What's the hurry...?

We all know that speed and safety are mostly incompatible. So why is so much demolition and construction work carried out against the clock?

From Sean Connery’s James Bond in Goldfinger, through Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, to Bruce Willis’ John McClane in Die Hard with A Vengeance.  The defusing of a bomb is a tried and tested movie standby, with the sweaty-browed hero figuring out which wire to cut to halt the ticking clock, save the day and get the girl.

It is, at once, a nail-biting device and a tired trope; a cliche.  But it also stands to highlight that precision cannot be hurried, particularly in a life or death situation.  Even with the countdown nearing its end, our hero moves slowly and purposefully before removing the detonator with ponderous care.

We all know this.  It is why the expression “slow and steady” exists.  Yet, in the heat of the moment, the need for speed is often allowed to overtake the need for accuracy, precision and safety.  And nowhere is that more true than in the field of demolition and construction.