This is what is called a bad day at work.

[Dave Lehnert]

This has been getting a lot of play here in Cincinnati. This was a demo gone wrong just north of Dayton Ohio.
You just have to feel for the people involved in this.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EKYpGk-03M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y56d3CAwnqg&feature=related

[Curt Harms]

I'd seen this on TV but never heard what went wrong. Anybody know?

[John Coloccia]

I didn't notice this the first time I watched it, but anyone else find it kind of crummy that the two adults back off and kind of leave the kids to fend for themselves? We should update the phrase. Character is what you do when you're not being video taped.

[Charlie Reals]

I can't find a link butt I read they claim there was a crack they didn't know about. I think that's demo speak for poop happens :D

[Gene Howe]

I'd seen this on TV but never heard what went wrong. Anybody know?

I heard that some of the charges on the other side didn't fire.

[Charlie Reals]

[QUOTE=Gene Howe;1556665]I heard that some of the charges on the other side didn't fire.[/QUOTE


that would be my guess and could fall in line with the crack theory I read. All it takes is to cut a wire and it causes misfires. I have in my time had to redrill more than one frozen drift round to re blast and oh what a pucker factor that had.

found it
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/smokestack-tower-at-mad-river-power-plant-in-ohio-falls-in-wrong-direction/19712314

[Bryan Rocker]

Here's a link to an article on it.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/site-where-tower-fell-wrong-way-under-review-1000926.html

[Jason Roehl]

A couple good quotes from the second link in the OP (the cell phone video):

"We're working late tonight!"

and

"It's not underground, so it's not my problem."

[Dan Hintz]

Charges not blowing is a plausible answer, but the partial claims of an unknown crack are crap. You either know the crack is there beforehand, or you can guess about one being there after the stack is down... but you cannot say beyond a guess the crack existed once it's down. The entire assembly ends up in pieces no bigger than a handful of bricks stuck together, and cracks will propagate during the several-second deconstruction process. We're not talking metal fatique here where the piece can be examined afterwards. Someone is trying to save face, and they're doing a poor job at it.

One set of charges goes off, a delay, then the final set... as planned. But there is no movement of the base after the initial charge (it didn't blow out the base edge as intended). When the final charges blew, it was a crapshoot as to which way it would fall. Tough to tell from the angle, but it appears the initial charges were either not strong enough or were not positioned properly to shape the base's weak point.

[Charlie Reals]

Charges not blowing is a plausible answer, but the partial claims of an unknown crack are crap. You either know the crack is there beforehand, or you can guess about one being there after the stack is down... but you cannot say beyond a guess the crack existed once it's down. The entire assembly ends up in pieces no bigger than a handful of bricks stuck together, and cracks will propagate during the several-second deconstruction process. We're not talking metal fatique here where the piece can be examined afterwards. Someone is trying to save face, and they're doing a poor job at it.

One set of charges goes off, a delay, then the final set... as planned. But there is no movement of the base after the initial charge (it didn't blow out the base edge as intended). When the final charges blew, it was a crapshoot as to which way it would fall. Tough to tell from the angle, but it appears the initial charges were either not strong enough or were not positioned properly to shape the base's weak point.

Yep, it's called poop happens and the demo company said that at the end of the same article where she talked about the crack.:D

[Dan Hintz]

Oi vey... AED, the demo contractors, have their own show on TLC :rolleyes:

I notice they haven't updated their webpage with any video (or any mention at all) of the Ohio mishap... ;)

[Charlie Reals]

I am half deaf so I had the bh confirm in the one with the folks running I heard her say "thats a problem" shortly after the first pops which to me don't look all that strong. ;)

[Brian Elfert]

Oi vey... AED, the demo contractors, have their own show on TLC :rolleyes:

I notice they haven't updated their webpage with any video (or any mention at all) of the Ohio mishap... ;)

I'm pretty sure the TLC show has been cancelled. The show started as a special maybe 2 or 3 years ago. The show then came back this past spring as a series, but the show was only on for three or four episodes before it disappeared. One week it was on the schedule and then they quietly replaced the show with some rerun a few days before the next episode was to air.

I really wish TLC and Discovery would quit cancelling shows like this. Why not at least run all of the shows that are edited and paid for? One series this summer was cancelled, but then they decided to run the rest of the episodes at like 1 am in the morning over a one week period.

[Brian Elfert]

On the TV show, Lisa Kelly was constantly saying any mistake would be the end of her company.

I highly doubt they would go out of business over one bad demolition unless they killed dozens of people or something. I'm sure they have insurance to cover a demolition gone wrong.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I can see a reason for ending the show.

If the insurance company saw an employee doing anything that could be cosidered less than safe or a commonly accepted safe practice the video could be used in future lawsuits.

Beyond that.....let's just suppose my little boy Junior is a sicko homegrown terrorist..............Him watching people week after week might give him enough of an education to learn where, and how to place explosives to get the most bang for the buck, if you will.

Besides,

I would bet there is a whole lot of "staging" that goes on with these shows that makes a business and its workers less efficient and cause some major distractions. Those distractions could lead to some unseen cracks in structures, if you know what I mean.

[John Coloccia]

I would bet there is a whole lot of "staging" that goes on with these shows that makes a business and its workers less efficient and cause some major distractions. Those distractions could lead to some unseen cracks in structures, if you know what I mean.

Whatever could you mean? ROFL

[Brian Elfert]

I would guess the show was cancelled simply due to ratings. There was another show on TLC about moving buildings that was cancelled at the same time after three or four showings. I think it was even on the same night and both shows debuted the same week.

