The National Federation of Demolition Contractors has published a revised edition of its groundbreaking guidance notes on the safe use of high reach demolition excavators.

Just five years after it published the world’s first Guidance Notes on the Safe Use of High Reach Demolition Excavators, the National Federation of Demolition Contractors has launched a revised and totally updated edition.

Researched and produced by the NFDC’s publications team in conjunction with all the world’s leading high reach excavator manufacturers, the new publication reflects the changes that have taken place in the high reach demolition sector in the past five years.

"Our original high reach guidance set a new standard for the demolition industry. It was adopted by the National Demolition Association in the US and was used as the basis for the European Demolition Association’s own guidance notes," said co-author and industry veteran Paul Brown. "But five years is a long time in the high reach sector. Since we published the original document, we have seen high reach machines go beyond the 60, 70 and even 90 metre working height mark. It was important that the guidance was brought up to date to reflect those changes."

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This is a view shared by NFDC CEO Howard Button who once again oversaw the creation of the new guidance.

"There is probably no faster-moving area of the demolition business than the development of high reach excavators right now," he said. "Although the UK has yet to experience a fatality that could be directly attributed to a high reach machine, we are under no illusions that these huge machines are potentially dangerous and require enormous care when operating them safely. A key change to the guidance relates to the pre-start check to both the machine and, equally importantly, to the site itself. Unseen voids and hidden basements are probably the biggest threat to high reach safety. The new guidance sets out the checks required to ensure the machine is working on a stable and secure base."

Not content with publishing a new set of guidance notes, the NFDC and its specialist training arm - the National Demolition Training Group – has developed the world’s first high reach excavator training course that is designed to take an operator experienced on a machine with a 15 metre working height right up to 30 metres. "The difference in operating a 15 metre and a 30 metre machine is huge and it is vital that even the most experienced operators are offered additional training to help them adjust to the additional demands of working at such extreme heights," Howard Button concluded. "In less than a quarter of a century, the high reach excavator has evolved from novelty to become the mainstay of most UK demolition equipment fleets. With the publication of the revised guidance notes and the introduction of the new training course, the NFDC and NDTG are ensuring that the UK demolition sector keeps pace with the rapid development of these highly specialised machines."

(GK)