Falling bucket severely injured demolition worker on his first day.

A Nottinghamshire demolition company and one of its employees have appeared in court after a worker suffered severe injuries when he was hit by a falling excavator bucket on his first day on site.

Labourer James Wilson, of Misterton, was working for Bloom Plant Ltd on a demolition site on Kilton Road, Worksop, on 10 January 2011.

Excavator driver Paul Batty, who was also employed by Bloom Plant Ltd, was re-attaching the four tonne excavator bucket to the boom of his machine when it fell and slid down a pile of rubble, landing on Mr Wilson and leaving him with major crush injuries.

Mr Wilson, who was 46 when the incident happened lost his left eye and part of his scalp. He also broke his eye socket, cheekbone, jaw, nose, left collarbone, several ribs and his left leg He also punctured a lung and severed the nerves on his bottom lip.

Mr Wilson was in a coma for two weeks and had to have a tracheotomy to help him breathe. He also needed extensive reconstructive surgery. He is still undergoing surgery, has not been able to return to work and is unlikely to for the foreseeable future.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found Bloom Plant Ltd had no safe systems of work in place and had not given Mr Wilson adequate information, instruction, training or supervision including adequate warnings of the hazards involved when working around plant.

Read more here.

EDS man wins DemolitionNews.com trophy at IDE fishing day.

On a stunningly beautiful autumnal day, eight demolition-related anglers went head-to-head for their chance to get their hands on the first-ever DemolitionNews.com Tight Lines trophy organised by incumbent IDE President and renowned maggot-drowner John Woodward.

And it was clear from the outset that certain fishermen were operating at a distinct disadvantage. The National Demolition Training Group’s Ian Kirk was required to carry out a full risk assessment before dipping a line into the water and then had to consult his notes on working in confined spaces when he discovered that his peg was tucked into a tight little corner of the Furnace Pond.

John Woodward himself was struck down by an untimely bout of narcolepsy, dozing off in the mid morning sunshine just an hour into the five and a half hour contest.
EDS’s Neville Pantin took full advantage swinging a pole lone enough to require a high reach license and stealing fish after fish from under the sleeping IDE President’s nose.

As the sunshine gave way to rain and then switched back to sunshine again, the contest turned into a three-horse race with Pantin, Craig Wilkinson and a partially-sighted mystery OAP in peg 26 going fish for fish and leaving the others in their wake.

Ultimately, Pantin emerged victorious to claim the coveted trophy with a bag of mainly carp tipping the scales at an impressive 47 pounds and six ounces. Craig Wilkinson bagged 22 pounds and eleven ounces of fish to steal third.

But what of the mystery man in peg 26 I hear you ask? Hampered by poor vision, extreme old age and a 4.30 am start, this angling Methuselah performed manfully to weigh in an impressive 29 pounds exactly to take the number two slot and retain his position as legend to those closest to him.

The name of the heroic mystery man? Mark Anthony Senior, father of DemolitionNews.com Mark Anthony Jnr.

Impartiality be damned!

Major contract draws to a close for KDC.

A £1 million project to decommission three Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) tanks and pipelines at Peterhead Power Station is now drawing to a successful completion.

The work is being undertaken by KDC which was awarded the contract earlier this year. KDC undertook the final cleaning and removal of a 2.5 km underground pipeline between the power station and Tankers Jetty. KDC was also responsible for the demolition of the tanks for onward recycling at the plant located near Peterhead.

Peterhead Power Station is owned and operated by SSE, one of the UK’s largest energy companies, supplying around 9.66 million customers in Great Britain and Ireland.

The project commenced in February 2012 and is due for completion before the end of 2012.

Stephen Hardy, KDC energy, utilities and industrial sector director is heading up KDC’s team of demolition experts working at Peterhead. “The power station prides itself on being one of the largest power stations in Scotland. We won the contract because we looked beyond the original scope of the project, and SSE liked our cost effective way of thinking,” Hardy says. “The project brief originally sought abandonment and removal of the pipelines, which of course we could do, but we suggested the tanks should be included too. We knew the scrap value from the demolition of the tanks for onward recycling would considerably offset the project costs. The project is already under way; the removal of the pipeline suspended under the jetty, and through the adjacent fields has been completed as has demolition of the fuel tanks. The land remediation tasks are now commencing and all work should be completed by the year end.”

Bob Johnstone appointed Managing Director of Keltbray’s Industrial and Explosives Division.

Johnstone comes to Keltbray with 25 years’ worth of experience from working as a consultant to the industry and Keltbray, providing structural design services and managing large-scale construction and demolition projects on highly regulated sites within the industrial, petrochemical and nuclear sectors. But it was while running his own consultancy he developed a special interest and reputation within the demolition field in the UK and beyond: “From the outset of my career demolition has been an area of particular interest, and my motivation has always been to identify the safest way possible to demolish any structure; be it by machine, dismantling, controlled collapse or the controlled use of explosives” he explains.

