Two safety precautions you should take before beginning a demolition project

There are a number of safety precautions you should take if you intend to carry out a house demolition project. Read on to find out what these precautions are.

Switch off the property's water, gas and electric supplies

One of the first things you should do upon arriving at the property which will be demolished is to switch off the water, gas and electricity supplies. This should take no more than a few minutes and could potentially spare you and your demolition team an enormous amount of stress and expense. The reason for this is as follows; if water is still running through the house's plumbing system after you begin to knock down the building, two problems could arise.

Firstly, when these pipes are struck and broken by the demolition equipment, the water inside them could end up flooding the nearby area and damaging the undercarriages of any machinery (such as bulldozers or cranes) in this part of the site.

Secondly, if a member of the demolition crew is using an electrical tool when the water emerges from the broken pipes, they could end up being electrocuted.

Failing to turn off the property's gas supply could be even more dangerous. If in this situation, the pipes containing the gas are broken open during the demolition process and the airborne gas then comes into contact with a source of ignition (such as a lit cigarette or a spark from a piece of electrical equipment), an explosion could occur. This could result in severe injuries and the destruction of all of the nearby demolition machinery.

Check the condition of your demolition tools and machinery

It is very important to check the condition of the tools and machinery that you will be using to demolish the property and to repair any broken components before you begin your work. The reason of this is as follows; if a tool or a piece of machinery malfunctions midway through the house demolition process, there is a chance that one or more of the labourers involved in the project could get seriously hurt.

For example, if an excavator's hydraulic fluid levels have dropped very low because there is a leak in the equipment's fluid lines, and you fail to notice and fix this prior to using this equipment for your demolition project, the excavator's hydraulically-controlled bucket could drop abruptly from its elevated position to the ground midway through an operation. If any workers happen to be standing underneath the bucket at this point, they could get crushed by this part of the machinery.

As such, if you want to keep your demolition crew safe, you must examine and, where necessary, repair your demolition equipment at the very beginning of the project.