Window of opportunity
June 1st 2008 Back in 1986,Pat Cofey, director of Advance Cleaning,was in charge of the UK's
biggest window cleaning operation at Lloyds of London. Eager to find safer methods
to clean the building, an abseiling demo from an ex-Royal marine led to the firm
becoming the UK's original rope access window cleaners
Before the advent of rope access,
cleaning the exteriors of tall buildings
and hard-to-reach places was
precarious and complex. A rudimentary
combination of universal beams,
scaffolding, dead weights, cradles and a
pulley system comprised the basic
equipment necessary to access heights and
awkward places.
Cleaning operatives would rig up a
Bosun's chair and swing from dangerous
heights on a one rope system.With no back up system, each cleaner
was responsible for his or her own weight – a frightening thought in
retrospect. With a proliferation of tall buildings and increasing levels
of health and safety legislation, the cleaning industry was crying out
for safer,more effective access methods.
In 1986, I was in charge of the biggest window cleaning operation
in the UK at Lloyds of London.With thirteen onsite window cleaners
and nineteen installed cradles, this was a window cleaning operation
on a huge, unprecedented scale.The design of the building resulted
in several access issues.Given it was such a high-profile building,
keeping it clean was considered fundamental to its success.
The inadequate systems available at the time could encourage
unsafe practices and there were some cavalier companies operating
in the window cleaning industry. In light of this, I was eager to find
safer and more effective methods of window cleaning at height. It
was around this time that I met an ex-Royal Marine who had realised
some of the potential industrial applications of abseiling.
Abseiling was already being used in industry and engineering – on
off-shore oil rigs and similarly
inaccessible structures. Speaking to
this ex-serviceman,I began to
wonder how abseiling could be
applied to cleaning at height.We
welcomed a demonstration at
Lloyds of London and I was
immediately impressed by the
flexibility and practicality of the
systems on show.
At this stage, I was not aware of
rope access ever having been used
for cleaning at height so when I
took the concept to the facilities
managers at Lloyds, it was more in
hope than expectation.They were
actually extremely receptive to the
idea, which paved the way for us to
develop the system with a view to
implementing it on the building.
We did a short course in abseiling
and quickly became the UK's first
ever rope access window cleaners.
The original system we implemented was based on an extremely basic
Australian version of abseiling. From that rudimentary beginning, a
highly-complex and extremely effective rope access system for
cleaning windows has evolved.
The Industrial Rope Access Trade Association (IRATA) has been
pivotal to this evolutionary process and continues to raise standards
across all industrial rope access applications. IRATA formed in the late
1980s – around the same time we started abseiling from the roof of
Lloyds. Since then a clearly-defined progression for achieving certain
standards in rope access – predominantly health and safety related –
has developed into a full accreditation system.
As abseiling became increasingly complex and highly-skilled, IRATA
kept practitioners up-to-date with developments in the discipline.
The IRATA accreditation system – levels 1, 2 and 3 – soon became
the industry standard for abseiling excellence.Today, to
become a Level 3 IRATA technician (the highest level)
requires years of dedication and many hours of
instruction.Advance now has three Level 3 IRATA
technicians in house which is unrivalled in the UK
cleaning industry.
Advance's level of abseiling expertise was a
key factor in being entrusted to clean the
top levels of St Mary Axe.This London icon
was built to accommodate specialist
access equipment for the highest floors.
Before this was fully-functional,we
suggested it could be abseiled as an
interim measure.
Despite being the most experienced
rope access technicians in the industry,
we had never attempted anything on
this scale previously.To mitigate any
potential health and safety issues, I engaged the services of an
abseiling expert – Paul Ramsden – to confirm my methodology. I also
arranged a meeting with a council Environmental Health officer to
ensure everyone was happy with the plan and working together to
deliver a safe and effective job.
Once everything was in place, with good weather required we
picked an August date, abseiled from the roof of St Mary Axe and
cleaned its famous windows. It was a resounding success.This
experience proved that rope access window cleaning is efficient, costeffective
and really can reach places other cleaning methods can't.
We also clean the highest windows at some of London's biggest
department stores.Where this task might once have entailed road
closures and cherry-pickers from the pedestrian pavement, rope
access cleaning ensured the job was relatively straightforward and
extremely cost-effective.
Our experience has taught us that once all other methods are
ruled out, rope access is usually the safest and most cost effective
access option available – especially when set against cumbersome,
expensive and disruptive
alternatives like scaffolding. More articles from Advance Cleaning Ltd: | 
