Would a high reach excavator register help prevent future accidents?

Under normal circumstances, we try to keep our posts here on Demolition News and those on Construction Equipment’s Demolition Digest totally separate; the readerships of the two are usually very different, and while Demolition News aims at a global market, Demolition Digest is aimed squarely at readers in North America. However, we have just posted a new item on Demolition Digest that we believe merits wider discussion.

As the UK’s Health and Safety Executive rolls out its Tower Crane Register programme, we’re asking whether the demolition industry needs a similar, possibly self-policed system to monitor the sale, deployment, maintenance and inspection for high and ultra high reach demolition excavators.

You can read the full article and add your comments there or in the comments area below.

Sentencing today for nuclear decommissioning company charged with safety breaches

UK trade magazine Construction News is reporting that the company that runs the Sellafield decommissioning site is facing an unlimited fine over health and safety breaches after two workers were exposed to radiation.

Representatives of the Sellafield Ltd will appear at Carlisle Crown Court for sentencing today after pleading guilty to failings under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

A Health and Safety Executive investigation found two contractor employees had been exposed to airborne radioactive contamination on 11 July 2007 at the nuclear reprocessing plant.

Read more here.

Winnipeg’s “Alphabet House” moves one step closer to demolition.

Winnipeg City hall has upheld a possible demolition order for the so-called “alphabet house,” though its owner says it doesn’t yet spell the end for his property.

Ed Ackerman said today that he’ll continue to upgrade his 1 1/2-storey core-area house with its unusual letter ornaments to try to meet municipal improvement orders, while also fighting for his property in the courts, despite a denial by councillors of an appeal he had launched against the city.

Read more here.

Wanted: Physically strong and eloquent person to protect restaurant from demolition.

Here’s one Chinese invention that we sincerely hope doesn’t catch on over here. A restaurant owner in the Chinese city of Yayuncun is looking to hire an “anti-demolition guard” to prevent her business from being torn down without her permission.

Qin Rong, 28, owner of Fish Castle Restaurant Bar, said she will pay the person 1,000 yuan a month ($146) to help protect her restaurant, which is one of four businesses still standing on a section of Anding road, near the east gate of the National Olympic Sports Center.

“My restaurant will be torn down by force if I don’t move away before Dec 16, so I’m eagerly expecting to hire an anti-demolition guard with ‘nail house’ experience before the deadline,” said Qin. The term “nail house” is relatively new in China and refers to homeowners that refuse to move away from demolition zones, usually because of a disagreement about compensation. These houses “stick out like a nail.”

Read more here.

South Padre Island’s “leaning tower” could fall next week.

The explosives are on the way and the Ocean Tower could come tumbling down as early as 12 December, according to reports from The Monitor.

“We’re ready for the explosion,” Mark Loizeaux of Controlled Demolitions Inc. told the South Padre Island Board of Aldermen this week. “We’ve done this all over the world with no serious accidents.”

Construction on the 31-story, 151-unit luxury project was halted last summer, a year after it was determined that the building was sinking, which caused cracks in beams and columns.

Loizeaux said his workers have drilled 3,000 holes in the structure for the placement of the explosive charges.

Read more here.

US’ National Demolition Association launches online training packages for members.

The newly revamped National Demolition Association website now offers a full arsenal of online safety training and certification courses that allow for in-house training, orientation, and personnel management.

The members-only feature provides more than 7,000 training courses on topics that range from fall protection and excavator safety training to Microsoft Excel and safe driving. “These self-paced courses were created for safety managers, employees that deal with environmental hazards, and general workforce employees,” explained Michael R. Taylor, CAE, Executive Director of the National Demolition Association. “It lets members track the training of each employee and manage their specific training needs.”

The courses are designed to improve safety, compliance, and risk management initiatives by providing OSHA standardized content, which is validated by industry experts. The interactive courses include instant grading and online certificates, as well. Members can pay just once for each course, but can view the course as many times as they want for up to one year.

Upcoming, the National Demolition Association is developing a demolition-specific safety training course that will be web-based and available on the newly upgraded website.

Shop owner calls for demolition of historic church to create more parking space.

A money-grabbing trader has called for the demolition of an old church Petersfield town centre – to make way for a Christmas car park. “At this time of recession we need to boost shopper numbers any way we can,” said jeweller Matt Tress, clearly not a religious man. “If we can set up a new car park right next to the Square, it will give the whole town a lift.”

His proposal to knock down the town’s Norman church, St Peter’s, has not met with universal approval (although I am sure that there are a number of demolition companies that will be backing him all the way) – but Tress remains unrepentant.

“It’s old and crumbly anyway and it’s been there for ages,” he moaned. “It’s nothing but an eyesore in my book – I’d much rather see lots of lovely shoppers pulling up there in their cars. I reckon you’d get more than 200 on that site, which would be a much-needed boost for the jewellery trade, and maybe some other shops too.

Read more here.

Federal Highway Administration approval to demolish Crown Point Bridge due next week.

New York state Department of Transportation spokeswoman Deborah Sturm Rausch says the federal agency is expected to sign off on the plan to demolish the deteriorated bridge linking New York and Vermont by Monday, the day the project’s prime contractor will be taking bids from subcontractors.

A subcontractor to set off the controlled explosions that will demolish most sections of the 2,184-foot bridge will be selected on Wednesday, with crews expected to start preparations soon after.

Read more here.

Video captures the complexities of (and emissions from) tripping demolition by excavator.

There are those in the industry that believe that “tripping” is a viable alternative to blasting as a means of controlled structural collapse; and there are others that believe that the practice is unpredictable and unsafe.

Regardless of your individual viewpoint, this video (which, sadly, we could not embed here) does give a good insight into how a building is tripped. But what it also shows is the need for exceptional in-cab air filtration to protect the excavator operator from the great plumes of dust the process creates.

Click here to view the video for yourself.

New Brisbane bridge faces demolition to allow tunnel construction.

This is the new AUS$9.9 million foot bridge which could be demolished – and rebuilt – to make way for the multibillion-dollar Northern Link tunnel project.

The Toowong pedestrian and cycle overpass was opened just nine months ago but The Courier-Mail has been told it now may need to be moved to make way for the Northern Link tunnel connecting Toowong to Kelvin Grove.

The bridge is expected to hinder work on the tunnel entrance off the Western Freeway.

Read more here.