Demolition companies could benefit from strategic alliances with like-minded professionals.
In recent months, I have sat through more than my fair share of seminars, conferences and conventions with US, UK and European demolition contractors. And while the content of each of these events has been markedly different, there has been one common thread: the desire for global information sharing.
The US’ National Demolition Association (NDA) was keen to host a worldwide waste symposium involving the European Demolition Association this year, although the credit crunch brought those plans to a temporary but shuddering halt. At the same time, the NDA has announced that it is to adopt the UK’s guidance notes on the safe use of high reach demolition excavators and track-mounted mobile crushers. Meanwhile, the Institute of Demolition Engineers is slowly gaining a foothold outside its native UK in destinations as far afield as the US and Australia.
However, any such developments move with all the speed or wind erosion and the direction of Continental drift. And in a fast-paced business like demolition, particularly at a time when informed decisions could be the difference between survival and failure, is this well-intentioned but overly-structured information sharing responsive enough for the industry’s needs?
Given that demolition is an almost universal language (even though, perhaps, the accent varies from region to region), would we not be better off with a kind of global “buddying system” where individual contractors or even individual people shared their knowledge and experience.
Want an example? How’s this.
With a stated aim of a 50% recycling rate, the US is quite clearly (and for many notable reasons) lagging behind its UK where rates of 95% are the norm and 99% is not unusual. It is my firm belief that a US contractor could learn more about the fundamentals of processing and recycling of construction and demolition waste from a single visit to a UK contractor like Coleman or Syd Bishop than they could from countless seminars and PowerPoint presentations.
The UK also boasts some of the world’s best demolition safety and occupational health standards. Any contractor from outside the UK wishing to replicate these standards COULD attend conferences and read manuals or they could simply make contact with consultancies like C&D Consultancy or Building Health. It might not be practical or financially viable for either of these companies to hop over the English Channel or the Atlantic for a half-day meeting, but a phone conversation and a few emails could make a world of difference to your company’s safety and occupational health efforts.
And here’s the thing. Much of this could be achieved at virtually no cost whatsoever. Full details of all the NFDC, EDA and NDA members are available on the respective organisations’ websites, generally with direct links to the individual companies’ websites. Email, Skype and instant messaging is all but free. And modern video-conferencing software would allow Transatlantic meetings and training sessions to take place without the jet-lag, deep vein thrombosis, airline food and hefty carbon footprint normally associated with international travel.
So don’t wait until you’re faced with an unforeseen technical issue or a form of demolition you haven’t encountered before. And don’t wait for that next Convention which could be 12 months away. Check out the EDA, IDE, NDA and NFDC websites, and find yourself a demolition buddy!
