Window washing a dangerous business

Window Contractor Falls 12 Stories, Dies
Special to the Sun | August 27, 2008

A contractor fell 12 floors to his death in Greenwich Village yesterday, authorities said.

The 49-year-old man, whose identity was not available as of press time, was a window contractor, police said. He was performing work at 40 Fifth Ave., a residential building near the corner of Fifth Avenue and 11th Street, when he fell from the 12th floor around 4 p.m., according to a police department report.

A spokeswoman for the department said it was most likely an accident, but that the investigation into the contractor's death was ongoing.

Police responded to a call and pronounced the man dead on arrival at the scene, according to the report. A representative from the medical examiner's office said they had not yet reached a conclusion as to the cause of death.

The building is 15 stories tall and 79 years old, according to CityRealty.com, a real estate information Web site. The Department of Buildings could not be reached for comment.
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Two Window Washers Rescued in Times Square
By CONN CORRIGAN, Special to the Sun | August 27, 2008

Two window washers were trapped outside the 30th floor of a Times Square building for almost two hours yesterday morning, when the scaffolding basket they were in stalled.

The police said that at 8:34 a.m. yesterday, they received a 911 call from two men at 3 Times Square, at Seventh Avenue between West 42nd and 43rd streets, who said that they were unable to move the scaffolding basket they were in up or down.

The police sealed off the street on Seventh Avenue between 42nd and 43rd streets. Speaking at the scene, Officer Martin Brown, of the Police Department's Public Information office, said that the two men were rescued when the police removed an adjacent window, and brought the men into safety. Neither man was hurt.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Buildings, Kate Lindquist, said that department inspectors arrived at the scene and issued a violation to the window cleaning company, Collins Building Services, "for failing to provide adequate safety lines." A spokeswoman for that company told the New York Sun, "right now, we aren't answering any questions."

A building close by at 1 Times Square was where a pane of glass fell more than 40 floors onto scaffolding on August 16. No one was hurt in the incident.