Deadly neglect
Botched demolition kills two men
THE avoidable deaths of Tommy Williams, 65, and John Mackay, 49, on 19 September 2019 form the darkest chapter in the Teesside regeneration story – and the response to the fatalities the most shocking.
The men were working respectively for demolition contractor John F Hunt and subcontractor Nationwide Platforms on “ammonia washer” towers at the South Bank coke ovens. Disused since 1990, these removed ammonia from gas created when coal was turned into coke for the blast furnaces. Other chemicals extracted included, in an adjoining tower, highly flammable naphthalene.