This is NOT normal

June 23, 2025 Long Form

At the height of the COVID-19 crisis, a new phrase crept into the English language.

The wearing of face masks, social distancing and checking the TV each night to find out how many of our fellow countrymen had died that day was, we were told, “the new normal”…even though there was nothing even remotely normal about any of t.

This is what normalisation looks like. Ideas, behaviours, or conditions that once felt unacceptable or dangerous gradually come to be seen as routine, normal, or no longer worth questioning.

And that normalisation is not exclusive to pandemics, politics and TV news reports. It is very much alive and unwell in the demolition and construction sector too.

You stand on a demolition or construction site in Britain; and what’s become routine here is nothing short of shocking.

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Firm fined over worker fall

June 23, 2025 Accident, General

Industry news portal The Construction Index is reporting that a demolition company has been fined more than £40,000 after a worker was injured on a site in Aberdeen in 2023.

Lawrie (Demolition) Limited – a member of the National Federation of Demolition Contractors – admitted breaching safety regulations when working as principal contractor on the demolition of a vacant warehouse in Aberdeen.

On 25th May 2023, 42-year-old Sylwester Zdunczyk was working with a team on the warehouse roof, removing aluminium over-sheeting. The sheets were being carried to pre-cut holes in the roof from where they were dropped to the ground floor. While helping to carry a sheet backwards near one of the holes, Zdunczyk lost his footing. The weight of the sheet and his own bodyweight caused the unattached barriers to shift, exposing the edge of the opening and creating a gap. He fell approximately six metres to the concrete floor below.

Zdunczyk sustained a fractured pelvis and two broken ribs. He was unable to work for six months after being discharged from hospital and has not fully recovered.

An investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) found that Lawrie (Demolition) Limited had failed to properly plan, supervise, and carry out the work at height safely. Workers were sent onto the roof without sufficient instruction, training or supervision. The company also failed to put adequate fall protection measures in place.

Read the full story here.

The Break Fast Show #954

June 23, 2025 Video

In today’s show: Hitachi Landcros – More than just a prototype excavator; East Coast Demolition tackles Delaware silos; picking up sticks? Engcon’s finger grab is ideal; and in our latest look back at the European Demolition Association Study Tour of Italy, we’re talking remote control with CGT and Caterpillar.

PLUS in Mark’s Morning Monologue: This is NOT normal.

Join host Mark Anthony LIVE for The Break Fast Show – the ONLY daily LiveStream built exclusively for demolition, construction, and equipment fanatics worldwide.

Breaking news. Expert views. Unmissable videos. Raw opinions. If it matters in the industry, we’re talking about it – LIVE.

Test your knowledge with the Mystery Machine, have your say in the Question of the Day, and don’t miss Mark’s Morning Monologue – a no-holds-barred take on the hottest topics.

And when the show’s done, the conversation’s just getting started. Stick around for The Craic, our legendary after-show chat!

Set your alarm. Grab your coffee. It’s time to break fast, and to break new ground.

The Break Fast Show #953

June 20, 2025 Video

In today’s show: Yanmar compact track loaders bring the power; ALLU screen asphalt; when Hydrema met Harley Davidson; and in our latest look back at the European Demolition Association Study Tour of Italy, we’re walking among the work tools at Caterpillar dealer, CGT.

PLUS in Mark’s Morning Monologue: Why AI should stick to monitoring machines, not men and women.

Join host Mark Anthony LIVE for The Break Fast Show – the ONLY daily LiveStream built exclusively for demolition, construction, and equipment fanatics worldwide.

Breaking news. Expert views. Unmissable videos. Raw opinions. If it matters in the industry, we’re talking about it – LIVE.

Test your knowledge with the Mystery Machine, have your say in the Question of the Day, and don’t miss Mark’s Morning Monologue – a no-holds-barred take on the hottest topics.

And when the show’s done, the conversation’s just getting started. Stick around for The Craic, our legendary after-show chat!

Set your alarm. Grab your coffee. It’s time to break fast, and to break new ground.

Gilles Ronnet prepares to say “au revoir”

June 19, 2025 Video

During his time as Caterpillar’s demolition specialist, Gilles Ronnet achieved that rare accomplishment. He evolved from being a supplier TO the industry to become an integral part OF the industry.

As he begins his planned journey into a well-deserved retirement, DemolitionNews caught up with him in Italy for an exclusive interview.

The Break Fast Show #952

June 19, 2025 Video

In today’s show: As he begins the slow wind-down to a well-deserved retirement, we have an exclusive interview with Caterpillar’s demolition specialist, Gilles Ronnet; we’re up close with a new compact tracked loader prototype from Komatsu; you’ll be green with envy over the new Merlo dumper; and we’re talking tech with Hyundai.

