Health and Safety During Demolition

Demolition and dismantling is a big project that requires careful planning and there is a great risk of injury or even death if things aren’t planned right.  This means in addition to our services for demolition in Maidstone as well as site – clearance and waste removals, we also work with companies to help ensure health and safety considerations are met.

The main hazards

According to the law, all demolition, dismantling and alterations such as strip outs need to be carefully planned.  This means assessing the project from the H&S viewpoint to ensure all risks are minimalised as much as possible.

Some of the key issues affecting these projects are:

• Falling from height
• Injury caused by falling materials
• Uncontrolled collapse of the building causing injury
• Risks from connected services such as gas or electricity
• Hazardous materials such as asbestos
• Traffic management of plant equipment
• Fire, noise and vibration risks

Handling the hazards

In order to reduce these risks as much as possible, we work with businesses to ensure that there are duty holders who have the skills, knowledge and experience to manage these potential risks.  We can also plan, manage, monitor and coordinate health and safety matters during the demolition and work with site managers, sub-contractors and site work to keep everyone safe.

Falling from height

The key to handling the hazards is often looking to see where they might come from and what needs to be done to minimalize them.  One example is falling from height while working on the demolition.  Here, duty holders have the responsibility to assess, eliminate and control the risks of this.  Often this is done through various safety equipment options.  It can also involve using equipment that minimalizes the need for workers to be at height.

Injury caused by falling materials

Injury from falling materials is a big control with dismantling but mostly with demolition.  This can involve people working on the site but also people walking past.  That’s why exclusion zones are needed to make sure people aren’t in the danger area.  Measures such as compulsory hard hats, covered walkways and high-reach machines are important.

Hazardous materials

Many sites use experts in waste recycling to sort the waste and remove it, recycling as much as possible.  But there also needs to be measures in place to handle hazardous materials including dust, asbestos and also respirable crystalline silica (RCS).  There are also other risks including acids from processes, paints, flammable materials and those unidentified drums that can be found in older buildings.  That’s why it is important to work with a  company that can safely handle these materials and keep other workers protected.

Reducing the risks

There’s no way to guarantee there won’t be an accident on a work site.  The human factor means that there is always something unpredictablewhich makes it hard to prepare for everything.  But by working through the most common risks with experts in health and safety, you can reduce the risks significantly and improve worker safety as well as complying with the various regulations that apply to the industry.