Until this week, it had been decades since Victoria General Hospital’s exterior had been thoroughly cleaned, according to facility maintenance manager Rob Wishart.
“After 40 years, this building has been covered in a black mildew that has built up,” Wishart said. “It was time to get that cleaned up.”
Rather than turning to the usual window-washing businesses, Wishart took a chance on a new company that uses drones to clean windows in an effort to improve safety and efficiency.
That company, SkyDweller Technologies, launched in July and uses drones for exterior window washing, and for thermal scans and 3D mapping of buildings. Similar companies exist in other parts of the country, including Ontario, Quebec and Alberta.
Founder Mike Africh says one of the main benefits of using drones is safety.
Rather than ladders and scaffolding, a new company provides drones to conduct window washing services to major buildings in the Greater Victoria area, promising improved safety and significant savings.
According to data from WorkSafeBC, more than 300 long-term disability, short-term disability and fatal claims for window washers were made in B.C. from 2014 to 2023.
The most common type of injury, WorkSafe data shows, is strains.
According to the Canadian Press, WorkSafe BC previously reported that one window washer was killed in May and another injured in June when their extendable washing brushes contacted power lines.
Director of Innovation, Facilities and IT at the Victoria Airport Authority, Adrian Nyland, who has also contracted the company to wash windows, said he’s always felt nervous having people up high on scaffolding washing windows.
“Especially when they have to move from area to area,” he said.
Africh says that with drones, there’s no one on scaffolding high up or in direct contact with those brushes.
“All of our pilots are on the ground,” Africh said. “The drones don’t get tired. They may need a battery swap, but with people and pressure washing, you may have a lot of streaks that pop up from individuals who aren’t doing a consistent job.”
Wishart says the lower cost meant the hospital was able to save money for other projects. He estimates they saved about $650,000.
“I don’t even know how to compare the cost. It was under one-tenth of what a traditional scaffolding and pressure washing outfit would do.”
How it works
Africh says the drones are attached to a customized rig, where filtered water is pressured up through a line. Special nozzles are attached for cleaning, and they use a reservoir to keep water pumping continuously.
There’s a camera on the drone which streams a visual of the work back to the drone operator.
Chief pilot Brent Canning, who has been operating drones for more than 10 years, said they work slowly but surely, using a narrow brush.
“It’s never boring; there’s always new things to figure out, how to maneuver drones around structures,” he said.
To clean tougher gunk like bird poop, for instance, Africh said they can use hot water or eco-friendly chemicals.
The company has to work with Nav Canada, which is in charge of Canadian air space navigation, as well as other air space agencies to ensure they’re using the drones safely, Canning said.