Excerpts from January/February 2011:

2011 Economic Outlook

The economy moved along sluggishly in 2010, but moved nonetheless in the right direction. Later in the year, several factors put a damper on any hopes that a full economic recovery had occurred, including the European debt crisis and a stubborn unemployment rate at home. These lingering problems remind us that while progress has been made, we still have a long way to go. It appears as though that sentiment will prevail as we move cautiously into 2011.(...)

Overcoming Difficult Jobs

Just ask, and most any window cleaner will tell you his own horror story about that one job that was so difficult, nasty, or challenging that he felt like saying “no way!” or just giving up midstream. Herein are stories from individuals who have tackled difficult jobs, persevered and found solutions for them.(...)

Workman's Comp: Safety Programs Control Costs

For employers large and small the problem is the same: The rising cost of benefits is eroding the bottom line. And one of the costliest of such benefits is workers compensation insurance.(...)

Workman's Comp: Correcting Billing Errors

Employers have a love-hate relationship with workers compensation insurance. While the program protects business owners from lawsuits for workplace injuries, the required premiums continue to threaten profits.(...)

IWCA/GANA Bulletin: Imperfect, Critics Say

There was immediate negative reaction among some window cleaners to the joint IWCA/GANA bulletin "Construction Site Protection and Maintenance of Architectural Glass" despite the fact that previously objected to sentences were eliminated in a re-draft of the original joint bulletin presented for a vote to the IWCA board at its October 8 meeting in Chicago, namely that the following be removed: "Glass should be cleaned in strict accordance with the Glass Informational Bulletin - Proper Procedures for Cleaning Architectural Glass Products....General contractors, builders, owners, and window cleaners should also consult the Glass Informational Bulletin – Heat-Treated Glass Surfaces are Different for additional considerations when cleaning heat-strengthened and tempered glass products." Therein, GANA states "the need to avoid the use of scrapers in the glass cleaning process because their use carries the high risk of scratching the glass surface when the scraper drags surface particles left on the glass, whether by the heat-treating process or as construction grit/dirt, across its surface." (...)