World Demolition Summit 2016: When demolition goes wrong

During the seventh annual Word Demolition Summit, Oct. 14, at the Marriott Biscayne Bay in Miami, Mike Keheo, demolition consultant for the U.K.-based C&D Consultancy, talked about what to do when a demolition project does not go as planned.

Keheo said he has spent the last 33 years in the demolition industry and imparted some wisdom to attendees based on what he has experienced using explosive demolition.

When something does go wrong on the job site, he said, the receptionist is an important person.

“We brief the receptionist,” he said. “We brief the first point of call.”

It also is important to provide regular updates, get the directors involved and brief managers from top to bottom, he added.

He alluded to recent demolition industry fatalities in the U.K. and said social media “is the most important tool in the world.”

He noted that in under two minutes a video can appear on YouTube. Using social media, he said, is a powerful tool that ensures “people around the world know what we are going to do.”

Kehoe shared what he did in Liverpool, U.K., when two building implosions did not do what they were expected.

The first building failed to come down and the second one came down two hours after it should have. While the buidlings were waiting to come down, some 1,000 people weren’t allowed to go home. Kupec says, “Wecided to call in contingencies.”

For the structure that failed to implode the company called in a demolition company that used a high-rig. The firm was able to get the building down in two days.

In a disaster, Kehoe says, there are four priories:

1. protection of life;
2. protection of property;
3. allay public fear; and
4. return to life.

He again mentioned the four on-the-job fatalities noting it had been a difficult year. Regarding explosive demolition, Kupec said, “If it is planned right, it is still the safest way.”

The World Demolition Summit, organized by U.K.-based KHL Group, publisher of Demolition & Recycling International, in cooperation with the National Demolition Association (NDA), Washington, was Oct. 14 in Miami.