14th July 2005, 08:53 PM
How about:
A waterlogged urban site beneath a council refuse collection tank on bank of river. The sludge and god knows what contaminants drained into the strat beneath, that we then had to dig in very wet conditions. If a contaminant study was done ( I suspect it was) it was not shown to me despite constant requests. PPE comprised the token paper one-use suits and 30p mask and latex gloves.
or
A former railway site contaminated with low levels of heavy metals and arsenic (a component of railway coke) no PPE provision or washing facility and I got symptoms of heavy metal poisoning (lesions etc)after eight weeks of constant exposure. Crap NHS could only tell me that it wasn't arsenic, but could have been a raft of other things. Didn't get the test results until two months AFTER the site had ended. Lesson: these things have to be predicted before the work because the system is far too slow to be any use once the site is underway.
or
A site in a heavily wooded area where archs were expected to clear brush, brambles and trees in hot weather before excavation with minimal PPE comprising personal work gloves(definitely not in the RA). My resulting multiple abrasions got infected (no washing facility) and I got Impetigo all over my arm. Two heavy duty courses of anti-malarial antibiotics cleared it up after about 3 months. Interestingly, the doc thought I'd got Lyme disease from a tick, which was another distinct possibility.
or
Potential unexploded ordnance on MOD training ground which army bomb man hit with one of our shovels. Also the site was littered with unexploded small arms ammo which we had to metal detect and then dig out by hand. The mind boggles.
And finally the best or worst I've heard about was a colleage who dug a site under a Boron Tip! As I understand it the stuff is radioactive! H&S bloke who came to sample the stuff while in the middle of the project, reputedly hurriedly abandoned his samples and never came back when he realized what he was dealing with. The site continued regardless.
Sorry Troll, you asked for it.
A waterlogged urban site beneath a council refuse collection tank on bank of river. The sludge and god knows what contaminants drained into the strat beneath, that we then had to dig in very wet conditions. If a contaminant study was done ( I suspect it was) it was not shown to me despite constant requests. PPE comprised the token paper one-use suits and 30p mask and latex gloves.
or
A former railway site contaminated with low levels of heavy metals and arsenic (a component of railway coke) no PPE provision or washing facility and I got symptoms of heavy metal poisoning (lesions etc)after eight weeks of constant exposure. Crap NHS could only tell me that it wasn't arsenic, but could have been a raft of other things. Didn't get the test results until two months AFTER the site had ended. Lesson: these things have to be predicted before the work because the system is far too slow to be any use once the site is underway.
or
A site in a heavily wooded area where archs were expected to clear brush, brambles and trees in hot weather before excavation with minimal PPE comprising personal work gloves(definitely not in the RA). My resulting multiple abrasions got infected (no washing facility) and I got Impetigo all over my arm. Two heavy duty courses of anti-malarial antibiotics cleared it up after about 3 months. Interestingly, the doc thought I'd got Lyme disease from a tick, which was another distinct possibility.
or
Potential unexploded ordnance on MOD training ground which army bomb man hit with one of our shovels. Also the site was littered with unexploded small arms ammo which we had to metal detect and then dig out by hand. The mind boggles.
And finally the best or worst I've heard about was a colleage who dug a site under a Boron Tip! As I understand it the stuff is radioactive! H&S bloke who came to sample the stuff while in the middle of the project, reputedly hurriedly abandoned his samples and never came back when he realized what he was dealing with. The site continued regardless.
Sorry Troll, you asked for it.