Demolition best practices in M'sia - long post!

I recently spoke to a demolition academic here in M'sia. I wont name him just yet but my mystery man has been active lately, and has even been featured in the papers! if you've been paying attention you will know who he is.

anyway I asked him a few Q's on demolition in M'sia. He is equally concerned as I am at the standard of demolition in this country. We are very good at erecting buildings but lacking when it comes to taking them down; this has a lot to do with the fact that urban developments in M'sia is still at the 'initial build' stage, uinlike say Hong Kong where they have gone into the 'redevelopment' phase. They need to tear down old buildings to make way for new developments - we havent reach that stage just yet.

Anyway, my mystery man had this to say (verbatim):

For demolition works conducted and awarded by means of public tender, normally the owner / developer will engage a consultant to carry out the tender process. In this tender process the contractors will have to submit a simplified Method of Statement and Work Program. The Contractor will be called upon to submit a detailed version if shortlisted or invited for a tender interview. In practice the demolition contractor take their own initiatives to prepare the method statement to perform the safest demolition job in their perspective. This method statement with several others information i.e. (Letter of Award for demolition work by Owner or Main Contractor, Location Plan, Photos of the building to be demolished, Insurance coverage and third party liabilities, location of dump site and approval), then submitted to local authority for them to issue a letter (allowing demolition works to be carried out) saying that they do not have any obstacle/impediment for the contractor to carry out the work. For the demolition work which exceeding 6 weeks or 20 Million Ringgit, the demolition contractor’s safety officer (Green Book Holder) have to fill up the JKJ 103 form (for registering the demolition site) and submit it to the Department of Safety and Health (DOSH). DOSH then will issue another letter (allowing demolition works to be carried out) saying that they do not have any obstacle/impediment for the contractor to carry out the work.


From my understanding and discussion with the demolition practitioners in Malaysia, there were several issues to be highlighted based on the demolition practice in Malaysia:-

1. There was lack of proper procedures or guideline on how to conduct a safe demolition job in Malaysia. For instance, there is no written procedures or guideline that require the demolition contractor to prepare a method statement. Otherwise in other country, to ensure a safe demolition job, they have a proper guidelines to refer, for examples:-
a. Code of Practice for Demolition, British Standard Institute (BSI). BS 6187: 1982;
b. Code of Practice for Demolition, British Standard Institute (BSI). BS 6187: 2000;
c. Building Department Hong Kong (1998), Code of Practice for Demolition of Buildings, Building Department Hong Kong;
d. AS 2601: 2000 (2000), The Demolition of Structures, Standards Australia International;
e. Department of Labour New Zealand (1994), Approved Code of Practice for Demolition, Department of Labour New Zealand; and
f. Demolition Safety Manual (National Demolition Association US)


2. At this time of writing, there isn’t a local governing body that regulates and reviews the demolition Method Statement, however there are some consultants engaged by the Owner / Developers or the Owner’s in-house Engineers does review and follow-up on the actual demolition work to be executed. Otherwise, in other country such as UK, US, Australia, and Hong Kong there is a guideline saying that the client or the demolition contractor need to appoint a demolition consultant who is technically capable to analyze or prepare a method statement in term of the techniques to be used, demolition sequence, risk assessment and safety aspects.


3. The local authorities may be lacking the dedicated department in the related field at this time to regulate the demolition methods submitted by the Demolition Contractors.

4. Most of the contract title for a new development project will be i.e. “Kerja-Kerja Meroboh dan Membina …” or “Demolition and Construction “ in one contract. The main contractor who received the job has to engage a specialist demolition contractor as their sub contractor to do the demolition work. This might affect the budget given to the sub contractor in term of safety aspects and time to do the job. In addition, most of the time the Main Contractor did not engage a demolition contractor to submit their methods and cost instead ‘suggested prices’ were submitted in the tender stage along with the building tender thus impairing the available budget to carry out a proper and safe demolition. Furthermore, some Main Contractors / Owners will specify a high SALVAGE VALUE in ‘salvage cum demolition’ related projects to set off their own operation cost. In these instances, the HIGHEST SALVAGE VALUE gets the demolition project and not the demolition contractor’s track record or safety standards.