TECHNOLOGY
safety-culture partake in demolition activities ,” says Bester . The nature of demolition works lends itself to risk , and the onus is on the demolition contractor to best mitigate and control these risks . “ Without the strictest control of all aspects of the work , these risks build to loss of life , loss of income due to secondary damage , as well as damage to reputation ,” explains Bester . Kelly concurs that demolition is a dangerous trade requiring experienced and skilled personnel . “ Safety is the single biggest factor , and for this reason we retain long-term staff . Some of our people have been with us since we started in the 1980s . Hearing is a particular issue : all demolition sites require hearing protection or staff will quickly go deaf ,” he says . All staff on site have to be aware of the on-site environment . “ They cannot sleepwalk around ,” says Kelly . “ It particularly requires experienced supervisors who perform a risk assessment of each site and put in specific control measures for each risk . The best qualification for this job is experience — I ’ ve been doing demolition for 34 years .”
Local standards up to scratch
According to Kelly , safety standards were slipshod in the 1980s when Wreckers first entered the industry . They quickly improved , and today he rates the local industry on a par with the best in the world , although corruption is an issue that affects safety standards . There have been cases where tenders have not been publicly advertised and as a result , he has seen rock blasters being used in a futile attempt to try to demolish a hospital , by a member of the unqualified ‘ bakkie brigade ’. “ Through various discussions with international stakeholders , we have come to realise that South African ( and African ) demolition companies tend to be significantly more versatile than our international peers . Jet Demolition won the Explosive Demolition Award during the World Demolition Summit hosted in London in 2017 , for our implosion of the HG de Witt Building in Pretoria . As far as we are aware , this is the first African company to be recognised at this level , and we are immensely proud and humbled by the recognition ,” Bester says . Another factor the local industry is coming to grips with is recycling materials . “ Due to increased focus on Green-star building practices , we are seeing more clients requesting recycling solutions to demolition waste . The unfortunate truth is that recycling the waste in such a manner as to be re-usable , normally requires extensive effort and cost . More often than not , these costs are not adequately provided for at planning stage , and the full recycling potential of a project is not reached . “ Scrap steel is generally sent to foundries for reprocessing , as the recycling thereof is usually offset against the project cost . The South African market is not yet fully aligned for the recycling of general demolition waste ( brick and concrete ) as costs are prohibitive . We are confident that this trend will come about in the next few years and look forward to adequate recycling budgets being made available to the demolition industry ,” Bester says .
26 - CEC July 2018