Our Demolition Digest blog gets up close and personal with new Komatsu high reach.

As we reported last week, it is our intention to concentrate all of our demolition equipment coverage at the Demolition Digest blog on the US’ Construction Equipment website.

Well, the latest post – featuring an exclusive machine walk-around and demonstration video of the new Komatsu PC290LC high reach excavator, together with a first impressions interview with Thomspons of Prudhoe high reach guru Andre Aymard – has just gone up and can be viewed here.

Here’s a flavour of the article…

“…In order to get to this machine, I would need to leave home shortly before I went to bed the previous evening and drive 95 percent of the way to Scotland, to crawl over the latest offering from the Japanese equipment giant. But such is our dedication to duty, that’s exactly what we did. And – despite arriving bleary-eyed some five hours after I set off, my spine a perfect replica of my car seat – the machine, which was launched amidst Icelandic volcanic ash clouds at the Bauma 2010 exhibition in Germany earlier this year, made the trip worthwhile…”

Demolition boss gets 16-month sentence for insolvency offences.

The director of two demolition contractors has been jailed for 16 months following an investigation by the Insolvency Service, reports The Construction Index.

George Taylor, of Arundel, West Sussex, was sentenced at Chichester Crown Court last week for a series of offences relating to his roles as director of Amalgamated Demolition Services and Amalgamated Demolition and Asbestos Services.

Steyning-based Amalgamated Demolition Services was wound up by Brighton County Court on 24 April 2006, owing £142,059 to creditors, and a bankruptcy order was made against Taylor on 16 January 2007.

In a separate action taken by the official receiver, he undertook to the Secretary of State not to act as a company director for a period of eight years. This took effect on 12 June 2008.

Despite this, Taylor continued to act as a director of Amalgamated Demolition and Asbestos Services. He had also been prohibited from being a director of the firm because its name was so similar as to suggest an association with Amalgamated Demolition Services.

Subsequently, Taylor asked Amalgamated Demolition Services’ major customer to make payments for work into a new bank account. However, the account details he provided were those of Amalgamated Demolition and Asbestos Services.

This meant £22,795 that was due to Amalgamated Demolition Services was diverted into the other company.

Read the full story here.

Video captures three-day bridge demolition project.

As part of the City’s plan to upgrade its aging infrastructure (with some funds from the federal government’s stimulus package) a handful of bridges around Toronto are being repaired or rebuilt. Since the spring, the multiple bridges near the intersection of Lake Shore Blvd. and Jameson Ave. that cross over the Gardiner Expressway have been in a constant state of destruction.

The following time-lapse video – from Spacing Toronto – starts late in the evening of Thursday, August 5th and ends just after sundown on Sunday, August 8th. There are some gaps of time in the video due to the inaction of the construction site or when I had to bring the camera inside as a rain storm passed over.

Lake Shore Blvd. westbound bridge demolition from Spacing Magazine on Vimeo.

British manufacturer receives undisclosed settlement from Asian backhoe company.

JCB has agreed terms of settlement with an Asian manufacturer of backhoe loaders regarding allegations of product copying of JCB’s iconic 3CX backhoe loader. JCB has received an undisclosed settlement payment and the manufacturer has agreed to fundamentally redesign their backhoe loader.

This follows on from court actions that JCB also undertook against three Asian manufacturers at the Bauma show in Munich in April of this year in relation to product copying of both JCB’s backhoe loader and telehandler machines.

Tim Burnhope, JCB’s Group Managing Director for Product Development and Commercial Operations, said: “This is the fourth incident this year of an Asian manufacturer copying one of our machines and taking unfair advantage of 57 years of product development. JCB is determined to act promptly and decisively in relation to such activities and stamp them out.”

Supervising demolition worker wasn’t present when wall fatally crushed girl

A worker supposed to oversee demolition work at a site where a wall collapsed, fatally crushing a schoolgirl, was absent at the time of the accident, it has been learned.

