| Record breaker and unbeaten world champion Terry Burrows. Read his column in WCM!The World’s Fastest Window Cleaner |
| Terry ‘Turbo’ Burrows says…Luck is a funny old thing. Last year, for example, I placed a bet on four horses. To my complete amazement, all of the horses I placed a bet on won! This netted me a staggering £41,439!! Safe to say I was celebrating for a while after.Another day I drove into a petrol station, filled up my car and made my way to the payment point to pay for the fuel. I walked up to the till, the floor was wet, and before I knew it I was flying up into the air, coming crashing down really hard on the floor. My back was in pain. The floor was wet and there was no ‘wet floor’ sign to be seen. My back still hurts me today.
Luck is never certain to be good or bad, but when it’s bad it can turn out to be really bad. Luck is just as unpredictable when it comes to ladders. You can be window cleaning for years and never really experience any accidents, but equally you may experience one. Sometimes one accident is all it takes to stop you earning for months, years or forever. I’m not against ladders, I have used them all my life and they have earned me a good living over the years. I do think that if you choose to use ladders or have your employees use ladders then proper training must be given and a risk assessment carried out. If you are a sole trader you still have responsibilities to yourself and the people around you, but it’s not so bad. If you employ people then your exposure to risk is greater. One good idea is to keep records of all your training, including records of your ladder checks. Fortunately for me, there is no ladder work involved in the speed cleaning of my record breaking events; although I do think I need a parachute sometimes like those drag race cars. Stay lucky, stay safe. Come and see me at Windex 2012. Terry
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