclough punched her in the face before taking his daughter out into the night at around 2.45am dressed only in a sleepsuit.
Police were called and, after searching the area, went to Fairclough's home, which was in darkness. He appeared at the upstairs window, with the tot in his arms, refusing to answer the door and shouting obscenities and "Fathers for justice" at police officers. Miss Gruffydd said: "He opened the window fully. "He had the baby in the crook of his arm, took hold of the window frame with his left hand and stepped with one foot on to the window ledge." Police officers said the baby was in front of Fairclough "dangling" over his right arm. He was clearly drunk and stumbled as he stepped on to the window ledge. Miss Gruffydd said, "The only way he was prevented from falling was the baby caught on the window frame." Fairclough then barricaded himself and the child – who was crying hysterically – into the house, continuing to be verbally abusive to police, and throwing water at them. He eventually handed the baby to police negotiators at around 8.50am, when they agreed to return the child to her mother under supervision. The baby had a bruise on her forehead, but a hospital examination showed she was otherwise unharmed. Greg Earnshaw said it was not a case like Michael Jackson's: "He's not showing the child off to a crowd and he's not dangling her over the pavement. He's opening the window to say here she is."

Police are appealing for the public's help following a series of incidents involving a bogus window cleaner in the Brislington area of Bristol. Over the past few weeks, there have been a number of reports of a male knocking on doors in the area asking householders if he could clean their windows. The male has sometimes claimed to be working on behalf of their regular window cleaner. Now the public are being asked for help identifying this male. He has been described as white, aged in his 30's and of slim build. Police are also reminding the community to be vigilant of this male and to report anything suspicious.
Anyone who might have information as to his identity or who may have witnessed a similar incident is asked to contact the Brislington Neighbourhood Police Team or Bristol Doorstep Crime Team on 0845 456 7000. Alternatively, if you wish to remain completely anonymous you can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or on the internet via www.crimestoppers.org.uk.

Shawn Ahrens (pictured) was reluctant to be the center of attention, but he was the man of the hour Monday night during a fundraiser in his honor. "It blows my mind that this many people came out...I can't even put it into words," said Ahrens. Ahrens is a Cicero firefighter, who was hurt last month while fighting a fire that swept through an apartment building, killing seven people. Ahrens was seriously injured when a chimney fell through the roof and has been sidelined from all three of his jobs: firefighter, fire investigator and window washer. His wife was laid off last year, and both are trying to support their son and a terminally ill daughter with special needs. So hundreds of firefighters paid a head to help with their expenses.
Ahren's father is just thankful he has his son. "Thank God he came around. They worked on him. A miracle," said Dennis Ahrens, father. The fire that broke out early on Valentine's Day was arson at the hands of the building's owner and maintenance man, according to prosecutors. Lawrence Myers and Marion Comier were both charged last week with first degree murder and arson. Prosecutors say Myers hired Comier to torch the building to cash in on a quarter million dollar insurance policy. Six members of a family, including a 3-day old baby and a family friend were killed. "It's a despicable act that people can kill people just for money. It's money. You can always make more of it. You can't replace human lives," said Ahrens. On Tuesday morning, Cicero town president Larry Dominick will make a statement during the town board meeting urging state's attorney Anita Alvarez to seek the death penalty against Myers and Comier.

The system works like this; lets say you currently use ncpm247.com to clean your windows or you would like to start using them to clean your windows and are able to find 5 other people in your near vicinity or area who would also commit to have their windows cleaned on the same cycle. Ncpm247.com will then clean you and your neighbours windows but wont charge you, as the organiser a single penny. The scheme started this month and has already started to cause quite a stir, with some residents effectively becoming agents for the company and receiving a commission in the way of free window cleaning services.

Marie Frederiksen ended her speech with the following words: “With a planned economy, we would be able to immediately increase production and use the technology to the benefit of the majority. The working week could be shortened immediately, which would mark a decisive shift in the emancipation of women. We would be able to use the resources of society to improve the public welfare in such a way that workers, children, the elderly and sick could achieve decent conditions. Furthermore, we would be able to use the technology to remove almost all housework. Robot vacuum cleaners, dishwashing machines, public laundries, renovated houses, public window cleaning, public cleaning, public restaurants with good, healthy and cheap food for all, meals in all nurseries, schools and workplaces and so on – this would be the beginning of the emancipation of humanity. This can only be achieved through socialism.”

