Window Cleaners: Should they be certifying the Height Safety System they hang-off?

1. Accreditations?

Aside from the standard accreditations such as ISO9001 (Quality Assurance), ISO45001 (Health and Safety Management), they should also have a technical inspection certification such as NATA.

• Do they have 3^rd party certification such as NATA 17020 (Onsite inspection and testing)

• 3^rd party verification provides the assurance that the window cleaners have been assessed as suitable to perform the task.
• Competency and documented evidence of training, skills, knowledge and experience to inspect and certify.

• Does their accreditation scope extend to ancillary equipment, such as:

• Fixed and Portable Ladders
• Static Lines and Rigid Rails
• Guardrails

(All of these are critical to the access and inspection process).

2. What documentation should you receive?

• Asset register of all equipment including;

• Serial numbers
• Manufacturer
• Installation Date
• Asset ID (P.S. we do an aluminium QR Coded asset ID)
• Compliance Inspection Report with photo evidence of non-conformances with breach of regulation or install issue.

• An up-to-date roof layout plan with;

• Details of equipment and access points of each building including ancillary equipment such as ladders, staircases etc.

• Ensure the documentation doesn’t just address Window Cleaning and also includes other routine maintenance tasks such as;

• Gutter Cleaning
• Solar Panel Cleaning
• HVAC/ Air-Con and Mechanical Equipment maintenance
• Cooling Tower inspections, dosing and motor servicing

3. Does the Window Cleaner/ Height Safety Inspector have a conflict of interest?

There is an inherent conflict of interest present when the task performed, in this instance window cleaning, is dependent on the re-certification of the height safety system.

Window cleaners are on-site primarily to clean the windows with Height Safety Inspection as an added value item. This means that they are more likely to take more risk and make their own arrangements to just get the job done.

Make sure the window cleaners stop work and come talk to you if they are going outside of the rigging arrangement on scope, as in some cases they can just tie off to un-certified structures, putting themselves and you as the building manager at risk.