I have to say that I like such threads
Somebody pushing his own business.
Others complaning.
Smart replies.
Heres mine.
Anybody using a ladder, who has been doing so for many years, is very unlikely to fall, however if they do it could be fatal.
Anybody using a ladder for the first time, is very likely to fall - and this is probably where most statistics come from.
I choose to use WFP because it is commercially viable, if I choose to use a ladder I feel I am competent to use one, I also feel I am more than competent to teach my staff how to use one - safely.
There are many wfp users out there that have no idea how to use a ladder or in fact traditional window cleaning methods, such as squeegee or scrim etc How they clean internal windows is anybodys guess, and I think that there should be no wars between wfp and trad, but if need be untrained against experienced.
WFP is just another tool, albeit a useful one, window cleaning is all about wfp, ladders, MEWPS, abseiling, cradle work, squeegees, scrims, chamois leathers and microfibre cloths etc
There is NO training course out there that will train a man how to clean windows safely, I have attended them all and what I can see is that many training companies fail to train, but try and show videos how amatuers have fallen/tripped/slipped etc.
How can anybody teach window cleaning in a classroom?
How do you get trained to drive a car? In a classroom? No you get trained in the car.
I think it is time that there was a training course, where trainees learn how to clean windows safely and economically. Not just a course to earn the trainers money inside a classroom.
If anybody would like to learn safely, you cannot beat gaining experience from window cleaners who have been cleaning windows for twenty years or more, go and work for one for six months and you won't go far wrong.
Sit in a classroom on a training course and you could end up in serious difficulties when you go out into the big wide world and come up against something that you think you have been trained to do.
To all training companies out there.
YOU COULD DO MUCH BETTER - PROVIDING YOU THINK ABOUT THE WOULD BE WINDOW CLEANER - INSTEAD OF YOUR OWN WELL BEING.
Most of the companies who have trained me, have in my opinion had far less experience than me, and others in the classroom. They have passed on to newbies, information that the newby may find useful, but might not be correct.
Regarding "footing" a ladder - three seperate courses with three seperate companies have explained how to foot a ladder three seperate ways - WHO IS RIGHT? There needs to be a set industry standard.
BWCA vs IMPACT 43 for example, one of you is wrong and one of you is correct - IN MY OPINION, however according to another ladder trainer - BOTH OF YOU ARE WRONG. Again my opinion only but BWCA gives out some very DANGEROUS advice regarding this, and they are recieving good money for this.
If anybody would like to know more, please contact me, I have only gained 26 years experience, taught to me by guys who have cleaned windows for up to 50 years.
You can always pay fees for a nice badge or a certificate (where they spell your name wrong) with the hope that A customer might care. You will spend a lot of time sat in a nice warm classroom learning somebody elses theories - but you won't really know if you are being taught correctly or not.
