IDE Scottish Regional Meeting report

Included here is the IDE Scottish Regional Meeting report as provided by Forth Demolition Limited:

The afternoon, still warm and bright although cast in the shadow of the majestic granite castle as the sun slowly drifted down into a brief twilight then onto the darkness of a drizzly Scottish autumn.

The location for the IDE Scottish Regional Meeting, hosted and sponsored by Forth Demolition couldn’t have been better. The Apex City Hotel, located in the middle of the Scottish Capital’s busy Grassmarket boasted a gorgeous view of the world famous castle was extremely well attended with over twenty attendees including IDE President Mr. John Woodward, IDE Past President Dr. Terry Quarmby and NDTG Scotland Chairman Mr. Craig MacWilliam to name but a few.


Kicking off the meeting, Stephen McCann (jnr) of Forth Demolition made some introductions and thanked the attendant before playing the video footage of the recent explosives job undertaken by Safedem at Red Road Flats in Glasgow. This was very well received as the majority of the room had not actually seen the footage or the interviews regarding the job. This spurred some discussions between the group with Mr. Tony Taperell of TDS talking about his newest long reach excavator, the largest in the U.K.

Next up was Danny Rutterford of Reactec. Danny was demonstrating the HAV meter system developed and produced by Reactec. This system is a very robust vibration management system used by local authorities and public utilities. This interesting presentation concluded the first half of the meeting. The boardroom emptied and the attendees filled the Library area where coffee, tea and pastries where supplied with a gorgeous view of the castle. After the break Richard Yarwood of Haulmark gave a fascinating demonstration on the Oil-Quick attachment system supplied by his company. Not only was the presentation enjoyable but Haulmark left a bag of goodies for each of the attendees including a baseball cap!


Mr. George McIlwraith of GM Health, Safety & Training Consultancy was the final speaker. The IIRSM & IOSH member, who specialises in on-site and first aid training, gave a brief and interesting walkthrough of the History of First Aid. Starting with the same written exam George gives during his 1-day training course to test the knowledge in this important subject.

George’s presentation, packed with his personal brand of humour and anecdotes and covering everything from first aid entries in the Bible to modern changes in legislation was very well received give a lot of food for thought. George handed out some disposable mouth to mouth shields to the group and a demonstration on how to use them.


The meeting adjourned and everyone made their way to the bar where Forth Demolition Managing Director Mr. Stephen McCann laid on a tab for the members to enjoy some liquid refreshments.