ANSI approves IWCA I-14.1 window cleaning safety draft

The action is a result of nearly five years of work by members of the IWCA I-14 Committee who have worked diligently towards achieving this goal. Throughout this time frame outside parties affected by the Standard were able to take advantage of several opportunities to provide input and submit comments on the draft. This enabled the committee to review hundreds of comments, statistics and technical reports and make numerous changes to the draft standard in order to achieve a consensus for the window cleaning industry.

The IWCA I-14 Committee is comprised of twenty-four members that are divided into three categories of interest. These Interest Categories are an ANSI requirement and include "User" (window cleaners), "Producer" (manufacturers of equipment) and "General Interest." Some of the members of the general interest category are safety consultants and designers, officials from the California and New York Departments of Labor, the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), the Illinois Association of Building Maintenance Contractors (IABMC) and the International Window Cleaning Association (IWCA).

The ANSI/IWCA I-14.1 Window Cleaning Safety Standard is a two-part document. Part A focuses on safety guidelines for the use of window cleaning access equipment while Part B is geared toward those who manufacture, design or install the equipment. Some of the access equipment addressed in the Standard includes rope-descending systems (also known as RDS, CDE or CDA), transportable and permanent suspended scaffolds, ladders and man-lifts. The Standard will also serve as a guide for regulatory agencies, architects and building owners.