Work has restarted on Haiti cleanup following fatality. But workers are still at risk.

When news of the tragic and devastating Haiti earthquake made the news on 12 January, governments, celebrities and citizens leapt to the aid of one of the world’s poorest nations sending financial and humanitarian aid valued at billions of dollars.

But 12 weeks on and local and volunteer demolition workers remain at risk without hard hats and protective workwear. The lack of proper safety equipment was brought into stark focus last week with the death of one demolition worker, and the injury of another. And now, just a few days later, another man has been seriously injured having fallen from a roof after suffering a seizure.

All demolition work was basically halted in Jacmel last week after one man was killed and another injured while working for one of the many non-government organizations that employ people in town to tear down damaged buildings. At a meeting the morning after the death, several groups met with city and federal officials to discuss how to make demolition work safer.

Wearing green t-shirts, locals and volunteers have been doing everything from garbage collection to street sweeping and heavy duty rubble clearing over the past few days. But many of these workers have complained that they are being mistreated. Holding out hole-filled gloves, some of the men said they were lucky to be issued gloves at all. Many split pairs with their friends, each wearing one to pad whichever hand bore the brunt of their shoveling work. There aren’t enough hard hats to go around, they said, nor are there work boots. Many of the workers had on sneakers or Crocs while they were clearing the lot.

Read more here.

Police applaud Priestly Demolition wrecking of Hell’s Angels gang HQ.

Police officers were among the onlookers when a former Hells Angels clubhouse in Oshawa, Ontario was demolished on 30 March. A crowd of civilians, as well as a helicopter, were also there to observe the demo job by Aurora-based Priestly Demolition. For members of the Durham Regional Police Service who observed the demolition, the building stood as a symbol of defiance to authority.

“This really is a symbol of criminal activity and organized crime, basically snubbing their nose at the community and saying ‘we’re here and we’re not going anywhere and you can’t make us go anywhere,’ and now they’re gone,” Durham Regional Police Service Chief Mike Ewles told Oshawa This Week.

The contract apparently meant rather less to Priestly Demolition. “It was nothing special to us,” says John Phillips, vice-president of operations with Priestly. “It doesn’t make any difference to us if the front door says Hells Angels or Girl Guides. The Ministry of the Attorney General asked us for a quote a year ago and recently asked us to get the job done quickly to finish the contract before their financial year-end.”

Read the full story here.

Fallout from Iceland volcano could impact upon world’s biggest equipment exhibition.

The Bauma exhibition in Munich is more than just a trade show; the vast event not only gathers together everybody who is anybody in the construction and demolition equipment sector, but it also acts as a highly accurate barometer of industry confidence. A successful show never fails to give the industry a shot in the arm.

But the organisers, exhibitors and delegates that were to cram into the Messe Munchen next week are now looking to the heavens, their plans, hopes and aspirations at the mercy of an ominous cloud of dust and silica contamination blasted into the atmosphere by a volcanic eruption in Iceland.

Here in the UK, the country experienced its first ever peace time no-fly day, with all airports being closed to air traffic. Those closures continue today. The cloud has also grounded aircraft in Denmark, Finland, France, Norway and Sweden, all key contributors of both exhibitors and visitors. And, at the time of writing, the volcano remains active and the disruptions look set to continue into the weekend when many visitors would be traveling to Munich.

Of course, travel disruptions will have little or no effect upon the tens of thousands of German natives. But with both rail and ferry services being called into action as a replacement for grounded aircraft, even those traveling to the show from neighbouring countries in mainland Europe are likely to face delays.

Scientists to use findings from Texas Stadium implosion in research into Earth’s crust.

The implosion of Texas Stadium in Irving may soon provide researchers with more data to use in determining characteristics of the earth’s crust and mantle.

The stadium is located in the Ouachita deformation zone. “Dallas happens to be a really interesting location between a couple of terrains,” Dr. Jay Pulliam, professor of geology, said. “The stuff below the sediments, the actual solid elements, the crust and mantle has not been studied here.”

Pulliam worked with Dallas ISD teacher David Boyd and a team of Baylor students to place a seismometer and recording equipment 0.47 kilometers from the implosion site last Tuesday. This proximity will allow the researchers to know the exact time of the implosion and the specific wave form created by it, so that they can track the wave at other stations that picked it up.

“We wanted first to see the seismic wave form that was created when they blew up Texas Stadium,” Boyd said. “If we know the exact parameters of that wave form, we can deduct that wave form from the other seismometers.”

Read the full story here.

Investigations underway following arson at Scottish demolition site.

The fire service has urged the public to stay away from a major demolition site after a waste timber blaze. It follows an incident in the Dalswinton Avenue area of Dumfries at about 0200 BST on Tuesday. The fire and rescue service said it appeared the fire had been started deliberately.