The 17-year-old high school girl was crushed to death on 14 October when a wall of the factory being dismantled by demolition firm Maruman Goto Kogyo collapsed on top of the road she was cycling along. The accident occurred while demolition workers were attempting to demolish an elevator tower nearby without supporting the wall with wires or heavy machinery.

Under the Industrial Safety and Health Law, a person qualified to oversee the dismantling of steel-reinforced structures is supposed to be present during such demolition work. But industry sources say that the regulations have lost substance and qualified workers are commonly absent.

Read more here.

Alaska crew asked to demolish three small buildings destroyed a fourth building by mistake.

The Anchorage Daily News reports the fourth building torn down at Russian Jack Springs Park this week was a storage facility for a Girl Scouts of Alaska summer day camp.

Anchorage Parks and Recreation officials had decided to remove three structures in the area that were being vandalized and used for what director John Rodda described as “negative behavior.”

At some point, an Alaska Demolition crew realized they had started to destroy the wrong building. But Rodda said damage was substantial enough to the 16-by-16 foot building that he decided it should be completely torn down.

Read more here.

Investigation underway after demolition worker is killed at chemical plant.

Authorities are investigating an accident at an Illinois chemical plant that’s left an Iowa man dead.

Forty-six-year-old Timothy Shields of Cedar Falls, Iowa, died Wednesday at a Joliet hospital.

The Will County Sheriff’s office says Shields was finishing demolition work at the Oiltanking plant in Channahon when a three metre (10-foot) section of rebar hit him in the forehead, under his hard hat.

An autopsy has cited the accident as his cause of death.

Woman finds newly-bought house being demolished four days after purchase.

A Farmington Hills woman is looking for answers after a home she recently purchased was demolished Saturday.

Susan Tusk purchased a foreclosed home at 20800 Rensselaer St. in Farmington Hills at a foreclosure action for $1,000 last Wednesday. On Saturday, Tusk went to the house to work on it, to find city workers bulldozing the house.

Tusk said she has paperwork that shows she purchased the house from Oakland.

Neighbors said the house burned down two years ago and they complained to the city that it was a dangerous eyesore that needed to come down.

In July, city officials ordered that the owners of four foreclosed houses demolish the properties in the next 60 days, or the city will move in and do it.

Further details and a video can be found here.

Armac Demolition uses fleet of 10 excavators to remove a motorway bridge in a single day.

A team of engineers from Armac Group have demolished a huge motorway bridge that is set to be replaced with a new one within days. A fleet of ten excavators were used to take down the 61 metre bridge over the M56, near Bowdon, Cheshire.

See our picture gallery by clicking on the link to the right of the image above

The 40-year-old bridge was nearing the end of its intended working life and weight restrictions had already been imposed due to safety concerns.

The single-lane flyover is now being replaced with a sturdier two-lane carriageway bridge that is being assembled in an adjacent field and will be hoisted into position at the weekend. The team will then use a crane to lift the 1,800 tonne bridge into place on Saturday, Oct 23.

Paul Hampson, assistant project manager from the Highways Agency, said: “Using his method we can knock down the bridge and clear the debris over the weekend, so the road can be used during the week.

“By constructing the bridge off-site and lowering into place, the work will be carried out much more quickly and it will cut down on the disruption to drivers.”

Read more and view the photo gallery here or watch the brief video – courtesy of John Woodward at C&D Consultancy – below.

Girl crushed by falling wall at Japanese demolition site.

A high school girl was crushed to death in Gifu, Japan after the wall of a metal processing factory she was passing on her way home from school collapsed on top of her.

The exterior wall of the metal processing factory, owned by Kanzen Co., collapsed on the road running along the north side of the factory. The three-story building had been undergoing demolition work as part of a road-expansion project, police said.

About an hour after the wall collapsed, Yukari Kawase, 17, a second-year student at a local high school, was found trapped underneath the rubble. She was rushed to hospital but confirmed dead. Kawase was killed almost instantly, investigators said.

Read the full story here.