2012 deadline set for replacement of Jeremiah Morrow Bridge.

Sometime next summer, Ohio’s highest bridge will be blown to bits. Or the northbound half of it, anyway. The state’s tallest span is actually two bridges, and together they make up the picturesque Jeremiah Morrow Bridge that carries both lanes of Interstate 71 high over the Little Miami River valley north of Lebanon.

The Ohio Department of Transportation is spending $88.1 million to replace the two existing bridges with two new ones. The bridges cross the Little Miami River and the Little Miami Scenic Trail, with the highest point 72 metres (239 feet) above ground. The two new bridges that will replace the two old ones will actually be one foot higher.

Jason Haus, a state transportation engineer, said Wednesday the bridge is being replaced for several reasons, including the fact that its 50-year lifespan will be up in 2015, which is also the project’s completion date. Its design is similar to that of the Interstate 35 bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis that collapsed in 2007, although inspections since then have cleared it as safe.

“The deck on the northbound bridge is in terrible shape,” Haus said. “We’ve re-decked it a couple times. The parapet walls are falling apart on the southbound bridge,” he said. “There are no shoulders. It’s a bottleneck for widening (Interstate) 71.”

Read more here.

Demolition workers lucky to be alive; saved by sausage sandwich.

More details are emerging on Saturday’s scaffolding collapse in Stoke. Accordingt o local newspaper reports, the incident happened when workers from Potteries Demolition began work to demolish a row of 18 terraced houses in Wellington Road.

Although the Health and Safety Executive is yet to investigate the incident, one theory suggests that winds gusting at up to 50 mph pulled on the plastic sheeting that had been put up to stop dust falling on to people’s properties.

The workmen admitted they were lucky to be alive. Richard Marson, aged 26, of Abbey Hulton, said: “We were five minutes’ late going back out after our breakfast and if we had been on time we could have been killed. “My sausage and egg butty [sandwich] saved my life.”

Daniel Simpson, aged 19, of Norton Green, added: “We were working on the scaffolding just before it collapsed. “Then we were in the cabin having breakfast and just heard it come crashing down.”

Chris Morrall, aged 19, of Abbey Hulton, said: “If this had happened any earlier or later, I would’ve been dead.”

Read more here.

Minnesota man loses fingers as crawler crane tips over.

A Laporte man was transported to the Bemidji hospital Monday afternoon when the crawler crane he was doing demolition work on tipped, pinning him temporarily.

There was no immediate condition on David Corson, 45. Eyewitnesses at the scene said after being rushed to Sanford Hospital, emergency crews used a pry bar to locate one of the work gloves Corson was wearing at the time of the accident. It contained his severed fingers.

The glove was also rushed to the hospital in hopes the fingers could be surgically attached.

Read more here.

Demolition workers’ lucky escape as scaffolding falls into street.

Scaffolding around a row of terraced houses due for demolition in north Staffordshire has collapsed.

The scaffolding had been erected in Wellington Road in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent. The Health and Safety Executive is investigating. West Midlands Ambulance Service said it was called to the street at 10.30. Fire crews also attended the scene.

A spokesman said: “Although there were workmen there, no-one was hurt; a very lucky escape indeed given the size of the structure that had fallen.”

The site is thought to be under the control of Potteries Demolition, a well-established local company that made the headlines recently when its owners pleaded guilty to fly-tipping 800 truck loads of demolition waste at a nearby farm.

Read more about the scaffolding collapse here, and about the fly-tipping prosecution here.

Excavator tips over during demolition of downtown Dayton building

One of two excavators demolishing the Montgomery County Court Services building downtown at the corner of W. 2nd and Perry streets tipped over on its side when a wall collapsed Thursday evening, for a short time trapping the operator in his cab.

Dayton firefighters working from a ladder truck’s extension used a saw to cut through debris and free the operator, a procedure that took about a half-hour. The operator was released unharmed.

District Fire Chief Lester Flohr said the trackhoe had its cutting arm extended and was moving backward when a lower wall collapsed, sending it sliding sideways on a pile of debris. Firefighters had to work with care since the equipment was poised precariously, he added.

Wrexham mines centre demolition: Neville Dickens fined

A Wrexham businessman has been fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £1,700 costs for partially bulldozing an historic mines rescue centre without permission.

Motor dealer Neville Dickens pleaded guilty to the unauthorised demolition of the listed building on Maesgwyn Road. Two men he employed to carry out the work were also fined.

But the magistrates’ court court was told Dickens, of Gresford, accepted full responsibility for what happened.

The centre was built in 1913 to train miners in how to rescue their colleagues in underground emergencies.

Read more here.

Video captures rescue of machine that fell into store basement.

An excavator being used to demolish the former J.C. Penney building in downtown Ishpeming fell through the floor into the building’s basement.

The accident happened around 3 p.m. as crews from T&G United of Iron Mountain were working to demolish the building, where exterior work began Monday.

Crews first attempted to pull the equipment out on their own using a front-end loader. Workers from the city’s Department of Public Works then brought in a second front-end loader to help pull it out.

Click here to read the full story and to view a video of the excavator being dragged to safety.

Ahead of 25th anniversary of meltdown, workshop analyses demolition possibility.

An employee at the Dounreay nuclear power plant in the UK has offered guidance on the decommissioning of Chernobyl.

The 25th anniversary of an explosion in a reactor at the Ukrainian site will be marked on 26 April.

Jillian Bundy was one of four foreign speakers at a workshop held in Slavutych on training workers on the demolition of Chernobyl.

She said the work should be seen as a long-term opportunity to develop new expertise and the economy.

Operations at Dounreay in Caithness ended in 2004 and the entire site is being cleaned up and demolished at a cost of £2.6 billion. Radioactive particles from the plant are also being recovered from beaches and the seabed nearby.

Read more here.

TRC attempts to explain how its demolition bid halved in price

DemolitionNews has learned that TRC Environmental, the company at the eye of the storm over the bid/re-bid at the Austin’s Holly Street power plant had attemtped to allay the fears of city officials as recently as last week.

According to Austin News, TRC sent the council a letter explaining why their latest bid for the project (which they had previously won at $24 million) had fallen to less than $12 million.

TRC wrote that the price difference was mainly due to a change in the market price for material which they would salvage from the plant. TRC also said they found a $3 million savings by using another way to remove non-asbestos material from the plant.

Martinez said he is satisfied with TRC’s answers but said there are still more questions that need to be answered.

The council was scheduled to vote on the item Thursday at its regular meeting, but Wednesday the vote was postponed to May 12.

Read more here.

OSHA records reveal previous safety violations by Grant Mackay.

The investigation into the exact cause of the collapse of the Flagship Hotel in Galveston that resulted in the death of demolition worker Tauelangi Angilau may have only just stared; but already local newspapers are citing the safety track record of Grant Mackay, the demolition contractor that employed him.

According to the Galveston County Daily News, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Grant MacKay in 2009 for a “serious” violation, claiming the company didn’t furnish to its employees a work environment that was free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm.

The citation also claimed company employees were exposed to the hazard of being struck by falling debris from the structure being demolished.

The violation was observed at a Houston work site Jan. 16, 2009, where employees used insufficient equipment to demolish a structure, an administration document states. The equipment, a Hitachi EX1200, had a maximum reach of only 56 feet 11 inches for demolishing a structure that was 94 feet tall, the administration stated on the U.S. Department of Labor website.

The administration fined Grant MacKay $2,500 for the violation. The administration had no other violations listed for the company.

The administration is investigating Tuesday’s collapse at the Flagship but declined to reveal whether the 2009 violation was the result of the investigation of an injury.

Read more here.