“We’ve always done it that way”. Is there a more dangerous phrase in the demolition business? Is there a phrase that more accurately describes entrenched ideas and beliefs. Is there a single sentence that better sums up a refusal to move with the times; to adapt; and to overcome?
First of all, the phrase is wildly untrue. If, in fact, demolition contractors had ALWAYS done it that way, men would still be working at height with no protection aside from a cloth cap. Hydraulic excavators would be notable by their absence. All demolition would be manual; and injuries and fatalities would be unthinkably common.
But, aside from the inaccuracy of the phrase, there is a more worrying and underlying suggestion that there is no longer space nor demand for innovation.
Those that claim they have, in fact, always done it that way are operating in a new industry landscape in which they are under constant scrutiny. Their forebears did not have to contend with such exacting health and safety standards. They did not have to adhere to such demanding legislation and regulation. They did not have to concern themselves with climate change, sustainability and the imminent loss of their traditional fuel of choice. And they most certainly did not have to confront national and local governments attempting to push them to the very side-lines of modern society.
I do not believe the demolition sector to be Luddite by nature. In my experience, the opposite is true. Demolition folks are forever solving new challenges with previously unseen new solutions.
The problem seems to be that those solutions are very narrow, very vertical and often unique.
If an equipment manufacturer creates a new operating system or a new piece of control software, it is applied to hundreds, thousands or even hundreds of thousands of machines. However, if a demolition contractor develops a new way of getting debris from the top to the bottom of a structure, that system might work just once on a single troublesome building.
Contractors are so focused on the micro, they never have the time to ponder, create and develop the macro.
If demolition IS to prevail within the modern world, it MUST adapt. It MUST embrace technology in all its many forms. It MUST bend with the winds of sustainability. It MUST go with the flow of growing gender equality. And it MUST seek to become more than a one-trick pony whose work is merely the gateway to something far more important and memorable.
The alternative is as stark as it is obvious. Those that continue to insist that “they have always done it that way” might not be doing it for very much longer.
This article was first published on Demolition Insider where, for the time being, subscriptions are still FREE.
