The catastrophic collapse of a building at Didcot Power Station as it was being prepared for demolition last week, resulting in the loss of four lives, could drive changes in the health and safety regulations for demolition, one leading figure in the sector has told Construction Manager.
An employee of demolition contractor Coleman & Company, Michael Collings, has been confirmed as one of the victims, while three of his colleagues were also trapped under the rubble of the boiler house structure.
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The operations to recover the bodies and investigate the circumstances of the accident are ongoing, with teams from the police, fire service and HSE on site.
Howard Button, president of the National Federation of Demolition Contractors, told CM that the Didcot collapse was a tragic accident and it was still unclear what had happened, but the NFDC hoped that acting on the investigations could help improve standards going forward.
He said: “The company involved, Coleman & Company, are a very experienced company, their procedures are second to none. Nobody can understand what has gone tragically wrong.”
In his opinion, the incident could possibly have far-reaching influence on future regulations. “It could take months or years to find out, but we are expecting that eventually there will be some new guidelines in place for demolition and possibly lead to new ones by the HSE to make things clearer and standards tighter, as it’s been such a serious incident,” he said.
“We will be helping in any way we can and look at the findings once the investigation is complete.”
He added: “We would work with the HSE if this was an option, we’ve already worked with them producing new guides that they have endorsed.”
Demolition works are covered by the Construction (Design & Management) regulations 2015, where Regulation 20 states that:
(1) The demolition or dismantling of a structure must be planned and carried out in such a manner as to prevent danger or, where it is not practicable to prevent it, to reduce danger to as low a level as is reasonably practicable.
The arrangements for carrying out such demolition or dismantling must be recorded in writing before the demolition or dismantling work begins.
A spokesperson for the HSE also indicated to Construction Manager that it would work alongside any partner bodies to agree on amendments to the regulations if the outcome of the ongoing investigations supported this.