PLUS in Mark’s Morning Monologue: There has never been a better time to work in demolition and construction. So why are we failing to attract new entrants to the sector?

Join host Mark Anthony LIVE for The Break Fast Show – the ONLY daily LiveStream built exclusively for demolition, construction, and equipment fanatics worldwide.

Breaking news. Expert views. Unmissable videos. Raw opinions. If it matters in the industry, we’re talking about it – LIVE.

Test your knowledge with the Mystery Machine, have your say in the Question of the Day, and don’t miss Mark’s Morning Monologue – a no-holds-barred take on the hottest topics.

And when the show’s done, the conversation’s just getting started. Stick around for The Craic, our legendary after-show chat!

Set your alarm. Grab your coffee. It’s time to break fast, and to break new ground.

EDA Study Tour of Italy – LCD Group

June 19, 2025 Video

DemolitionNews founder and editor Mark Anthony was the ONLY journalist to attend the European Demolition Association Study Tour of Italy; and he is fresh back with tales to tell and films to share.

The first official visit on the EDA Study Tour was to LCD Group in Milan; a scrap metal company with a fascinating sideline in fine art and furnishings made using salvaged materials.

Optional once more

June 18, 2025 Long Form

During a previous visit to the Volvo Construction Equipment headquarters in Eskilstuna, Sweden, I visited the nearby Munktell Museum where they have a collection of vintage construction and agricultural equipment.

One machine I remember vividly was an early ADT, probably from the 1960s. I sat in it. The seat was basically a plank of wood, and the steering wheel looked like it had been salvaged from an early steam ship. Worse still, the engine was located right behind the operator’s head. If the fumes didn’t get you, the noise definitely would.

Mind you, at least it had a cab. Early dozers were open to the elements – If it was hot, the operator baked. If it rained, the operator was wet.

Even the early mini excavators that made landfall in the UK in the 1980s arrived with canopies. If the rain fell straight down, you were protected. If there was even a slight breeze, you were soaked.

Since the earliest days of mechanised plant and equipment, operators have sat behind the levers of machines that were often rudimentary, offering little more than a basic platform to get the job done.

But as the industry evolved, so too did the machines.

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The Break Fast Show #951

June 18, 2025 Video

In today’s show: John Deere unveils its latest loaders; 100 XCMG autonomous trucks go to work; Kemroc grinds out success; and in the first of our videos from the EDA Study Tour of Italy, we’re visiting a Milanese company that turns scrap int fine art and furnishings.

PLUS in Mark’s Morning Monologue: Will machine cabs become optional once more?

Join host Mark Anthony LIVE for The Break Fast Show – the ONLY daily LiveStream built exclusively for demolition, construction, and equipment fanatics worldwide.

Breaking news. Expert views. Unmissable videos. Raw opinions. If it matters in the industry, we’re talking about it – LIVE.

Test your knowledge with the Mystery Machine, have your say in the Question of the Day, and don’t miss Mark’s Morning Monologue – a no-holds-barred take on the hottest topics.

And when the show’s done, the conversation’s just getting started. Stick around for The Craic, our legendary after-show chat!

Set your alarm. Grab your coffee. It’s time to break fast, and to break new ground.

What would make you stop work?

June 17, 2025 Long Form

If someone asked you to step into a cage with a Bengal tiger, you’d say no. No hesitation. No debate. Just a flat-out refusal.

If someone told you to square up to a grizzly bear, you’d be gone. No shame, no second thoughts.

If someone suggested you lower yourself into a plague pit, ankle-deep in the bones and bile of past pandemics, you’d probably (and rightly) tell them to piss off.

And yet…

Every morning, you lace up your boots, put on your high-vis, and walk headfirst into dangers most people couldn’t even name, let alone face.

You climb scaffolds where one wrong step comes with no second chance.

You work near equipment that could crush a man flat without even slowing down.

You strip asbestos that can lodge in your lungs and shorten your life.

You breathe in dust, diesel, and fumes; not because you want to, but because the job needs doing, and someone’s got to do it.

And still, you show up.

Even when the world shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the streets were silent and shops were dark, you kept turning up. You were labelled “essential.” A key worker. While everyone else stayed home, fearful, you carried on. Not for applause. Just because it was expected… and because you always have.

But here’s the question no-one really asks you. What would actually stop you going to work?

This article continues on Demolition Insider. Please use the link below to access this article FOR FREE.