The Squeegee Life Podcast Recap - Safety with Kevin Hargis

The Squeegee Life Podcast sat down with Kevin Hargis to talk about the hot topic of the year, safety. Who is Kevin? He is a professional window cleaner, trainer, and consultant with over 36 years in the industry. He is a former VP of Operations for a 160 employee janitorial company taking it from $450,000 in annual sales to $3.8 million. You could say, he knows a thing or two. 

Why is safety coming up so often now? More fresh faces than ever have joined the industry trying to make a career for themselves and they’re jumping in without learning all the basics. If you don’t have the full two hours to dive into this super informative podcast, we’ve pulled out the highlights for you. 

The Hidden Danger Behind Carbon Fiber Poles

It used to be that the hazards with window cleaning came from ladders, lifts, and working in rope descent. The industry took action, and by the time Kevin stepped away from the IWCA Board in January 2024, there were no deaths from rope descent. However, there were 5 from waterfed poles. 

Currently, OSHA is still labeling these accidents as just an electrical incident, so when a window cleaner gets electrocuted, it isn’t registered as an industry-specific issue. When carbon fiber poles first came out, they were celebrated because they eliminated fall hazards, but people didn’t understand the electrical risk. Now it’s time to refocus safety to address this new threat. 

“Okay, so we went safer cause there’s not people falling off buildings, however, now we’re going a different direction. Now we’ve gotta come up with something that we can help educate people.”

A Regular Day… Until It Wasn’t

The great thing about our industry is the number of young people that are taking the initiative and starting their own business. There are regular Reddit posts about kids wanting to get a water fed pole because they don’t want to deal with the risks of climbing ladders. Unfortunately, they aren’t thinking of the dangers that come with a waterfed pole, like worrying about not being electrocuted. They aren’t aware of how bad a situation can be if safety isn’t a priority. That’s why, as an industry, we need to start promoting safe practices to avoid incidents. 

There was a video circulating online of a window cleaner getting electrocuted mid-job, and it shook a lot of window cleaners. As Kevin said, “He might’ve been carrying that pole going, I can’t wait to get home to my wife. I can’t wait to get home and to see my kids. Then bam, gone.” These accidents can happen to anyone, and they happen in an instant. 

In another example, Kevin recalls a post he saw from a window cleaner showing an alleyway with data and power lines running across to the building the cleaner was working on. All the windows were under the lines, but still within 5 to 10 feet of them. He points out in this example that you likely don’t know what the actual voltage of those lines is. You don’t know if they’re old or degraded. What about how much humidity is in the air that could carry an arc to your pole? That’s why you need to respect safe distances to ensure you don’t put yourself in a dangerous situation. 

Many of the deaths related to water fed poles weren’t from people hitting the lines. The electricity arced to their pole, through them, and then out of their feet, resulting in serious injury and death. The concern in the industry now is that people understand that just using PPE alone isn’t a failsafe. Just like driving a car, you don’t solely rely on a seatbelt or the airbags to save you. You try to avoid the crash in the first place. 

There are different levels in the hierarchy of controls that you should consider. Unfortunately, especially with solar, we have to jump right to PPE because there are no other steps. You can’t shut the power off to the panel. In window cleaning, you could have the electric company come out and blanket the line, or shut it off, but most people aren’t going to go through that hassle unless it’s a huge project. 

That’s why you should work with dropzones, to ensure that your pole doesn’t come within the arc range of an electrical wire. You have to consider the what-ifs. For example, you have a power line 60’ behind you, and you’re facing away from it cleaning a building with your 40’ pole. What if the wind catches your pole and it starts to fall backwards? Now it’s within that dangerous arc range. You have to err to the side of safety, and in some cases, maybe there is a window that just doesn’t get cleaned. 

“Just because you have a fiberglass pole, or you have a fiberglass section, or you have a Kevlar pole, whatever it is, it does not completely eliminate the risk. The way I put it is, you have another level of PPE that you’re going to.”

