Weather stations installed to help London window cleaners - 16/02/2010

Health and safety mangers in Canary Wharf have installed two roof-level automatic weather stations to monitor conditions for the safety of their window cleaners.

According to International Environmental Technology, the stations record air pressure, temperature, humidity, rainfall, wind speed and wind direction.

This enables a more accurate measurement of the weather to make sure conditions are suitable for window cleaners carrying out their duties at height using cradles. The station positioned on a lower roof level also records sunshine and solarimeter (brightness).

Information is gathered remotely and relayed through a bus link to computers users who can interpret their data and use it to determine whether of not conditions are suitable for window cleaning.

Before the weather stations were installed, the decision about whether or not to use external cradles for window cleaning depended entirely on information gathered from handheld anemometers, which did not provide accurate results.

Readings from the handheld equipment tended to rely too much on where the reading was taken, which did not take into consideration the way in which weather circulates around buildings.

According to expert advice from Consumer Reports, windows should not be cleaned in direct sunlight, as this can result in streaky glass surfaces.

London window cleaners are on hand to deal with all your surface cleaning requirements.