Guides
Window cleaning employee training checklist: five hands-on modules
Window cleaning employee training for the hands-on work: chemicals, ground technique, scrapers, ladders and pure water, each ending in an observed task.
What to take away
- This checklist covers the hands-on workchemicals, ground-level technique, scrapers, ladders and pure-water poles. Each module ends with an observed task and a signature.
- Nobody works unsupervised on a method until they are signed off on that method. That is the rule the whole list exists to support.
- Order matterssafety awareness and ground-level technique before anything at height, and scrapers taught on their own.
- Keep the records. An insurer and a commercial customer will both ask to see them, and so will you after an incident.
- No pay figure, timescale or ratio is given. How long a module takes is something you measure with your own people.
Ladders, poles and chemicals cause serious injuries. This list is a structure for your own training program and does not replace competent instruction on the specific equipment and methods your company uses.
How the sign-off sheet works
For every person, keep one sheet. For every module: the date taught, who taught it, the observed task, the date signed off, and the signature of both.
One Sheet Per Person
- Date taught and who taught it
- Observed task performed
- Date signed off
- Signature of trainee and trainer
- Re-observe after incident or absence
Three rules keep it honest. Sign off on an observed task rather than on attendance. Never sign off on a method the company does not actually perform. And re-observe after any incident, any long absence, or any change of equipment.
Why the five modules run in this order
Hazard awareness comes first because every later module uses chemicals, glass or equipment, and a trainee has to know what can hurt them before touching any of it. Ground-level technique comes next, because habits form there and nothing at height should start until they are sound.
Scrapers get a module of their own, taught after ground technique and never folded into it. Ladders follow, then pure-water poles for companies that run them. Only the methods your company performs belong on the sheet. Nothing aspirational does.
Module 1: hazard awareness and chemicals
- The hazards of this tradefalls, slips, glass, chemicals, traffic, power lines
- Every product carried, what it is for, and its safety data sheet
- Which protective equipment goes with which product, taken from the sheet
- Labeling and storage rules on the van
- Spill response
- Incident and near-miss reporting, same day
- Observed taskselects the correct protective equipment for a named product and says why
The content of this module comes from the safety data sheets for the products your own van actually carries, read alongside the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's published material on cleaning industry hazards. Teaching it from your own sheets, rather than in general terms, is what makes it usable.
The Hazard Communication Standard says all employers with hazardous chemicals in their workplaces must have labels and safety data sheets for their exposed workers, and train them to handle the chemicals appropriately. The signed observed task is your evidence of that training.
Module 2: ground-level technique
- Tool care and setuphandles, channels, rubber, applicators
- Wetting, working the pane, and the fixed direction rule
- Edges, frames and sills
- Detailing without leaving lint or marks
- Recognizing when rubber or a sleeve needs replacing
- Interior protectioncoverings, furniture, blinds
- Observed taskcompletes a full elevation to your written finished-job standard, unassisted
Write the finished-job standard down before training starts, because the observed task is measured against it. A trainee who completes a full elevation unassisted has shown the fundamentals that the later modules lean on.
Module 3: scrapers and blades
Taught separately, because this one tool causes more permanent glass damage than everything else combined.
- When a scraper is appropriate and when it is not
- Glass types and coatings that must never be scraped
- Wet surface discipline
- Blade condition, angle and change frequency
- Safe blade handling, storage and disposal
- What to do when a mark appearsstop, report, photograph
- Observed taskremoves residue on a test pane with no marking, and explains one situation where they would refuse
The observed task has two halves: the clean result and the refusal. A trainee who can explain when they would not use a scraper has learned the more important half, and a mark that is reported at once is a mark the company can deal with.
Module 4: ladders and access
Only the methods your company performs. Nothing aspirational belongs on this sheet.
- The company access policymaximum height and permitted methods
- Ladder selection, footing, angle and securing
- Pre-use inspection and what takes a ladder out of service
- Ground conditions, overhead lines and traffic
- When conditions mean the work does not proceed, and who decides
- Observed tasksets up, works from and repositions a ladder correctly, and states one condition under which they would stop
The framing for this module is that protection is planned before the work rather than improvised on site, which is how published fall protection guidance describes it and how your own written access policy should be worded. A person who cannot say what would make them stop is not signed off.
On inspection, OSHA's ladder standard for general industry, 29 CFR 1910.23, says ladders are inspected before initial use in each work shift, and more frequently as necessary, to identify any visible defects that could cause employee injury.
Module 5: pure-water systems
For companies running them.
- Why purity matters and how it is checked
- Filtration media, its life, and the signs it is spent
- Pole handling, section locking and safe carrying
- Brush choice and rinse discipline
- Overhead lines and the hazards specific to long poles
- Freezing precautions and end-of-day tank care
- Observed taskchecks purity, sets up and cleans an upper elevation to standard
Overhead lines appear in this module and in the ladders module for the same reason: both methods put long reach near things that carry power. Teach the two together where you can, and sign each off separately.
When to re-observe
- Annuallyhazard awareness and chemicals
- Annuallyladders and access
- After any incident or near miss, on the module involved
- After any change of equipment or product
- After an absence long enough that habits will have faded
The daily pre-use checks sit best inside the daily operations checklist, so that what is taught in the module is what the crew actually does at the start of each shift.
Who signs, and what the records are for
Name who can sign what, in writing, so it is not decided by whoever is available. A crew lead may sign a module once they are themselves signed off on it and on assessing it.
The training record also feeds the wider compliance file. Line C6 of the people, safety and site audit asks for training recorded per person per method, which is exactly what this sheet produces.
Insurers treat documented training as a policy condition in some wordings, and commercial customers ask for it during vendor onboarding. See insurance coverage and policy conditions for how those conditions read.
Where this fits
The reasoning behind the module structure, the role design it supports and how to keep people once trained is in the hiring and training guide.
Modules 3 to 5 are only meaningful for the equipment you actually run, which is decided in the equipment and setup choices.
Common questions
How long should the whole program take?
Longer than an induction and shorter than people fear. The honest answer is that you measure it with your first two hires and then plan around what you observed.
Can somebody be signed off by a crew lead rather than the owner?
Yes, once the crew lead is themselves signed off on the module and on assessing it. Name who can sign what, in writing, so it is not decided by whoever is available.
What if an experienced hire says they already know a module?
Observe the task anyway. It usually takes minutes, and the point is not doubt about their skill; it is that your standard and their previous employer's standard are not the same document.
Do these records matter outside the company?
Yes. Insurers treat documented training as a policy condition in some wordings, and commercial customers ask for it during vendor onboarding. The record is what turns a claim about competence into evidence.
