THE boss of the demolition firm charged with taking down Didcot A Power Station has defended his staff and the company’s suitability to complete the task.

Mick Collings died and three other men are still missing following the collapse of the boiler house last Tuesday.

Last week it was revealed Coleman & Co, responsible for the demolition, has never worked on a power station before.

But in an interview with industry website Construction News, managing director Mark Coleman said it had made his team even more conscious of the risks involved, and considered every aspect of the job in more detail.

Speaking of the moment he first learned of the collapse, he said: “I was told there had been a major incident on the site, there had been a premature collapse and a huge section of the boiler house that’s collapsed.

“I simply didn’t believe them. I thought ‘that’s impossible’.”

He added: “The risks were significant and all of those risks were managed, investigated, explored, planned, checked, agreed.”

And he backed his staff, describing them as a “tight-knit bunch” who were there for each other.

Mr Coleman added: “People make mistakes – my strategy around reducing those mistakes is to ensure we pay the right money, we screen people, we check them out – recruitment is robust.”

Mr Coleman said he did not believe the remainder of the boiler house structure was in danger of imminent collapse.

In the interview, Mr Coleman said the company set about winning power station work before working with client RWE on detailed proposals for the demolition of Didcot A in March 2012.

He admitted he was worried about “reputational damage” following the disaster, but said clients had rallied to express support. One client has even awarded Coleman & Co a “multi-million pound high-profile complex job” in a “safety-critical industry” since the incident, he added.

Part of the boiler house at the former Didcot A power station collapsed just after 4pm last Tuesday and the cause is still unknown.

It was being prepared for explosive demolition at the time of the incident, with a blowdown originally planned for Saturday.

According to Mr Coleman the team was “pre-weakening” the structure, and “preparing the legs for putting the explosives in”.

Emergency services staff have been on site since the disaster to search the rubble for the three missing men – who have not been identified – using high-tech equipment and robots.

Oxfordshire chief fire officer Dave Etheridge described the teams working on the site as “the best in the world”.

And residents in Didcot have rallied round to help the workers, donating cakes and other items to those carrying out the painstaking work.

Mr Coleman gave the interview after earlier paying tribute to the workmen lost in the disaster, saying hearts “went out to the family and friends of those who have died, or are still, tragically, missing”.