Dykon explosives team to take second stab at BASF plant later today.

It’s chemical plant implosion Take 2 in Portsmouth, Virginia later today as the explosives engineers from Dykon Explosive Demolition Corporation take a second stab at felling the former BASF facility.

As this news video from WAVY.com explains, the first implosion last week succeeded in bringing down just half the plant. Engineers and local residents are hoping that it’s second time lucky later today.

It’s worth noting the critical review of the first implosion by five-year old local resident Bobby Scott 50 seconds into this news video.

New demolition-specific clamp bucket from SUI Manufacturing.

When you watch as many demolition-related videos as we do, it soon becomes clear that demolition contractors across the world might share a universal language but each country tends to do things in their own way.

A fine example of this is the widespread use of clamp bucket attachments on US demolition and recycling sites, like the one shown here from SUI Manufacturing.

The company has very kindly also provided us with some information on their products, which you can read or downloaded by clicking the link below..

quick_clamp

Advertising Standards Authority upholds complaint by Kubota over Kosran advert.

UK trade magazine Contract Journal is reporting that the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint by Kubota about a Kosran advert in which the immobiliser manufacturer claimed Kubota’s immobilisation system could be overcome in 90 seconds.

In its defence Kosran submitted a DVD showing a Kubota machine apparently being ‘hot wired’ in 74 seconds but the ASA dismissed this saying: “…there was no independent verification to show whether the immobiliser had been operating correctly or that the process shown was accurate of real-life conditions.”

Read the full story here.

Demolition firms to carry out risk assessments in wake of Corby birth defects case.

UK trade magazine Contract Journal reports that a judge ruled this week that reclamation works on the former British Steel complex in Corby between 1985 and 1999 led to 17 children being born with underdeveloped fingers and webbed feet.

A group of local mothers won their case against Corby Borough Council following a three month trial.

Read the full story here.

Demolition News and Building Health’s Nichola Elvy look discuss drug and alcohol abuse in demolition.

With an increasing number of major contractors, utility and transport infrastructure companies now insisting that subcontractors conduct compulsory health monitoring and screening as part of their pre-qualification systems, many demolition companies are now having to face up to drugs and alcohol abuse within their workforce for the first time.

In this exclusive podcast (which is scheduled to be the first of two parts), we look at this issue with Nichola Elvy whose company, Building Health, is at the forefront of drugs and alcohol testing in this industry sector.

Use the link below to listen to our latest daily audio broadcast.

Demolition News has created a fantasy football league for demolition professionals.

With the start of the English Premiership season just two weeks away, Demolition News has created a fantasy football league specifically for demolition professionals.

Competitors are given an imaginary £100 million to spend on Premiership players (and believe me, it doesn’t go far when you’ve spent £20+ million on Rooney and Gerrard) and can then pit their team against those of other demolition professionals in the newly-created Demolition League. You can then spend the next eight months pretending to be Sir Alex Ferguson, buying and selling players and changing systems.

The league will run for the entire season but we will be producing regular updates here at Demolition News and over on Twitter on www.twitter.com/demolitionnews. And although we haven’t yet agreed what the prize will be, there will be a prize for the winning team at the end of the 2009/2010 season.

To take part, all you have to do is register at http://fantasy.premierleague.com

Once you have logged in and entered your team, click on the ‘Leagues’ link you can find on the right of the page. Now enter the code 585464-136648 to join the private league.

Just one final note – When you do join, you will see that Demolition News has already registered a team (the appropriately named Mighty ‘ammers).

Good luck and enjoy the game.

Criminal charges against 13 over Chinese tower block collapse.

A mid-level Communist Party secretary in Shanghai has been suspended and 13 people face criminal charges a month after a building collapsed nearly intact, as we reported last week.

Cai Jianzhong, the party official in the Meilong area, where the apartment building toppled over on June 27, was suspended and is under investigation, Xie Liming, a senior Shanghai official, told reporters.

Six people are being held by police and seven are out on bail awaiting trial, said Xie, head of the Shanghai Work Safety Administration. He declined to clarify whether Cai was among them.

Six companies, including the construction company and property developer have been ordered to pay a total of 1.5 million yuan (220,000 dollars) in fines, he said.

Full details here.

Prosecution over operative fatality throws spotlight on site safety.

C&D Consultancy’s John Woodward has very kindly forwarded us details of a company from Omagh in Northern Ireland that has been fined £30000.00 for breaches of Health & Safety Regulations. The case was brought against PFG Plant Hire Ltd after Oliver Rutledge died when part of a wall that he was demolishing fell onto him. Another employee sustained minor injuries.

The accident happened at a construction site in County Tyrone in January 2008.

The HSE Northern Ireland (HSENI) said that the company had not completed a sufficient risk assessment and that they had not developed an adequate safe system of work for their employees.
“It is vital that all companies properly identify and address hazards within the workplace and implement systems to minimise and control risks” said Kevin Campbell of HSENI. “These systems need to be communicated to the workforce, implemented, maintained, and updated when necessary”.

“CDM 2007 was supposed to help to reduce fatalities,” John Woodward concludes. “But once again we have a death that could have been prevented by use of trained, competent labour and a full understanding of their CDM duties by a principal contractor.”

The National Federation of Demolition Contractors sets date/topic for next mini seminar.

The National Federation of Demolition Contractors and the National Demolition Training Group has announced details of its September 2009 Working Wednesday mini-seminar.

Open only (and FREE) to NFDC and NDTG members, the Working Wednesday is scheduled to take place at Resurgam House in Hemel Hempstead on 16 September and will cover two key topics.

14.30 to 16.00 – BRE workshop on the disposal of Ozone Depleting roof sheeting
16.00 to 17.00 – NFDC solution to the issue of utility service disconnections

To book your place, please contact training group manager Sophie Francis by email: Sophie@demolition-nfdc.com, or Tel: 01442 217144