ABOUT “INDUSTRY NEWS”

The following news reports relate to a variety of topics within the explosive demolition industry, chief among them safety, ethics and current events. Our goal at Implosionworld.com is to post these reports in a responsible, objective format, free from editorial comment (unless absolutely warranted, and even then, clearly marked as such). To this end, you will often find a direct link to one or more of our sources for a given report. It is our hope that providing this information will contribute to a more timely and accurate knowledge base within the industry.

July 9, 2002- Organizers of the 2002 International Demolition & Recycling Exposition (IDREX) have announced an indefinite postponement of the event.

Earlier this afternoon, organizers released a statement that began with the following:

What was to be this year's prime event for the world's demolition and recycling industry, IDREX 2002, has been postponed following feedback from industry's equipment manufacturers. Despite almost industry-wide support for the event when it was first announced in 2000, the current difficult economic climate has put pressure on budgets and many of the sector's top manufacturers found that they could not give the support they would have liked to the event.

A spokesman for IDREX organiser, IPI, said, "We have had to take the difficult decision to postpone IDREX 2002 despite some great initial support for the event. We feel that it would be better to postpone the event rather than try and hold a conference and exhibition which might not meet everyone's high expectations. We will now be talking to the exhibitors that supported IDREX 2002, and those that couldn't through budgetary pressure, to establish when the industry would like the next IDREX event to take place.

IDREX 2002 was due to take place in Maastricht in The Netherlands in September of this year. The event was to be held alongside two other shows, APEX (for the world's access platform industry) and RentEX (for the European Rental industry). Both APEX and RentEX are going ahead and the show organisers report that both events will be record size this year.

Implosionworld.com Exclusive, April 5, 2002

Nottingham Explosives Ltd. Managing Director Phillip Lowe has announced that his firm will be bought out by Yorkshire, England-based Controlled Demolition Group (CDG) by the end of next week. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Rumors of an impending Nottingham-CDG deal had been circulating within the industry for weeks, and the sale of the UK's third-most active structural explosive demolition contractor to the world's most active firm is expected to solidify CDG's grip on the majority of "blowdown" work in Western Europe. Although several additional explosive demolition companies continue to operate successfully in the region, it is widely believed that only Germany-based Verkehrsbau Union (VBU), parent company of Cardem Demolition and several other contracting firms, is capable of completing a comparative volume of work.

In its 30 years of existence, Nottingham Explosives realized a level of success experienced by few others in the industry. Founder Barry Lowe began his career in 1954 by blasting concrete bridges and bunkers as a member of the Explosives Special Forces division of England's renowned SAS. He then began working commercially, completing numerous explosive demolition projects for a variety of private and government clients. Lowe eventually consolidated his team's efforts in 1972 with the establishment of Nottingham Explosives Ltd., and went on to become one of the founding members of the Institute of Explosives Engineers in 1974.

Within the firm's first official year of operation, it secured a contract to explosively raze the 53-span Awsworth Viaduct, a record that reportedly still stands today. The Nottingham team went on to enjoy unprecedented success over the next three decades, demolishing approximately 3,000 structures* and maintaining a reputation as one of the most active and experienced blasting contractors in the world.

Although Lowe personally managed a large portion of Nottingham's work, the company's overall sales volume was achieved with considerable assistance from his son, Phillip, who started with the firm in 1981 and became a Director in 1986. Some of the younger Lowe's more recent challenges have been the explosive demolition of two 20-story apartment buildings in Birmingham and the felling of a 650-foot, 125-year-old viaduct in Leicester.

Phillip has stated he intends to stay active in the industry as part of the Controlled Demolition Group team of explosives engineers. He recently told implosionworld.com, "Blasting is and always will be my life's work. I'm looking forward to spending more time applying my experience in the field and less with the daily routine of managing a large company."

*It is implosionworld.com policy to verify all specific numerical claims related to blasting performance prior to reporting them as fact.

Implosionworld.com Exclusive, October 25, 2001

Controlled Demolition Group, Ltd. (CDG) Managing Director Charles Moran has informed implosionworld.com of his planned retirement from the company effective November 2001.

Mr. Moran established CDG in 1981, and over the following two decades built the firm into one of the most successful and prominent demolition contractors in the world. The Yorkshire, England-based company currently employs 140 people and “blows down” more buildings annually than any other contractor, having explosively felled over 40 high-rise towers and numerous other structures in 2001. In September, Controlled Demolition Group was awarded “UK Contractor of the Year” honors for the second consecutive year.

CDG’s new ownership will include current Commercial Director Darren Palin and Steve Forster. Mr. Moran reports that he will maintain close ties with the company, continuing on as a consultant “into the foreseeable future.”

Implosionworld.com Exclusive, September 14, 2001

On September 11, 2001, several independent vibration monitoring firms were recording ground vibration data on construction and demoliton sites throughout New York City. These seismographs recorded data that relates to the terrorist attacks that morning, and Protec Documentation Services, along with several other firms, is in the process of pooling this data.

The goal of this collective effort, spearheaded by Dr. Ed Walter & Associates, is to help ascertain which, if any, structures located beyond the actual World Trade Center site may have been affected by the event.