Funeral of former manager at Warrington Fire Station: Cheshire Fire Service will provide a vintage vehicle to lead the way to Walton Crematorium for the funeral of Kenneth Coleman, a former Warrington Fire Station manager. Mr Coleman, known as Henry by his colleagues in the town, died at his St Bridget’s Close, Fearnhead, home last Monday, March 1, from ischemic heart disease. “He was a hard working family man. He had never been unemployed in his life. As well as being a fireman in Leeds and York he had a window cleaning round because they didn’t pay much.”

The Empire State Building to Undergo a Unique Window Retrofit Approach to Sustainability: Sustainability and energy efficiency have become monikers for many of today’s retrofit and new construction building projects, and the Empire State Building is no exception. More than 6,500 windows in the iconic building are being upgraded by Serious Materials as part of an energy-efficiency retrofit project, which was announced last April.
Johnson Controls, a provider of energy efficient and sustainable products, services and solutions, selected Serious Materials to “super-insulate” the windows. Serious Materials is providing its SeriousGlass™ technology through a sustainable production process designed to directly reduce energy costs by more than 0,000 per year. The new units will increase the thermal performance of the windows by up to four times their current thermal performance and will also reduce solar heat gain by more than 50 percent compared to the older windows.
“All of that glass is coming out, but it’s not going to be crushed and it’s not going to be thrown away. We are unsealing/un-glazing [the IG units], then scraping and cleaning the glass and then re-using it. We have done this successfully before; you can absolutely re-use glass where it’s going back into the same frame, for instance … this is uncoated, clear glass,” Surace adds of the approximate 26,000 panes of glass in the 6,514 windows.

Electronically Tintable Window Glass Draws 3 Million U.S. Investment: Energy-efficiency experts agree: Before buying or leasing a solar-electric system, consumers who take steps to save energy at their homes or businesses stand to reap the highest returns on their investments. Measures such as switching from incandescent lights to compact-fluorescent bulbs, caulking to stem air leaks, adding insulation and buying high-efficiency appliances may be less enthralling than investing in an elegant new technology like solar photovoltaics, but are known to be effective at saving money.

In addition to devoting resources to new energy-production technologies, the United States is investing in efficiency as well – far beyond urging people to change their light bulbs. In Minnesota, a company called SAGE Electrochromics has been awarded a conditional loan guarantee of million from the U.S. Department of Energy, plus a million tax credit, to develop innovative window glass that the company and government experts believe has the potential to reduce energy costs on a large scale. The 3 million will help SAGE establish a new manufacturing facility for electronically tintable glass that can change from a clear state to a tinted condition at the push of a button.

By controlling the amount of sunlight entering a building, the company expects that its approach will yield significant savings on air-conditioning, heating and lighting costs. Research by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory suggests that electrochromic glazing could reduce heating and air-conditioning requirements as much as 25 percent. Widespread use could cut the country's energy budget as much as 5 percent, researchers estimate. The company said it will use the funding assistance to build a high-volume manufacturing plant next to its headquarters in Faribault, Minn., to ramp up production for commercial, institutional and residential applications.

The project is expected to result in the addition of about 160 full-time jobs to the company's existing work force of about 100. In addition, at least 200 construction jobs will be created. Groundbreaking is scheduled for the summer of 2010, with shipments of glass from the new plant to begin in the latter part of 2011. "Our technology is a game-changer for the building industry," said John Van Dine, SAGE's founder and chief executive, in a news release. "With this funding, SAGE will now have the scale and capacity to bring this remarkable technology to the market in high volume. These revolutionary windows will have a significant impact on reducing the nation's energy consumption."

TROY, N.Y. - Cityscapes of glass-clad buildings gleaming in the sun make Anna Dyson think about wasted energy. Dyson heads the Center for Architecture Science and Ecology, or CASE, a research consortium that wants to turn office windows into multifaceted solar power generators. Their "integrated concentrating dynamic solar facade" consists of grids of clear pyramids that help focus the sun's rays to generate energy. It would essentially make buildings look as if they were draped in giant jeweled curtains. Photo above shows researchers Kristin Malone, left, Bess Krietemeyer, and Ryan Salvas, right, look through the Helioptix window units installed in Syracuse, N.Y.