Work is currently under way on a major neighbourhood renewal project in the area to demolish former council houses and replace them with new properties.

A statement from Dumfries and Galloway Fire and Rescue Service urged people to keep out of the demolition site for their own safety.

Work started last month on the project to demolish and replace more than 170 former council houses as part of a £77m regeneration scheme.

Read more here.

Implosion enthusiast attends Texas Stadium demolition.

We have all heard of Superman, Batman and Wolfman. But how many of you are aware of the phenomenon known as Implosion Man?

Well, while he may not possess any superpowers – unless you count dressing like a certifiable lunatic – he does, in fact exist. When Texas Stadium was imploded on Sunday, more than 20,000 people were on hand to watch, including Lou Woloszyn, aka “Implosion Man.”

The Philadelphia man, who has attended 10 stadium implosions, was in full character in Irving, Texas (see photo above). Woloszyn witnessed the implosion of Veteran’s Stadium, the former home of the Philadelphia Phillies, in 2004.

Only in America!

Clear Site enlists webcam technology to broadcast mill demolition live.

Clear Site Industrial has been hired as the contractor for demolition of the former Spartan Grain Mill. This demolition project will make way for future development in an area known as “The Grain District”, an emerging entertainment & art district west of Morgan Square in Downtown Spartanburg. The old mill site is large enough to allow for a variety of development, such as apartments, townhomes, and live/work units. To give a sense of the mill site’s redevelopment potential, the City of Spartanburg’s Masterplan depiction includes 80 apartments, 37 townhomes or live/work units, and 1,858 square metre (20,000 square feet) of mixed-use space for retail or office uses.

Snyder Investments, Inc. has enlisted the expertise of Clear Site Industrial to perform the hands on demolition and disposal of the structures. Some, of which, are over 40 metres (120 feet) in height. The team is also aiming to divert 99%+ of the demolished material from landfills.

To watch the demolition live via webcam, log on to www.ClearSiteIndustrial.com

Well-known UK industry figure seriously ill in hospital.

The UK’s National Federation of Demolition Contractors is reporting that Coleman & Company‘s Dave Coleman is currently in hospital with septicaemia.

Dave went to A&E at Good Hope Hospital on Wednesday last week with a swollen leg, temperature and stomach pains. He was admitted to a private ward before being transferred to the Intensive Therapy Unit.

His current condition is stable and during the past 24 hours he has started to take on food. His blood pressure and heart rate are also stabilising; both postive signs. His body now has to fight the infection but, as those of you that know him, Dave is a fighter and a tough man – He’s tenacious and not the type to take no for an answer. It is these qualities that he will draw upon to fight the infection.

Read more here.

Lucky escape after Wiltshire building collapses during demolition.

Disaster was narrowly averted after a section of a building being demolished collapsed into a public thoroughfare full of shoppers. An estimated 10 metre piece of the former British Home Stores (Bhs) building broke away spilling brickwork onto the pavement and causing panic in The Parade at about 10.30 am yesterday.

The building is being demolished to make way for a number of shops. Although no one was injured in the incident, workmen said “death or maiming” was only averted by the safety scaffolding, which contained the wall and held up under the intense pressure.

The scaffolding was held up, in part, by a lamp post which was bent during the incident. “That scaffolding has saved lives,” said Cliff Flanagan, from Skanska Paving. “If it wasn’t for the strength of it all that debris would be in the street where people were walking.”

The contractors, Sisk UK, said the company had been conducting “controlled demolition” during the collapse.
Ian Wright, the company’s national business development manager, said: “The part of the building, a roof slab, that came off was to come down in a controlled way, but it came down unexpectedly. The cladding did its job and contained what had fallen. The HSE has been working with our team today. We will be investigating and working overnight to make it safe.”

Read the full story here.

NASA to demolish Kennedy Space Center towers.

The servicing towers at the Kennedy Space Center’s launch pad 39B will be demolished this summer to ready the complex for an uncertain future.

The $1.3 million job was originally planned to begin outfitting the seaside launch pad to host Ares 1 rockets, the booster NASA was planning to carry crews to orbit after the space shuttle’s retirement. NASA is going ahead with plans to bring down the fixed and rotating service structures at pad 39B, even though the Ares 1 rocket and the entire Constellation program are being axed.

Officials say they are continuing with the pad facelift to prepare the facility to support future commercial or heavy-lift rocket development work. But the identity of the historic pad’s next user is unknown.

New York-based LVI Services Inc., will begin work in late June or early July. The demolition will not use explosives like those used on other abandoned launch pads, but will be dismantled in a “very controlled” process as workers take apart the towers one piece at a time.

Read the full story here.