Shocking safety failure sees buildings collapse

On August 1st Ethos Construction Solutions Ltd and the company's director Pritish Lad were prosecuted after two properties collapsed in Westminster.

The reason for the prosecution was the sheer number of safety failings that occurred during a refurbishment contract Ethos had won. An inspection by the HSE identified the following:

• allowing existing structures to become weak and unstable
• no ‘temporary works plan' in place for workers, and no checks on whether workers were sufficiently trained to undertake the work
• the poor installation and positioning of building props
• the storage of large piles of bricks on several floors of still-standing buildings, posing a potential over-loading risk
• no assessment as to whether any evidence existed of a collapse risk
• an unsafe excavation of up to three metres deep running the length of the development site
• working-at-height risks
• fire risks because of poorly-stored flammable materials
• failure to provide suitable emergency exits
• insufficient fire detection and fire-fighting equipment

Ethos has to pay a £14,000 fine and £9,000 in costs. Pritish Lad is facing a fine of £9,500 and costs of £6,750.

This clearly demonstrates that any demolition needs a trained team in place and expert advice should be sought. If you have a demolition project of any size or type please contact us asap for a no obligation quotation to ensure that the project is done in accordance with all current legislation and ACOPs.

For a detailed account of what happened visit SHP Online

Building in Philadelphia collapses killing 1, injuring 13

A building demolition in Center City Philadelphia triggered the collapse of a Salvation Army Thrift Store next door and part of some housing situated behind it. Apparently the demolition had been ongoing for a week, and on Wednesday the crew were seen pulling on the structural steel frame holding the walls of the four storey building up. The walls were seen to waver back and forth before eventually collapsing and taking the building next door with it.

It is thought one person was killed in the collapse and a further 13 were injured. The search and rescue operation continues, and there will surely be an investigation and prosecution due to a lack of health and safety and safe working practices being in place on the job.

Source: ABC News

Egyptian demolition worker dices with death during building demolition

I'm not sure what the health and safety regulations are like in Egypt, but this is certainly no way to demolish what looks to be the concrete shell of a 5-storey building.

Rather than use explosives, or get the right equipment to demolish the building from top to bottom, one man and a machine decide to take out its supporting pillars. As you can imagine, if you break the pillars closest to the machine, the building is going to fall in that direction.

As for the machine operator, we see him jumping out of the machine as the building collapses and then at around the 19 second mark someone appears from the dust cloud. Is it the operator? We hope so, but can't be sure he managed to escape.

Prosecution for cinema collapse on dual carriageway in Lancashire

In June last year an art deco cinema turned bingo hall collapsed on to a busy dual carriageway in Lancashire.

The building in Thornton Cleveleys broke through the scaffolding around it and spread rubble across two lanes of the A587. To make matters worse this happened during rush hour.

The HSE investigation found a number of failings on the part of demolition company Gaskells Demolition Services.

The scaffolding was not meant to hold the structure, only to allow access to it. Even so, there were not sufficient exclusion zones around the building, and road closures had not been requested through the local council. In fact, the company was lucky no one was injured or killed, although one pedestrian suffered a near miss.

Gaskells has admitted its guilt for the lack of safety and will pay fines totalling £8,000.

Source: Construction Enquirer

Canadian building collapses mid-demolition

A building demolition being carried out in Edmonton, Canada went wrong over the weekend.

Fencing was erected around the five-storey Mayfair building and a machine was working to slowly take down the structure, but what no one foresaw was the building collapsing into the street.

As the video above shows, no one was hurt, but the workman standing in the road had to make a run for it. The safety fencing was crushed, as was a tree and street lamp. The worst problem was a large dust cloud that continued to fill the surrounding streets.

No injuries being caused was more down to luck than anything else. It was a quiet time, but just after the collapse you can see a car pass by.

Source: Canada.com via Demolition News

The leaning tower of India

This isn't something you see every day and residents were lucky to escape.

The Firdos building you see in the video above is located in Surat, India and has apparently been standing for many years. Then someone noticed it was starting to lean ever so slightly, and that leaning got progressively worse.

Bystanders started to gather and throw stones at the building to try and get the attention of residents. Thankfully it seems like everyone managed to get out before the inevitable happened.

The building continued to lean to one side until gravity took over and it came crashing to the ground.