"The reason we're interested in windows is because they have the largest surface areas, typically, in buildings — especially in tall, urban buildings," said Dyson, a professor of architecture at RPI. "We have a lot of vertical surface area to work with to really generate a lot of power." In contrast to typical flat solar panels, CASE's system is designed to do several things.

Each clear pyramid — with facets less than a foot square — has a lens to focus sunlight onto a tiny solar cell. The concentrated cells are designed to be more efficient in generating energy than traditional cells. And the pyramid modules rotate to track the sun. Pumped water keeps the solar cells cool to maximize efficiency. The cooling water also "captures" that waste heat for other uses, such as hot water or radiant heat for the building.

The pattern of pyramids also would deflect and diffuse the sun's rays, meaning office workers with eastern exposures could work in natural light all morning instead of drawing the blinds against the glare. Windows will still provide a view, albeit one obstructed a bit where the patterns of pyramids are placed. The technology behind concentrating the sun's energy through a lens is not new, nor is the concept of placing solar cells on the side of a building. But the integration of all these ideas to perform multiple tasks in this way is novel.

Dyson notes that a building's biggest energy suckers are usually cooling, heating and lighting. This system would tackle all three, whether it's extracting maximum solar power in New York City or deflecting and diffusing sunlight in Phoenix. Jason Vollen, an RPI architecture professor at CASE, said their integrated system squeezes every bit of usability out of the system. The system has already been tested on an RPI rooftop. Now, a prototype has been built into the facade of the Syracuse headquarters of the Center of Excellence in Environmental & Energy Systems, a public-private research partnership devoted to sustainability research.

The prototype, one of many green features of the state-of-the-art building, is an 8-by-8-foot panel and will become fully operational sometime after the building is dedicated Friday. A second, portable prototype will be generating energy earlier. Syracuse — where the winters can be long, snowy and gray — might not seem the best place to try out a new system to generate solar power, but Vollen said it will be a good test in "less than optimal solar climates."

Vollen believes the system can catch on in the fast-growing market for "green building" and energy efficiency systems. He said the system would be especially suitable for older buildings undergoing retrofits, which is expected to be a growth market. McGraw-Hill Construction projected last year that the market for major green retrofit projects could more than triple by 2014 to up to .1 billion.

The solar system is included in construction documents for a high-profile construction project being planned for the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, according to Jonathan Maille, a director of HeliOptix, which is licensed to market the system. Maille said it's being considered for other projects as well. Dyson did not provide a price, though the complex system will cost more than planting some photovoltaic cells on the roof. But she clams the payback time is sooner.

Still, one veteran solar energy consultant not involved in the project said that while he likes the concept, users should be ready for the potential for costs down the road. Peter Talmage, now a professor of renewable energy at Greenfield Community College in Massachusetts, said whatever the limits of traditional solar panels, they require only minimal maintenance needs. He noted that this system is far more complicated. "You have to throw in a good chunk for operation and maintenance costs," Talmage said.

Window cleaner killed himself with giant souvenir pencil, inquest hears: A window cleaner died after stabbing himself in the groin repeatedly with a jumbo souvenir pencil, an inquest heard. Jeffrey Burton’s family and friends were baffled by his bizarre death, which was recorded as an open verdict because there was no evidence he was trying to commit suicide. Mr Burton, 57, was found by police in a blood-soaked room in his house in St Leonards, East Sussex, on September 27. Worried neighbours raised the alarm after they were unable to get hold of him. When police broke into his house they found Mr Burton lying on his back, wearing only his underpants. The room was splattered with blood and music was still playing on his stereo. The giant blood-covered pencil was beside him. He had a deep gash in his upper thigh.

East Sussex coroner Alan Craze told the Hastings inquest: “It’s a mystery to me. If you were choosing to take your own life, that’s not the way you would do it. “It seems to me that it can’t have been a single stab wound. He seems to have worked on it. The pencil was blunt.”

Mr Burton’s sister Patricia Goodell told the hearing the pencil had sentimental value to her brother as it once belonged to their late mother. The inquest heard Mr Burton had suffered a single psychotic episode in 2006 but when he died he was sociable and healthy and looking forward to a holiday. He had never tried to commit suicide before and did not leave a note. Mr Craze said: “It doesn’t stack up. Something very strange has gone on. We will never know what has caused him to create this awful wound.”