I sorta doubt there were any TV cameras at this demo site unless another network took over the show.

[Matt Meiser]

I don't know. A contractor working to replace a water main near here might be having a worse day. Yesterday morning they cut a 4" gas main. Then last night they cut a phone line that cut phone service to about 1/4 of the city and necessitated closing a major intersection to all traffic for possibly 36 hours so they can dig it up. No word on the scheduling for cutting electric and cable--or if they've found the water main yet.

[Dan Hintz]

Ken, I've watched quite a few shows on demos and none have ever given enough detail to even come close to knowing where to properly place charges... best you can learn is "We get the structure to implode by timing charges... the inner supports go first, followed by successive rings on 200ms delays".



Brian, I know it's a family business, but I have to question the wisdom of bringing young children to such a workplace... those kids may not have been crushed by falling debris, but the parents obviously didn't think far enough ahead to consider the live 12.5kV power lines they were all standing under.

[Don Alexander]

i was thinking exactly that , Dan

not exactly a great place for unnecessary observers period

[Charlie Reals]

There are far more children hurt on a school sports field or even at auto racing events. Do you not take your kids to those events. Those folks were as safe as the folks sitting in the fence seats at some races.
People bring their kids to work all the time.:confused:

[Bill Cunningham]

My guess would be a unintentional cut off in the detcord linking the charges, resulting in a misfire of one or more loaded holes. Clearly all the charges on the relief (right) side did not detonate, and the charge on the release (left) which was supposed to have less power turned out to have more because of the cutoff/misfire. As a result, the two sides 'switched' energy levels. Old concrete is also a problem, because it only gets harder with age. I've taken down a few silos in my day, and we always counted on a 'big' blowout on the relief side, and nothing on the other side unless we had to cut something with a shaped charge if we couldn't get at it with a cutting torch. I'm sure if that stack had been between a couple of other buildings, much more care would have be taken in the planning and setup before the shot..

[Charlie Reals]

Bill, although my explosive experience is underground and blowing tree stumps and that was a long time and many advances in explosives ago., that's what it looked and sounded like to me. Then when between the shots she says that's a problem , it's obvious. Most of the time if we had a problem it was due to a misplaced cap butt a few were caused by cut wires and we would fail to ignite a part of the round. Today's explosives are so much faster.
Charlie

[Bill Cunningham]

Bill, although my explosive experience is underground and blowing tree stumps and that was a long time and many advances in explosives ago., that's what it looked and sounded like to me. Then when between the shots she says that's a problem , it's obvious. Most of the time if we had a problem it was due to a misplaced cap butt a few were caused by cut wires and we would fail to ignite a part of the round. Today's explosives are so much faster.
Charlie

Yup! Back in the days when a run of thermalite would ignite a round of capped safety fuse, a LOT more could go wrong..ha.. I was a explosive instructor on a commercial diving program in Ontario, We used to look for barn foundations, and really old concrete to have the students drill and load. That old concrete is tough stuff, but that shot in Ohio was clearly FUBAR and probably a real embarrassment for the blaster in charge!

[Charlie Reals]

[QUOTE]Yup! Back in the days when a run of thermalite would ignite a round of capped safety fuse, a LOT more could go wrong..ha..

We were using two sticks of dupont standard old bc's and packing the hole with prell. all hardwired up or down a raise to a box. this was the 60's lol no fancy stuff butt oh what a kick when it went off:):) . Thats part of why I'm deaf today:D

[Dan Hintz]

There are far more children hurt on a school sports field or even at auto racing events. Do you not take your kids to those events. Those folks were as safe as the folks sitting in the fence seats at some races.
People bring their kids to work all the time.:confused:
Yeah, but my work PC doesn't drop 100 tons of brick on someone's head, nor does it entangle my child in multi-kV power lines.

There's simply no reason to take young children and directly place them into harm's way as part of your job. I do not believe their daughters are old enough to be legally employed, so why are they there?

[Charlie Reals]

Yeah, but my work PC doesn't drop 100 tons of brick on someone's head, nor does it entangle my child in multi-kV power lines.

There's simply no reason to take young children and directly place them into harm's way as part of your job. I do not believe their daughters are old enough to be legally employed, so why are they there?

How about because it's a family business. A commercial kitchen is a dangerous place butt I know of more than one that routinely has kids in it because it is a family business.
I do notice nothing was said about sitting a kid front row at a known dangerous sport. Chalk it up to different:D generation thinking. I was often taken into ship yards as a kid because that's where the family worked. God forbid some of us even got to use the yard boat to fish for perch under the piers.
jmho

[Dan Hintz]

Just because multiple families drag their kids into the workplace doesn't mean it's not a careless thing to do... something about if someone jumps off of a bridge fits here. Bringing a 10-13 year old child onto a construction site is bad enough, but bringing them onto a demolition area is taking unnecessary risks.

And I didn't bother commenting upon sporting events because that's not a workplace... I think the difference between the two is quite obvious.

[Charlie Reals]

Just because multiple families drag their kids into the workplace doesn't mean it's not a careless thing to do... something about if someone jumps off of a bridge fits here. Bringing a 10-13 year old child onto a construction site is bad enough, but bringing them onto a demolition area is taking unnecessary risks.


And I didn't bother commenting upon sporting events because that's not a workplace... I think the difference between the two is quite obvious.

That my friend is a fine line call, anyways we are far apart on this one and not likely to come near agreeing :D the subject should be in the decline of our country forum but then we would violate the tos's lol.