Demolition
Working with Demolition equipment can be as just hazardous as working with Construction equipment. People working in this industry must also face many unknown hazards, including, but not limited to: unknown material strengths and weaknesses of construction materials, hidden materials inside the structure, environmental, health and safety hazards (e.g. asbestos & chemicals), and structural modifications during construction. To help curb these unknowns and maintain demolition site safety, the personnel working a demolition site must be fully trained and aware of all potential hazards and know all of the safety precautions to take to mitigate the risks of any injury.
Here are some safety tips to help make sure your workers keep out of harms way.
- Brace or shore up the walls and floors of structures which have been damaged and which employees must enter.
- Inspect personal protective equipment (PPE) before use.
- Select, wear and use appropriate PPE for the task.
- Inspect all stairs, passageways, and ladders; illuminate all stairways.
- Shut off or cap all electric, gas, water, steam, sewer, and other service lines; notify appropriate utility companies.
- Guard wall openings to a height of 42 inches; cover and secure floor openings with material able to withstand the loads likely to be imposed.
- Floor openings used for material disposal must not be more than 25% of the total floor area.
- Use enclosed chutes with gates on the discharge end to drop demolition material to the ground or into debris containers.
- Demolition of exterior walls and floors must begin at the top of the structure and proceed downward.
- Structural or load-supporting members on any floor must not be cut or removed until all stories above that floor have been removed.
- All roof cornices or other ornamental stonework must be removed prior to pulling walls down.
- Employees must not be permitted to work where structural collapse hazards exist until they are corrected by shoring, bracing, or other effective means.
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