"Makes My Hands Sweat!"

“Take your work seriously but yourself lightly."
-- C.W. Metcalf, American writer

Today while we were hanging out watching the morning news, these two gents rappelled down past our window with their squeegies, hoses and hard hats, smoothly and silently cleaning the dirt from our windows here on the 29th floor! Suddenly the words “hanging out” had a completely different and more dangerous meaning!!

Dangling from ropes attached to the roof 30 stories up, these window-washing acrobats are harnessed into small wooden seats, swinging freely back and forth across the floor-to-ceiling windows, dragging their hoses and squeegies across the glass. It’s anybody’s guess how their buckets, precariously strapped to the wood planks on which they’re perched, simply don’t plunge into the swimming pool below! Why don’t their long-handled squeegies break away and careen through the windshields of the parked cars far below?

They’re dressed in rain gear, wearing brightly colored rubber boots, and seem completely at ease with their harrowing task. They smiled and waved as I documented their progress past our windows with my IPhone, all the while keeping up their steady pace! I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of protection their helmets would offer – perhaps from an errant bird diving into their workspace? More likely, it’s protection from an unexpected gust of wind that, at these altitudes, could blow them into the side of the building at any moment!

I asked Chris to explain how their harnesses work – being an experienced rock-climber, he was able to describe the simple physics of the Rope Descent System (“RDS”) used when rappelling down a rock face, and although this method can be used by window washers, it’s not recommended for use on buildings higher than 300 feet! Needless to say, our 30-story building far exceeds that recommendation. On top of that, Chris was quick to say that the RDS these workers have rigged up is by far the most simplistic – and dangerous – one he’s ever seen! Unlike the far more secure and complex “bar” or “cylindrical” rope descent systems, this simple “double-loop system” would in no way be recommended for workers hanging 30 stories above the ground!

The way this particular rope device appears to work is by looping the rope twice through a metal ring, which then controls the men’s movements down the building, just as if they were descending a rock-face. Their weight holds them in place as they stop at each floor to clean the windows; then, as they move downward, they manually release the knot with their hands and simply allow the rope to slip through the loop until they get to the next stop. Even by daredevil rock-climbing standards, this overly simplistic descent method seems far too dangerous for anyone – even the most experienced window washers!

Unlike the suspended scaffolds more typically used by window washers in the West, these “Bosuns Chairs” are standard operating procedure for window washers throughout China. The men link themselves together by a central rope dangling between their legs, insuring they don’t swing too far away from each other and risk knocking themselves off their wooden seat. This is clearly a team sport; the two men chattered to each other as they worked, obviously familiar with their routine and each other, a kind of high-rise comradeship that you see so often among workers in China. These window washers were likely trained for their trade by their fathers, uncles or elder colleagues, who passed the skill down to them as a specialized trade. From where we sit (safely on our sofa), this is most definitely a task for skilled (and fearless) laborers!

Since these men aren’t even wearing gloves as they work, we have to hope they remain cool and calm on their ropes! As they careened past us, all Chris could say is, “Just watching them makes my hands sweat!”