I received Brent’s latest response in the early hours of the morning (UK time) and it certainly gave me pause, so I decided to sleep on what he had said. And I have awoken this morning feeling no less chastened.

With the benefit of hindsight, likening the US demolition industry to a serial killer WAS sensationalist and for that I apologise unreservedly.

However, as Oliver points out above, four people WERE killed. As someone who is dedicated to gathering and delivering demolition news, am I expected to ignore four deaths? Am I supposed to overlook the fact that they followed in such quick succession? Am I supposed to present the industry with a positive sugar-coating when we all know just how dangerous this industry can be?

Surely to do so would be failing in my vocation every bit as much as failing to safely and effectively demolish a building would be in yours.

As for the suggestion that I stop writing about the demolition business, if I thought that in so doing it might save an industry life, I would pull the plug on my PC now and close DemolitionNews with immediate effect.

Since that is not the case, I shall continue to report the news as it happens, and to commentate when I feel appropriate. But you have my personal assurance that I shall rein in the sensationalism.

Holy shit, I am completely astonished by the irresponsibility displayed in these repeated editorial attacks on “the US demolition industry”.

Rather than get all defensive, or rah-rah USA, or pick apart all the cheap-shot recklessness line by painful line (as tempting as that is), I’m going to refrain from direct critique in exchange for a general observation:

As tempting as the writer finds it to sensationalistically portray them as such, the US and European (and Chinese etc) demolition industries are not singular monolithic breathing beasts devoid of morals and capable of malicious callousness. Each of the industry’s millions of daily individual successes and failures have their own unique circumstances, and spouting off when more failures than one can tolerate occurs in a news cycle is extremely disingenuous. Without knowing the full circumstances of each incident, one has no idea whether more regulation or seminars or rosary beads would have made any difference at all.

News flash– demolition is inherently one of the most dangerous occupations on the planet, and nobody tries harder to mitigate that danger than the folks whose lives are at risk every day. And it will still be the most dangerous tomorrow. Lessons will be learned. Human mistakes will happen again. But it’s obvious to me that anyone writing the line “The US demo industry’s killing of four innocent individuals blah blah” is devoid of basic common sense and doesn’t have the stomach for demolition so I’d recommend this writer consider getting out of it. I simply can’t believe someone wrote an article titled “Demolition Industry: Stop This Serial Killer.” There is no softening or backing off of that charge possible.

But please, wax on about ‘robust initiatives’ and ‘enhancing environmental friendliness’ and ‘reducing administrative burden zzzzz…”. That’s all terribly interesting stuff with Jack The Ripper as the backdrop.

My final comments related to this particular debate that has gone from “Serial Killers” to the recommendation the NDA should follow in the footsteps of the NFDC ‘almost’ on a chapter and verse basis.

As a Past President of the NFDC and when in my very active NFDC years progress indeed was made on establishing much all with the intention to assist the membership at large and the NFDC today is no different. As a group of business men the NFDC Council continually discuss means and methods of how we can improve our image to the demolition industries client base on a “we are the people” basis, “the voice of the industry” and so on.
The NFDC of recent years remains very active trying always to put the best NFDC foot forward.

In the past, Politics have played a big part on a who was who basis to the NFDC. This point is confirmed by who the invited “guest of honor” would be at the top table at AGMs’, annual conventions, regional dances, one day seminars and so on, there was always a ‘political’ someone of importance there or there abouts. We Brits just do things a little bit more formal than our NDA counterparts but I can inform you all, the ways and means of the NDA may well be different but are as every bit effective, if not that little bit more so.

What are we really talking about here, on both sides of the pond it is called marketing. The Brit., Demo Companies have been for many years now under the kind of “big brother is watching you” situation, bombarded by legislation from many fronts and all at the same time and especially over the last 10 years. The British Demolition Indusrty has been more than influenced by much bureaucracy and all I can say for and on behalf of the NFDC membership is “thank God for Howard Button and the NFDC Staff at Resurgam House who sift their way through all the the paper work to find out what is relevent or otherwise to the NFDC members.

Because of the bureaucratic influence in the U.K. industries in general have tailored there marketing efforts accordingly and to be seen to be complying and more with legislation and so on is an absolute must.

In the US, not quite so, here the Demo Contractor business man has more scope, more freedom and flexibility to market his company with of course all of what is required by EPA and OSHA very much in mind and also with what is not such a difficult thing to do, to conform to State Laws and regulations and so on where ever he may be working. It is not the same I can assure you all, the US Demo Contractor does not have the same administration costs and overhead that a U.K. Demo Contractor has to have just to stay in front with mandatory paper work.

Mike Taylor and his NDA team at Doylestown, PA do a similar job to that of Howard Button and the NFDC, Resurgam House staff and fortunately for the NDA members the work done by Mike and team includes a greater element of information distribution of NDA marketing material to what is after all a very much larger market place.

The NDA have an excellent available library of Training Manuals, Training DVDs’ and they run training seminars here and there throughout the US. All good stuff and I am pleased to say all created on the basis of NDA ideas and with assistance here and there I am sure through collaboration between NFDC, NDA, EDA and IDE and that is the way it should be.

If you ever have the opportunity to listen to Bill Moore make a presentation on Brandenburg Industries, preplanning of a job, the safety measures developed specific to each operation, the means and method of work, the specially adapted demo equipment and right down to the companies own design for safety boots, you will appreciate what I mean when I say in the US they have more scope. Bill’s presentations are informative, factual and express the freedom of the US ” Demo Contractor” to develop a wee bit out of the box but still maintaining the necessary high safety factors at all times and all done without having to be overseen by a Construction Design Management Co-ordinator.

In conclusion, nobody and certainly not one of our associations / federation member companies, who all work damn hard to be that wee bit better, to be professional and to minimise demolition related accidents in the field, ever want to be categorised as “Serial Killers”.

This I have to say has touched a very sensitive nerve in my body. January 22, 1975, when both my older brother Jim and I were called out one stormy night in Glasgow by the local authority Building Control Dept., to take care of a building that had become dangerous due to the storm. We were asked to do something to make the building sufficiently safe to allow the narrow street where the building was located to be re-opened to traffic. My brother and I arrived at the site and as we approached the building to see what could be done, the entire front wall of the four storey building without warning collapsed. My brother Jim, 32 years old, was killed instantly, I did not receive one scratch on my body. I haved spared Jim a thought every day of my life and I vowed to work hard to try from there on in to improve safety in the demolition industry.

Accidents will happen and we must learn from them whether the company involved is a member of an association / federation or otherwise.

I have said my final word in this debate.

Sincerely
David P. Sinclair F.I.D.E.
Past President NFDC
Past President EDA
Former Board Member NDA.