Rec and Sports

What To Consider To Safely Demolish A Building

There is a lot to consider when demolishing a building or any kind of large structure. The first concern is of course the safety of everyone on-site and that of everyone in the surrounding area.

The workman on-site must wear a hard hat, steel toe capped boots and a high visibility jacket at all times. This is of course to avoid any nasty injuries from falling debris.

There are many measures in place to avoid harming any passers by or any surrounding buildings or structures. These include the choice of day to demolish the building. The weather on a given day can affect the collateral damage done by demolishing a building.

When a building is torn to the ground, a huge shockwave is given off, and if the sky is clear of clouds and is not overcast, then that shockwave will travel straight up and do little to no harm to anything. However, if there are low clouds and the day is generally overcast, the shockwave will hit the clouds and fan out, potentially devastating close-by buildings and at least taking out their windows.

Another measure taken to avoid collateral damage is to make sure that the building to be destroyed is wetted or at least dampened. This is because if the building was left completely dry, the amount of dust and debris that would rise from the fall would be immense and dangerous. However, if the structure is wet there is considerably less dust and debris that flies up after the collapse.

Then there is the question, what to do with all the rubble, stone, glass etc. Well in the old days in would have been removed with large machinery and taken to landfill and dumped there. However with today’s environmental laws it has to be recycled and so whatever can be salvaged from the wreckage of a buildings demolition is taken to a recycling centre, sorted and re-sold for use on a new building.