Window cleaning in South Africa

By: Rob Urquhart

The window cleaning industry has changed over the years, transforming from a cleaner with a ladder and a handful of rags and a bucket, to a well-trained and professional industry.

The effect of the COVID-19 lockdown, concerns about spreading the coronavirus and stopping of non-essential work has hit the window/high-level cleaning industry hard. With people working from home, and many business premises standing empty, the window/high-level cleaning industry has seen substantial retrenchments. This, and the inefficiencies and delays of the TERS UIF payouts has had a serious and negative effect on window cleaners. Sadly, this has led to an increase in the number of businesses which do not adhere to health and safety regulations, minimum wages nor employee benefits. As a realistic comparison, in a pre-COVID-19 scenario, a country like Belgium with a population of 11.5 million had over 1500 window cleaning firms, in contrast South Africa with a population of 59.6 million had less than 100.

Apart from the aesthetics of a facility, long term dirt build-up can damage glass and increase heat reflection into a building, driving up air conditioning (electricity and water usage) costs.

The method of window/high-level cleaning selected will depend on the height and design of the building. If the area to be cleaned is accessed using work-at-height equipment, whether ladders, rope access, scaffolding, MEWPs or suspended access equipment, then there is quite a range of squeegees, mops, scrapers, buckets, extension poles and chemicals (good quality neutral detergent) available. Provided the cleaners received recognised training in the relevant work-at-height methods and all health and safety regulations are adhered to, this method of performing high-level cleaning is quite safe.

In Europe and the US, water-fed pole systems are widely used. Purified water (with a TDS of 10ppm or less) is pumped up a pole which has a brush at the top for cleaning a window. Pure water dries naturally, leaving no residue or marks on the cleaned surface.

The first water-fed pole system was used in South Africa in 2007. The use of these systems has not become as widespread in this country in comparison to other parts of the world. Concerns over water usage (pole systems use at least 5 times more water than traditional methods), limited height (the longest used locally is 21m) and the cost of imported purification systems have limited the popularity of these systems amongst clients.

The purification system usually involves reverse osmosis (RO), deionisation and microfiltration. During the purification process some systems lose up to 70 percent of the water introduced. Such a complex and wasteful purification system is based on the total dissolvable solids (TDS) of tap water abroad, which varies. For instance, a city like London has a TDS of 400ppm, while Johannesburg has a TDS of 156, so local tap water needs less purification. It is important to note that locally available purification systems consisting of microfilters and a resin polish work perfectly well.

Apart from the above, other pros and cons of the squeegee system versus water poles include hard dirt, such as dried paint which can only be removed by scraping. However, purified water leaves no residue on the surface and reduces static build-up on glass, which can affect the efficiency of solar panels, for instance.

Which is best, old versus ‘new’? Ultimately, it is up to the client to make this decision, based on risk and cost.

Rob Urquhart is a director of Ultra High Level Cleaning and former National Contract Cleaners Association (NCCA) Gauteng branch Chairman. Urquhart can be reached at: ultra.hl@worldonline.co.za