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The manufacturers and modifiers producing these highly specialised machines are the same the world over; the types of buildings being demolished with them are largely the same; and the way in which high reach excavators are employed SHOULD be roughly the same around the globe.
So, do we really need THREE sets of high reach guidance, particularly when they ALL stem from the same document?
I am proud to say I initiated the very first High reach guidance notes through the NFDC. The NDA have taken our guidance notes and Americanised them The EDA have decided that they want heir own publications but have asked for help from the NFDC in preparing them.
I curently have acddrafting committee working on a revision in the UK and welcome any constructive comments that will help make the curent gidance even better.
However the guidance notes are just that guidance, they have never been intended as a method statement or operating instructions.
I welcome your feedback.
Howard Button
NFDC
Personally I think that each answer so far on this subject has merit in that, structures certainly differ from country to country and there are some vast differences to take into consideration when applying guidance, the guidance is very much needed no matter which form it takes whether its NFDC, ADA or EDA in their own regions as companies change with the times and their work changes then so does the equipment that they use and so having guidance available to those fresh to a new work aspect is essential in my eyes, as for red tape I dont feel that the High Reach Guidance is red tape but a guide on how it should be done as we all have to start somewhere and learn the ropes but in a safe manner.
Its easy to hark back to the good ol days of when men were men and boys were boys and demolition men were of a certain breed blah blah blah ........ but do the families of all those that died from lack of H&S look back in the same way?
Personally I have grown up in this industry in a family run business and seen the so called good ol days witnessing at least 8 deaths (none in our own company I hasten to add!) all of which could have been avoided with better H&S and also seen this industry go from strength to strength improving its H&S year on year with the number of fatalities falling as it improves, yes of course sometimes it feels like we are doing paperwork for paperworks sake but if that paperwork means that all the members of the crews that work for us go home safely at the end of their shift then I for one am happy to do the paperwork.
Theres still good men in the industry teaching the newcomers we certainly have some working for us, one guy in particular has been here 29 years and teaches all of our new starts and youngsters.
But now its done within the lines of H&S for everyones benefit not just theirs but the guys they work with, the public and other contractors.
There is no getting away from the fact that like any industry we have more than our fair share of graduates and the like who know all the theory and none of the practical, but isnt it then down to us to pass on our knowledge and impart what we know to them?
There will always be parts of our industry on the training front that we feel are totally useless and of no benefit to anyone, but then we have been in it for a long time and have seen the good and the bad along with the downright crazy which doesnt mean to say that someone new to the industry does not get any benefit from the training they recieve.
The other part of this industry is the dinosaurs who wont change, wont modernise and will continue to try and do things the old way putting people at risk for profit.
There are plenty of specialist training courses for people within the demolition industry which are more suited to it than their construction equivalents and what is really needed is more cohesion between construction and demolition so that we dont need to keep training our guys in the same things 2 or 3 times.
Training organisations such as the NDTG in conjunction with the NFDC are now also beginning to realise that classroom courses are not the best way to teach people in the demolition industry and are (from what I hear) looking at more site based courses so people actually learn their skills in the place where they will use them.
