Nice one messy and from the Daily Mail;
“The flabbergasted witness wrote: ‘I couldn’t believe my eyes when I spotted this guy. I’m no great advocate of the Health and Safety brigade, but..."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co....indow.html#ixzz2AZrmWjT1

John.
Not a foregone conclusion that any (civil) claim would fall automatically on the property owner. In the first instance it would be the person responsible for the work that should "face the music". However, there are some complicating factors.

If window cleaner was a small firm despite them being (supposedly) expert it might be held that the firm hiring them should have taken more care in selecting a comptent window cleaner AND supervising their work.
This responsiblity is made even greater if the firm hiring is larger, and thus is regarded as more knowledgable about such matters - or at least should be!

BUT finally, if the small firm had no insurance it may not matter who did/did not do what since almost certainly the courts would hold the hiring firm liable. A very good reason for firms hiring contractors to not only satisfy themseleves about the competence of their contractors but also to check they have sufficient and suitable insurance.
Phil

I saw some window cleaners using the hoses (as in the interview from messyshaw).

One thing I did notice was the hoses were laid right across a footpath without any warning to the public & people were pushing their prams right over them.

You have to wonder what if someone tripped over the hoses??

Rhoecus,
And I saw a team early one weekday morning - around 0715 - standing in the middle of a street in the city of London. There was a "watcher" who I assumed was supposed to be keeping a lookout for traffic.

Cones - None that I could see
Warning signs - ditto
Reflective clothing - nope!

What hope do we have....?
Phil