According to Managing Director of Keltbray Group John Price, Johnstone complements the existing explosives team by bringing structural engineering capability to the division: “We’re delighted Bob is joining us, as his understanding of how a building was originally designed, and how the structure may have been altered and deteriorated over the years, is essential when considering demolition options. This is especially the case when using controlled explosives, where ensuring workforce safety during the building preparatory works before blowdown, and achieving the designed mode of collapse during blowdown, are both crucially important to the success of the project,” Price says.

Johnstone is based in Keltbray’s Leeds office, and will be responsible for strengthening the Group’s geographical reach and expanding the company’s demolition portfolio in the industrial, petrochemical and nuclear sectors.

Rita Kocurek, instrumental figure at the company bearing her name, has passed away.

Kocurek Excavators Ltd, the Ipswich-based pioneer of the high reach excavator concept, has announced that co-founder Rita Kocurek has passed away after a short illness. She was 80 years old but had worked at the company until earlier this year and was a familiar figure to anyone working at or visiting the Kocurek factory.

In 1979, Rita Kocurek and her son David started a company that would grow to become the recognised global leader in its field. And Rita was instrumental in that development and growth. A strong, intelligent woman, Rita played a number of roles in the company she helped build. Towards the end of her working career, she was the familiar voice answering the telephones at the Ipswich headquarters.

“Rita was actively involved in the company long after she could have retired. She was just totally dedicated to the company and its staff,” says Kocurek Excavators Ltd general manager Brian Carroll. “She will be greatly missed by all of us at the company and by those that have ever visited the factory.”

A funeral service will be held on 11 October 2012. Further details are available from Brian Carroll: brian.carroll@kocurek.co.uk

Cranmer Courts falls under preservationist spotlight as post-quake demolition continues.

Demolition of another landmark heritage building in Christchurch begins in a few days.

The loss of the historic Cranmer Courts would be an unmitigated disaster for Christchurch, says University of Canterbury expert Associate Professor Ian Lochhead.

Demolition of the building will resume within a week, the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority says.

CERA’s modus operandi in demanding demolitions of buildings has come under increasing criticism, with various experts contrasting its actions with those of civil authorities overseas who are committed to preserving older properties, even if it takes several years.

Dr Lochhead says the building was mooted for sale to a company that would have restored it but the sale fell through.

Read more here.

Fast reactions of demolition worker saves him from bridge section.

On the face of it, this is just a run-of-the-mill bridge lift. All the correct safety procedures appear to be in place, the lift is being monitored from the bridge deck and below.

But for reasons that are not altogether obvious, the crane operator has taken it upon himself to start slewing the crane rather than lifting the section straight up. And it is only good fortune and the fast reactions of the worker on the bridge that saves him from what could have been a nasty if not fatal accident (fast forward to the 58 second mark):

Disaster Waste Recovery’s Martin Bjerregaard on the demolition-led relief effort.

We have been following the developments in the Haiti relief effort since 12 January 2010 when a devastating earthquake hit the tiny, poverty-stricken island, killing some 300,000 of its inhabitants and rendering a further one million homeless.

But while we watched the demolition-lef releif effort from afar, Martin Bjerregaard has seen it up close and personal. As a representative of the not-for-profit NGO Disaster Waste Recovery, Bjerregaard was among the first on the scene and has played a pivotal role on the island ever since.

On Friday 28 September 2012, Bjerregaard was a guest speaker at the Institute of Demolition Engineers’ Autumn seminar in London.

This exclusive video was shot during the event.

Former hotel engulfed in flames.

Demolition work sparked a large fire yesterday at a Jersey shore hotel.

The blaze broke out at 10:30 a.m. at the vacant Bellevue Hotel at 8th Street and Ocean Avenue in Ocean City.

Crews were using blow torches to remove metal fire escapes from the shuttered hotel when debris from the ongoing demolition caught fire.

The blaze went to three alarms and burned for about six hours before firefighters were able to contain it late Friday afternoon.

Police ordered the evacuation of nearby businesses as the fire blanketed blocks of Ocean City’s downtown area with heavy smoke.

Read more here or view video below:

Newcastle contractors on standby as post-flood inspections continue.

Flood-damaged flats in Newcastle which are close to collapse are likely to be demolished, engineers have said.

According to BBC reports, floodwater gouged out ground beneath Spencer Court, Newburn, on Tuesday, exposing the piles holding it up and badly damaging foundations.

Residents attending a public meeting reacted angrily to the news the flats might have to be pulled down.

On Thursday two further blocks of council flats were evacuated amid fears Spencer Court could collapse.

Residents of Hareside Walk and Hareside Close had been allowed home but were asked to leave again.

Housing company Your Homes Newcastle – which manages council housing for Newcastle City Council – said it took the decision in the interests of residents’ safety.

Mick Murphy, technical director at Newcastle City Council, said after the meeting: “Engineers assessments say that it’s unsafe and probably unsafe to try and repair.”