Close shave for pharmacy staff

By Sue Newman  June 30, 2011

If the Ashburton Pharmacy roof had fallen in 30 minutes later,  Rachel Eaton could have been killed.

As the demolition of a block of earthquake-damaged shops next door wrapped up, the final stage involved dropping a wall that adjoined the pharmacy. The early morning timing meant pharmacist Mrs Eaton was out running and her staff were on their way to work.
After a week where the building had been steadily dropped in text-book fashion, the final stage of work proved to be every demolition contractor’s nightmare. An unseen crack meant when the wrecking bucket came close, the towering wall crumbled – in the wrong direction. That sent a torrent of bricks and mortar through the pharmacy roof and into its office area.
A very shaken Mrs Eaton was left facing a major clean-up job on a newly renovated workplace, but mixed with the anguish was relief that the cave-in had occurred outside business hours.
As the demolition has progressed, staff in the pharmacy had often felt they were living in an earthquake zone, as the ground shook when large walls were dropped, she said.
“I knew this wouldn’t be an easy job and I was concerned because we had to keep open for business and yesterday it felt like we were having an earthquake all day.”
For demolition contractor Woody Blakely, the collapse of the wall was a sour note in what had otherwise been a clean demolition job. Health and safety procedures had been followed and the final stage had been timed outside opening hours at the pharmacy, he said.
“We were going very quietly, I had a spotter on the roof with a radio and men on the street. We had it roped and I was just moving towards it when the spotter said to stop for a minute and then the wall simply fell – the wrong way.”
Mr Blakely said every possible precaution had been taken throughout the demolition to ensure the safety of people and surrounding buildings.
“This one has just gone bad on it today. It’s certainly not good, but when you’re taking down earthquake-damaged buildings anything can happen, but this is our responsibility and we’ll sort it out.”
The pharmacy has been left with a tarpaulin covered hole in its roof and extensive damage to the stairwell roof and two offices. That might mean disruption behind the scenes, but for the public, it’s business as usual, Mrs Eaton said.
While the demolition company’s insurance will make good the damage, building owner Bede O’Malley said that did not compensate staff for the disruption to their work environment.
He believes the collapse was preventable, given the company was aware of the fragile nature of the wall.