An otherwise ordinary day washing windows for one Toronto cleaner soon became much, much more after he swooped in to save a life.
Shane Hart, a 15-year window-washing veteran, was suspended halfway up a highrise at Yonge Street and Sheppard Avenue washing windows on Thursday when he heard a strange noise.
The noise was coming from a woman in her 50s who had collapsed on her balcony. As soon as Hart realized what was going on he swung into action without thinking twice.
“Basically I accessed her terrace from my suspension equipment, I secured my suspension equipment to her terrace railing, and then I proceeded to assist her up off the deck, sat her down, and then called 911,” he said.
He said she was alone in the apartment and she didn’t speak English. The language barrier didn’t stop him from seeing she needed help.
“You have a basic understanding of human emotion and body language. You can tell when someone is in distress,” he said.
Hart’s boss and owner of Aurum Window Cleaning, Michael Morozov, told Global News the window washing was secondary to helping someone in need.
“Saving lives is a lot more important than making a buck. Our company protocol is if you see an emergency you dial 911. Windows can wait,” he said.
The unique rescue may not have happened at all, however, for two reasons. Firstly, Hart said he normally wears headphones while he’s working and he had been doing so all morning.
“My phone — the battery almost died so the music turned off and I had free hearing,” he said.
“I might not even have noticed. I very well could have went right past her.”
Secondly, Hart was actually supposed to be working in the office on Thursday.
“I wasn’t supposed to be there yesterday. I’m actually the inventory manager for our company,” he said.
Hart was supposed to be in the office doing what his usual job — managing inventory — but due to a high workflow, he said he was asked to go into the field.
“Like I said, right place, right time.”
As for Morozov, he’s proud to work alongside someone like Hart.
“Makes me proud that we have good people working for us. But again, the real story’s not the company, it’s not Aurum, it’s that gentleman over there,” he said nodding in Hart’s direction.
Hart, however, said he thinks anyone would have done the same thing.
“It didn’t seem anything that was too untoward. If someone had fallen here in front of us you’d be right there to help them up, so I don’t think it was anything out of the ordinary,” he said.
But isn’t modesty the true mark of a hero?