Using Safety Sections the Right Way

There are some window cleaners out there already adopting safety sections, which is great, as long as they’re used correctly. Unfortunately, there are many videos of people grabbing a safety section with their right hand, and then reaching up to a non-insulated section with their left, which defeats the purpose. 

The XERO InsuPole was designed to be super long to help prevent this. Its long length makes it tough to grab onto the next uninsulated section. You have to have a lot of the pole behind you, which just gets awkward as it hits the ground. It’s even recommended to use two InsuPole sections to ensure you never accidentally grab a non-insulated section while you work. 

Kevin mentions that when using the XERO Solar Pole, which has an insulated fiberglass base section, he still opts to use the InsuPole on top of it. Even though he has a double layer of protection, he still uses his PPE, such as insulated gloves and dielectric boots.

“I see them, grabbing the bottom section with their right hand, and the next section with their left, and it’s like, completely null and voids that safety section.”

Investing in Safety

PPE gear can be an expensive investment, but it is a necessary expense to keep you safe. The ISCA website offers Class 0 boots and gloves, while XERO offers Class 0 gloves and shoe covers. Although full boots can be the safest option, shoe covers are better than nothing. When planning ahead for this purchase, you should be prepared to spend up to $2,000 for a full set of PPE. Just the arc-resistant pants alone can be around $150. 

If you aren’t ready to spend that much right away, you could start smaller with the gloves, boots, and InsuPole to get a good base. Then later add in the shirt and pants. A lot of people will say, well, that all sounds great, but it costs a lot and I can’t afford it right now. The cost might feel steep, but the alternative is far worse, just ask Jason Knight.

If you haven’t heard his name yet, Jason Knight is a window cleaner from the UK that survived an electrical incident with a waterfed pole. Although he lived, his life is completely different than it was before. Having had so many surgeries already, he’s become immune to the anesthetic, making getting additional surgeries more of a challenge. He also faced an uphill battle with the mental anguish that comes with surviving a nearly fatal incident and your life being turned upside down. He has done multiple interviews where he talked about his recovery and ongoing struggles. He still lives with a lot of pain, however, he’s not letting that hold him back. He’s on a mission to bring awareness to other window cleaners through his website.

“Keep in mind, that this is not an inexpensive investment to go safe. So, for a full set of PPE, you’re probably talking somewhere between $1500 and $2000 to get decked out in what you need to. But, what’s the alternative?”

Make Safety Routine

There’s this idea called normalization of deviance that applies when you skip a safety step one time, and then suddenly you're skipping it every time until it’s no longer even on your radar to do it at all. It’s easy to fall into this trap when you do the same things a hundred times, and they become so mundane. 

To avoid this in his company, Kevin discusses the topic regularly and also presents it when he teaches solar panel cleaning training. It’s important to stay vigilant and continue going through your safety protocols, even if they seem unnecessary. Always assume that something is wrong and something bad could happen, and continue to prevent it. Even when you are short on time, or it’s just too hot to be wearing boots on a roof to clean solar panels, do it anyway.

“Is you have to be hyper aware of everything that’s going on around you, and assume, assume that something is wrong and that something bad could happen if you don’t.”

Teaching Safety that Sticks

When trying to teach safety to water fed users and solar panel cleaners, the industry needs to consider how to present the information. 

• Training: Think of training like how you can train a dog. You can teach them tricks, like sit, stay, and rollover, but you have to be next to them asking for the action in order for it to happen. 

• Instruction: Instruction starts to introduce some free thinking, allowing people to work on their own, however this is usually done with guidelines and checklists so there are limitations.

• Education: Education is when people are empowered to recognize risks and determine the best way to mitigate them on their own. They don’t need assistance to see what hazards are around.

Kevin makes it a point to educate his employees so that when they get to a job site, before he even has a chance to get started, they’re already pointing out the risks and figuring out plans to handle them. That’s the level of independence that the industry should be striving for.

