Keeping Control: a Brief Guide to Demolition Site Safety
Whether you're visiting your own demolition site, as handled by a professional demolition service, or whether you're touring a client's, it's important to remember that they're dangerous places. While you should be perfectly safe if you follow the instructions of those onsite, it's worthwhile to familiarise yourself with some common safety standards for demolition sites in Australia beforehand. That way, you'll know exactly what to expect.
Wear Appropriate Equipment
It may be necessary to wear a dust mask as part of your visit to the site. This will prevent dust - and other fine debris - from affecting your breathing, either in the short-term or the long-term. There may also be other hazardous materials on-site that it's important not to touch; these will likely be labelled, so keep your eyes peeled for notices and signs. On a similar note, you should attend the site in suitable, practical footwear such as a pair of steel-toe boots; office formalwear is not appropriate.
Be Mindful of Exclusion Zones
In order to prevent the risk of a site attendee being hurt by falling debris, or from straying too close to open ledges, exclusion zones may have been established. It's important to be aware of where those are, and to take them seriously - no ducking under barriers or taking shortcuts for any reason.
Noise
If you're visiting the site during demolition, depending on the actual method, you may be required to wear ear defenders or headphones to prevent your ears being damaged by noise. If this is the case, you will need to become familiar with any hand signals the team on-site may use. You can ask them about this upon your arrival.
Be Prepared
While demolitions are carried out by trained experts, and great precautions are taken to make them as safe as possible, they do always involve an element of unpredictability. It may be the case that the structure responds or collapses in a way that was unexpected. If this is the case, be prepared to exit the site calmly and carefully, following any directions that are given to you by the specialists there. It may not necessarily be a cause for panic, but it's important to be able to remove yourself from the situation and allow the professionals to deal with it safely.
Again, you will almost certainly be safe during your visit, and knowing all of these things is just a precaution - but it's much better to be aware of these things than to treat a demolition site like a normal industrial environment.
For more information, check out a company like Roach Demolition & Excavations.