On Tuesday afternoon, two window cleaners got stuck in their work cage while cleaning windows at Eindhoven University of Technology. They had to wait at a height of 30 meters for two hours until they were freed by the fire brigade. Clean windows and urgent needs, the profession of window cleaner regularly has its unfortunate moments. A brief overview.
Pouring rain
On April 24, it was a difficult few hours for window cleaner Dennie Schwartz from Vught. While he was cleaning the windows of a residential care center on Merpatistraat in Vught, his aerial work platform broke down. Dennie had forgotten his phone and was stuck in the pouring rain. Only after a few hours did a passerby call the fire brigade for him.
Dennie: “A typical Monday morning. The cherry picker went into protection mode. Then it doesn’t respond to anything. It was super cold. It was very stupid that I didn’t have my phone with me.”
Self-sustainability
Less than two weeks earlier, on April 13, two window cleaners were trapped at a great height in a broken container in Den Bosch for more than two hours. They hung on the Van Lanschot building on the Leonardo Davinciplein. Once the fire brigade and police arrived, the window cleaners managed to get the container loose themselves. They turned the container to the other side of the building and came out unscathed.
Upside down
Two years ago, a window cleaner had to be rescued in Dongen. There he was cleaning windows of a nursing home at the Dongepark. The container he was standing in tipped over and hung upside down from the eaves. The tray was still attached to the installation on the roof. The window cleaner that was in the container was secured but could not go any further. The fire brigade managed to free him with a cherry picker.
Agony
Window cleaner Wesley Bernaards was stuck for hours in a container against an apartment building in Eindhoven three years ago on a Monday in March. The 34-year-old window cleaner from Thorn in Limburg was freed from his plight by the fire brigade by abseiling. He was so scared that he fainted.
His colleague, 31-year-old Rinaldo Thomas from Den Bosch, was brought down hours later by the fire brigade. Both men were trapped in a box around the sixteenth floor of the building on Gerard Philipslaan near the Philips Stadium.
In the video at the top of this article you can see a compilation of perilous moments experienced by window cleaners.