Every organization will have its own methods for teaching, but as long as the core information is consistent, the industry can move in a positive direction. Hopefully, there can become a standardization for equipment where a certain symbol or color will represent the safety-rated products, making it easier for consumers to get the right gear.

“That’s education. Because now they’re thinking on their own. They’re looking at their own hazards, their own risks, they’re mitigating it themselves.”

What PPE Looks Like

Your exact PPE may look slightly different, but Kevin pulled out some examples of what he wears on the jobsite to stay safe. 

• Class 0 Boots:  Worn when completing solar jobs and on water fed jobs within a dropzone of a powerline. 

• Class 0 Gloves & Electrically Rated Liner: Worn together for double insulation and increased grip on the gloves.

• Class G Hardhat with a Chin Strap: Especially on solar jobs when in a ground mount, a hardhat ensures your head is protected from coming in contact with anything.

• Arc-Rated Face Shield: When performing visual inspections on solar panels, an Arc-Rated Face Shield provides complete coverage. 

“We’ll put that electrically rated liner on, and then the gloves go on over that. So it’s a double insulation and it actually helps with the grip of these gloves.”

Awareness and Accountability

In this day and age, situational awareness is becoming more of an afterthought. When it comes to staying safe while cleaning windows and solar panels, awareness needs to be at the forefront of your mind. The proper education, situational awareness, and respect for what is around you can ensure you come home at the end of the day. Then add in accountability. Whether you work by yourself, or with a team, stay accountable for being safe. It doesn’t matter if you’re leading one person, or a large crew, you are responsible for everyone getting home safely. 

So how do you start implementing awareness? As soon as you get out of your truck to bid a job, start thinking about how you can do it safely, not how many dollar signs you’re seeing. Even on jobs that you’ve been doing for years, you should try to re-evaluate them. A lot of times, you get tunnel vision and stop noticing hazards around you. Try looking in a direction you normally don’t on a job. Do a full 360° and take in everything around you. If you change your perspective and pay attention to all angles, you might catch something you’ve never noticed before.

“But again, education, situational awareness, respect for what’s around you, so whether it’s a fall from heights or electricity, and then put some accountability either to yourself or to your team.”

Avoiding Tunnel Vision

A big concern regarding safety for window and solar cleaners is falling under the false pretense that proper safety gear is all you need. Insulated poles, gloves, boots, etc are just a layer of safety, but don’t completely eliminate risk on their own. Even with the right gear, you still need total awareness of your surroundings, and that’s where some cleaners struggle with tunnel vision.

It’s so easy to get hyper-focused on the window or panel you need to clean, and stop paying attention to what’s around you. Kevin explained how, at his old company, managers would fix a customer complaint only to have another pop up the next day. When asked why they hadn’t noticed it, the real reason was simple: they weren’t looking for it. They went in focused on one issue and overlooked everything else.

Building safety into your business doesn’t just protect your team, but it can also set you apart from your competitors. Highlighting your certifications and safety procedures during sales pitches helps you stand out from competitors. Large corporations appreciate knowing you’re reducing their risk should something go wrong. If your competition never mentions safety, you’re instantly the better choice. 

“It’s a big thing on the mind of potential customers. If you start bringing up your safety protocols in your presentations and your sales pitch, it will change people’s mind of you. And if somebody doesn’t care, they’re not your customer anyway.”

Don’t wait for a close call to take safety seriously.

Equip yourself, train your crew, and stay aware on every job. The goal is simple: get everyone home at the end of the day. Want to learn more? Check out these resources below:

• Full Squeegee Life Podcast with Kevin Hargis
• Water Fed Pole Electrical Hazards Guide
• Water Fed Window Cleaning Safety Guide

Meet the Author: Since 2005, TJ has been perfecting his craft as a window cleaner and spreading his knowledge. When he's not testing the latest XERO gear in the field, you can find him hosting the Squeegee Life Podcast!