Bill Moore Recounts NDA’s Journey

March 05, 2024

In recognition of the National Demolition Association’s (NDA’s) 50th anniversary, we have been connecting with past leaders and other important figures in NDA’s history to hear their perspectives on the industry and association. For this issue, we caught up with Bill Moore, past president of NDA and longtime member (and former chair) of the Safety Committee.

What has been your and your company’s involvement with NDA since its founding?

I started with Brandenburg in 1985, after a degree in safety and a 15-year career as a construction safety engineer for an insurance company. Brandenburg was one of NDA’s charter members, and its owner, Tom Little, was president in the 1980s. I was president in 2001, and Brandenburg’s Dennis McGarel is in line to be Brandenburg’s third NDA president. I was also chair of the Safety Committee for over 10 years. Although I retired after 28 years at Brandenburg and eight part-time years at ERM, I’m still on the NDA Safety Committee and work as an expert witness for demolition, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and safety-related legal cases.

Do you remember the first NDA convention you attended? How did your involvement evolve?

My first convention was in Phoenix in 1986, and I went on to attend 27 more consecutive conventions. I also never missed a board meeting while on the board. I was impressed with all the equipment displayed and how friendly all the other contractors were. The conventions have always been family-friendly and, as a result, have sort of groomed the next generation of industry leaders. My family attended almost all conventions with me, and now my two sons are both employed in the industry.

In 1986, the executive board decided to start a Safety Committee, and I was made the chair. One of our first tasks was to revise the association’s existing safety manual using new pictures, adding sections on asbestos and lead, and updating government regulations. Shortly thereafter, I, along with another NDA member, joined the ANSI A-10.6 review committee that revised the specific demolition safety regulations. We’ve met every five years since then to update the regulations. We also edited OSHA’s FOM (Field Operations Manual) for demolition.

After the Oklahoma City bombing and the last San Francisco earthquake, we decided that the rescue methods were less than ideal and that the first responders didn’t realize how much more efficient our equipment was in rescue situations. We developed a video, sent it to the 500 largest U.S. fire departments, and I presented at an International Association of Fire Chiefs convention. We then held live equipment demonstrations and rescue training exercises in several major cities. I had also met representatives from the U.S. Secret Service, Army Special Forces, ATF and the FBI at a FEMA seminar in Los Alamos years earlier. I arranged for them to practice hostage rescue situations using explosives at one of our steel mill job sites. I think all our efforts paid off because, as an example, four NDA members were already mobilized and working on the afternoon of 9/11.

We decided that our employees needed initial safety orientation training and developed the “Starting Out Right” video and later videos on lead safety and skid steer safety. We also signed an alliance with OSHA and have arranged to lecture at their classes and take their new compliance officers to demolition job sites for training.

We also decided that the general public’s perception of our industry was that most demolition was unsafe, was done with explosives or with a wrecking ball, and that everything we wrecked went to landfills. We hired the late actor Ed Asner and developed a professional video along with a “10 Misconceptions” brochure, which we distributed nationwide.

In an effort to recruit more college grads into our industry and educate construction management and engineering students, NDA and several members funded a new demolition program at Purdue University. A professor was hired, a textbook was written and several NDA members, including myself, guest lectured for over 10 years at Purdue on subjects including risk management, estimating and project management.

Several NDA members also spoke at engineering schools and high schools on “Demo 101” and “Careers in Demolition.” We also helped members hire college interns.

What are the biggest changes you have seen, both within the demolition industry and NDA as an organization, over the years?

I think the two biggest changes in the demolition industry are the improvements in demolition equipment and our industry’s more positive attitude toward health and safety. We’ve gone from manual labor and cranes with wrecking balls and clam buckets to huge super high-reach excavators with a variety of attachments that can be rotated 360 degrees and remote controlled equipment. These advances have made our industry both more productive and safer.

As an organization, our members realize that both their customers and employees really care about safety as well as their insurance companies and, of course, OSHA.

What are your fondest memories of NDA?

My fondest memories of NDA were the family-oriented conventions and the theme parties, including the “Harley” party, wearing a dress as “Klinger” for a MASH party, a bed sheet for the Animal House Toga party and winning the best costume award one year as “Billy Bob.” Also, we always picked great places for board meetings like Ireland, Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean, etc.

What do you think the next five to 10 years have in store for NDA and the industry?

In the next five to 10 years, we’ll see larger and higher-reach excavators, more sophisticated attachments, more remote control equipment, maybe robots, and more use of artificial intelligence and 3D modeling to aid in the pre-planning of complex jobs. There will also be even more emphasis placed on safety and the environment, and certifications for employees