Window cleaning safety in HDB flats and condos

Clean only what you can reach from inside, standing on the floor. Never lean out of a high-rise window, climb onto a chair, stool or ledge, or reach through the grilles further than your arms. If you employ a live-in helper, MOM goes further: she may clean the outside of a window above ground level only when the grilles are installed and locked throughout, and you or another adult representing you are there to supervise.

This guide sets out MOM's rules as MOM states them, the habits that keep everyone else safe, BCA's advice on checking the windows themselves, and what a part-time cleaner will and will not do.

Why windows are a real risk

MOM's guide for migrant domestic workers puts it plainly. Most Singaporean families live in high-rise homes such as HDB flats, apartments or condominiums, and in a high-rise building the risk of falling from height is real, especially when cleaning windows and hanging laundry.

There is a second risk: the window itself. BCA points out that windows face wind and rain every day and deteriorate with wear and tear, and that regular checks and maintenance are essential to keep occupants and the public safe from falling windows. The day you clean your windows is the natural day to check them.

MOM's rules for helpers who clean windows

If you employ a migrant domestic worker, you must not let her clean the exterior of a window unless two conditions are met:

1. Window grilles are installed and locked at all times during the cleaning.
2. You, or an adult representative, are physically present to supervise her.

The rules apply to all homes, except for windows at ground level or along common corridors.

The regulation behind this, in the Employment of Foreign Manpower (Work Passes) Regulations, is more specific. The grille must stop an adult from putting any part of their body beyond the window ledge except the arms. And at all times during the cleaning:

• the grille is locked or secured so that it cannot be opened
• the helper stays inside the room
• no part of her body extends beyond the window ledge except her arms
• she is supervised by the employer, or by an adult representative who is reasonably capable of supervising and knows these requirements

Before a helper starts work, the employer, the helper and the employment agency sign a safety agreement that sets out these conditions and whether she will be asked to clean window exteriors at all. Her copy is in her native language. For a first-time helper, it is signed after she attends the Settling-in Programme and before she starts work in your home.

MOM's guide for helpers adds practical rules. Do not stand on chairs, stools, raised platforms or the window ledge. Do not climb onto a platform or lean out to clean the exterior; use cleaning tools with extended handles instead. Do not try to retrieve objects that have fallen onto a window ledge or platform. And when cleaning the inside of windows, keep the window panes locked.

A simple check before any exterior glass is cleaned: is the window at ground level or along a common corridor? If not, are the grilles locked, will the helper stay inside the room with only her arms past the ledge, and is an adult there supervising? If any answer is no, the outside of that window does not get cleaned.

Safe habits for everyone else

MOM's rules bind employers of helpers, but the same habits make sense for anyone cleaning a high-rise window, including you:

• Stay on the floor. No chairs, stools, ladders or ledges. If you cannot reach, use a longer tool, not a higher step.
• Keep your body inside. Only your arms go past the ledge, and only as far as is comfortable.
• Use long-handled tools. An extendable squeegee or microfibre pad reaches the far corners of the glass from where you stand.
• Hold on to everything. Anything taken outside a window can fall on someone below, so never balance a cloth, bottle or tool on the ledge.
• Lock the panes you are not cleaning, as MOM's guide advises.
• Leave dropped items where they are. A cloth on the ledge is not worth the reach.
• Pick a calm, dry day, and keep children out of the room while windows are open.

Check the window, not just the glass

BCA asks homeowners to maintain their windows in three steps: check, clean and change. By window type:

BCA also asks you to check PVC corner brackets for signs of deterioration. Every change in the table is a job for an approved window contractor, not a cleaner. If you are not confident checking your own windows, you can engage an approved window contractor for the inspection too: BCA keeps a list, and HDB keeps its own list for HDB owners. In an HDB flat, HDB says window works may only be carried out by BCA-approved window contractors listed with HDB. BCA has also said that homeowners can be penalised if a window falls because it was not maintained, which is one more reason to look closely while you clean.

What a part-time cleaner will and will not do

MOM's window rules are written for employers of migrant domestic workers. A part-time cleaner sent by a company is employed by that company, not by you, so the company decides what its cleaners may do. Ask before the visit, and be wary of anyone willing to lean out or climb to reach glass. Our guide to the Household Services Scheme explains the MOM scheme that many part-time cleaning companies operate under.

At HomeMaster, our cleaners clean the window glass, sills and grilles they can reach from inside your home as part of a normal clean, along with balcony sliding doors and their tracks. They work from the floor: no ladders or stools, no leaning out, and nothing beyond the grilles. We do not clean the outside of high-rise windows.

For glass you cannot reach safely from inside, the options are a specialist window cleaning company with the right equipment and training or, in a condo, asking the management office whether facade cleaning is scheduled. For what a standard visit covers room by room, see what a home cleaner does. If windows are on your list before Chinese New Year, tell Helen, our AI assistant on WhatsApp, which ones matter most, or see our home cleaning service.