And THIS is why demolition doesn’t generally involve cars.

It will soon be five years since we opened the doors to Demolition News Towers and unleashed this beast upon the world. In that time, we have learned many things. We have learned that, although the industry is male-dominated, there is no appetite for sexist advertising or content. We have learned that demolition folk are generally pleasant until they’re riled. And we have learned that Joe Public really has no place performaing demolition tasks of any shape or description.

Don’t believe us? The allow us to present Exhibit A – The space cadet who believes that not only is a car a demolition tool but that it’s one capable of selective demolition.

The case for the prosecution rests.

Lack of temporary support structure allowed roof to fall on demolition worker.

Construction industry news portal Construction Enquirer is reporting that CMR Demolitions Ltd and Thomas Vale have been prosecuted after they failed to put in place temporary support arrangements during the demolition of the timber-framed classrooms at the former Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College site at Fenton.

The injured man was knocked unconscious when he was struck by part of the roof when the building collapsed without warning. He suffered fractured ribs, a broken shoulder bone, a broken nose, several shattered teeth and swelling to his head.

Two other workers were caught under the collapsed building but managed to free themselves and were uninjured.

An HSE investigation into the incident on 11 November 2011 found the extensive soft-stripping of the walls by subcontractor CMR Demolitions Ltd had significantly reduced their load-bearing capacity. A combination of having no support in place to hold up the roof, and strong winds, resulted in the collapse.

CMR Demolitions Ltd did not obtain information on how the timber-framed classrooms had been originally constructed and did not seek the opinion of a structural engineer during the work.

Principal contractor Thomas Vale failed to ensure that CMR Demolitions Ltd had provided a suitable and sufficient risk assessment for the soft strip and demolition work of the classroom.

It also failed to manage and monitor this demolition activity of CMR Demolitions Ltd or ensure they had consulted a structural expert.

CMR Demolitions Ltd was fined a total of £9,900 and ordered to pay £6,117 in costs after pleading guilty to safety breaches.

Read more here.

New Liebherr machine hard at work at Tayside House

Work is progressing well at Tayside House now that Safedem’s new Liebherr 954 high reach excavator is on the case.

Controlled blast fells mixed feed building in Florida.

Controlled Demolition, Inc. (CDI) of Phoenix, Maryland, USA (acting as Implosion Subcontractor to Main Demolition Contractor, Southern Salvage, Inc. of Fort Meade, Florida) performs the successful explosives felling of the 120′ tall, structural steel Mixed Feed Building at a chemical plant located in Mulberry, Florida.

Crane dismantles roller coaster skeleton left after super storm.

It is six months since superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc across swathes of the US coastline. And still the clean-up continues.

One of the more intriguing parts of the recovery programme has been the piece-by-piece dismantling of a roller coaster rendered skeletal by the winds that ripped through it.

New 65-metre high reach hits the streets.

If there’s one thing we love here at Demolition News Towers, it’s an ultra high reach excavator video, even if it is entirely in Japanese.

And so when our buddies over at High Reach Demolition shared this, we couldn’t wait to take a look.

The paint-job is typically garish but that doesn’t detract from what, at 65 metres, is an absolute monster of a machine.

Chinese mega-implosion fells Wuhan viaduct.

A two-mile viaduct in the Chinese city of Wuhan has been demolished, breaking a record for the longest reinforced concrete bridge ever blown up in the country.

The viaduct, built in 1997, is to be replaced by a six-lane viaduct, more than three miles long.

Boss faces jail after Swan Hunter shipyard Worker is killed by falling girder

A company boss has been convicted of causing the death of a worker who was killed while working at Swan Hunter shipyard in Wallsend.

Allan Turnbull was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence after a four week trial into the death of his employee Kenneth Joyce.

Kenneth Joyce, from Lanchester, County Durham, had been dismantling a building at a Swan Hunter shipyard in Wallsend, North Tyneside, on December 2, 2008 when the incident happened.

The 53-year-old fell 30ft when his cherry picker machine was struck by a 14-tonne girder.

A second girder also fell, knocking a 250kg beam off a crane and on to MrJoyce.

He died of head and neck injuries.

Turnbull, 61, of Inkerman Tow Law, County Durham, owns A&H Boring and Machining.

He had been contracted by North Eastern Marine Offshore Contracts (Nemoc) based at Yarm, near Stockton, to carry out the work.

Jurors at Newcastle Crown Court were told a catalogue of health and safety failings led to Mr Joyce’s death.

Among the failings were that Turnbull did not undertake a specific risk assessment, failed to identify the risks of the job and that there was a risk of death and he failed to take advice from a competent person.

Prosecutors said Mr Joyce’s death could have been avoided if a safe system of work had been established and followed.

Read more here.

City hires firm with mob ties to demolish Prospect Plaza Houses in Crown Heights

A demolition firm with mob ties and a deadly safety record has been selected to finally tear down an abandoned public housing development that’s remained vacant for more than a decade, the Daily News has learned.

Some 1,500 tenants of the Prospect Plaza Houses in Crown Heights were relocated starting in 2001 with the promise that they’d be back in by 2005 once everything was renovated.

A decade later, the renovation plans have been abandoned and the city has decided on demolition instead, hiring a company called Breeze National to tear down the four boarded-up, rotting buildings that remain.

The hiring of Breeze, however, has its own set of issues.

Until recently, the company was owned by Toby Romano Sr., an alleged organized crime associate who was convicted 1988 of bribing a health inspector during an asbestos removal job.

In 2006 the city’s Business Integrity Commission denied a Breeze affiliate, Breeze Carting, a license to haul trash in the city, citing Romano’s record and charging that the company made what it termed “material misrepresentations” — aka “lies” — in its application. By 2009 the city began requiring that Breeze hire a special anti-corruption monitor to oversee its work — but even that didn’t necessarily fix the problem.

That year while Breeze was tearing down the old Shea Stadium, the monitor in place discovered that one of Breeze’s employees was Herb Pate, a “known associate of the Luchese crime family.” Breeze got rid of Pate and insisted that since then, Romano Sr., the company president, “no longer has an ownership interest.”

Read more here.

Railway viaduct demolition bid on hold while evidence is gathered.

A bid to demolish a former Cambridgeshire railway viaduct has been refused after planners called for more information about the project.

A landowner submitted plans to remove the 12-arch viaduct at Rings End, near Guyhirn, last month, sparking opposition from a local heritage group.

Fenland District planners said archaeology and wildlife surveys would need to be carried out first.

They said they also wanted more evidence about the site’s restoration.

Their report added the structure had been identified on a register of Buildings of Local Interest and stated: “In principle, the loss of such a dominant feature in the Fenland landscape is of concern.”

Read more here.