Our thoughts and prayers are with our friends and families who have been touched by this tragedy, and we appreciate the calls and e-mails from around the world checking on the well-being of our employees.

Implosionworld.com Exclusive, August 17, 2001

Eric Kelly, a 25-year veteran of the explosive demolition industry, has left the employ of Engineered Demolition Inc. to form a new structural blasting firm.

Advanced Explosive Demolition Inc. (AED) established operations in Hayden Lake, Idaho earlier this month, and the blast team has since felled structures in Missoula, Montana and Sydney, Nova Scotia. AED has at least one project scheduled for September, the explosive demolition of the Hygeia Refrigeration Building in Elmira, New York.

June 2001- An explosive demolition project in the town of Flaminzi, Romania has reportedly failed to fell the intended structure while unintentionally damaging 24 adjacent houses.

News reports state that the blast caused heavy damage to windows in buildings located within a 500-foot radius, and caused the roofs of two nearby buildings to collapse.

The reports do not say whether there were any injuries resulting from the event, nor do they name the blast team or describe the structural condition of adjacent structures prior to the blast.

Click here to read report from National Monitor (Romania)
Click here to read report from National Monitor (English Version)
Click here to read report from Ananova.com

April 2001- A member of the International Society of Explosives Engineers, Gordon Revey, has reported that a 4-watt handheld radio recently caused the detonation of an electric detonator on a U.S. blasting project.

According to Mr. Revey, the blaster “lost several fingers and incurred severe damage to both hands” as a result of the event. Mr. Revey also reports that the radio was closer than the minimum distance mandated by the Institute of Explosive Makers Radio Frequency Table for the radio in question. The names of the blaster and his employer, as well as the accident location, were not disclosed.

Click here to read ISEE blastserve safety alert

March 2001- OSHA has reaffirmed fines and violations related to a demolition accident that killed two workers at the Monterey Mine near Albers, Illinois in February 2000. The fines and violations had been contested by both of the firms cited in the mishap.

The violations stem from the premature collapse of a section of a 165-foot tall concrete silo that was being prepared for explosive demolition. Killed in the collapse were 22-year-old Kevin Auchter, an employee of Controlled Demolition, Inc., and 29-year-old Scott McGee, an employee of RBS Excavating. Both CDI and the project’s general contractor, Ciminelli Services Corp.were reportedly cited under “Standard 19260021/Construction, Safety Training and Education.”

According to OSHA’s website, the case was officially closed last month.

Click here to review OSHA’s summary of this incident

March 2001- Researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health have issued a press release on the hazards of breathing dust at implosion projects.

Dr. Timothy Buckley, PhD, recently led a team that tested the density of dust particles following the implosion of a 22-story high-rise in Baltimore, Maryland. Their research found, in part, that during the 20-minute period after the blast, average particle levels downwind from the blast were two to ten times higher than the standard for outdoor air set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Another researcher, Peyton Eggleston, MD, concluded, “These airborne particles, depending on their size, concentration, and chemical composition, have been shown to be harmful to health.” The press release concludes by offering recommendations for reducing exposure to the particles.

Editor’s Note- This study fails to address a fundamental issue, which is comparing the effects of dust generated from explosive demolition to that generated by conventional means (wrecking ball, heavy equipment, etc.). The report seems to imply that if there were no implosion, there would be no dust emanating from a demolition site. Over the past several decades, one of the most noteworthy advantages to explosive demolition has been recognized as the ability to release dust particles at a pre-determined time to allow nearby citizens to take appropriate precautions.

Click here to read Johns Hopkins University press release

February 2001- A comprehensive report detailing facts pertaining to the St. Vincent’s Hospital blowdown in Dublin, Ireland was recently presented to a joint meeting of the Republic of Ireland Branch of the Institute of Structural Engineers and the Structures and Construction Section of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland at TCD, Dublin.

The report, authored by Declan Monaghan (Arup Consulting Engineers), Robert Johnstone (Robert Johnstone Associates) and Charles Moran (Controlled Demolition Group), details various calculations and decisions leading up to the January 21, 2001 blowdown in which the 13-story Nurses Quarters structure failed to collapse as initially planned. The structure was felled by crane and wrecking ball later the same day with no adverse effect to surrounding structures.

Click here to read relevant pages of the final report
(Adobe PDF file, 2.4MB)

January 2001- Transcripts recently released under the Freedom of Information Act have provided an inside look at the Government’s case against Controlled Demolition Inc. and its principals.

In February 2000, a federal grand jury indicted Mark Loizeaux, Douglas Loizeaux and Controlled Demolition, Inc. on charges of falsely reporting campaign contributions by asking family members and CDI employees to donate to the campaign of State Rep. Elijah E. Cummings. According to the Washington Post, prosecutors alleged the donors then received money from the company to cover their checks, and the Cummings campaign recorded the money as individual contributions. Other published reports noted that Cummings, an attorney by trade, was privately retained by CDI prior to being elected to congress.

The Baltimore Sun reported that the illegal contributions were alleged to have taken place between 1996 and 1998. The Loizeaux brothers and CDI were eventually acquitted of the charges in September 2000.