“You really have to prove very little to make out such a case,” said Kenneth Wilhelm, a New York personal injury attorney. ![]() “The window washer could be 99 percent at fault, but if the owner or manager is just 1 percent at fault, then the window washer can recover 100 percent of their damages from the owner or manager.” That contributes to big lawsuit settlements and exceptionally high insurance costs for building owners and contractors. New York’s labor laws - such as the so-called scaffold law, which covers gravity-related accidents - include specific protections for window cleaners. reported to the agency in the past 20 years. While window cleaners are not particularly prone to accidents relative to other construction and maintenance workers, the consequences of one can be grave: More than half have been fatal, according to OSHA records of the 102 window cleaning accidents in the U.S. They work out of baskets that dangle dozens of stories in the air - a far hotter, windier and scarier workplace than the average. Some window cleaners undoubtedly would not mind a different gig. A spokesperson for the union did not comment by press time. ![]() “Those two other people are not out of work - are picking up the jobs that can’t fill,” he said. In New York, construction is a major business for unions, and any technology that could replace humans with robots is bound to trigger a conversation with them. Skyline faces the same hurdles as other proptech firms looking to change the construction business, notably organized labor and regulators. Before the Durst investment, the company had raised a modest $9.5 million, including a $6.5 million seed round, according to Crunchbase.Ī spokesperson for Durst, whose website lists 20 properties in the city, declined to comment. It still has a long way to go before the city’s skyscraper facades are whizzing with robotic maids. The deal is Skyline’s largest step in breaking into the city’s highly regulated maintenance business. Skyline, whose advisory board includes Silverstein Properties CEO Marty Burger, aims to start robotic cleanings there around March. ![]() The former Freedom Tower has dealt with cleaning difficulties in the past, including a 2014 incident in which two window washers were stuck for over an hour on a dangling scaffold at the 69th floor.
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