Maintenance and engineering managers pay a great deal of attention to the safety of their facilities staff. This focus is essential, given the threat that arc flash, roof falls and rotating equipment pose to workers. But the threats to facilities workers hardly end there. They also extend to the activities of contractors that managers hire to supplement in-house staff.
Consider the case of a window washer who recently died after falling 32 stories from one of the tallest high-rise buildings in Boston, police said. Boston emergency crews received a call from 100 Summer Street about a window washer who had fallen several stories to the ground. When police arrived, they reported the victim as deceased at the scene, according to USA Today.
100 Summer Street is a 32-story high rise building located in downtown Boston. It is one of the tallest buildings in Boston. The worker was identified by The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office as 40-year-old Nicholas Marks.
Window-washing fatalities are very rare. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has reported 28 incidents in the last five years, and 11 incidents have resulted in death.
Dan Hounsell is senior editor for the facilities market. He has more than 30 years of experience writing about facilities maintenance, engineering and management.
