21st July 2005, 01:58 PM
Quote:quote:Originally posted by cooky
I do have plenty of examples of people 'not having their contract renewed' - these are often the work shy/useless/troublemaker types who DO use H+S complaints as a means of avoiding work - this happens across the board in archaeology its the oldest trick in the book - and masks many occasions where H+S is breached. I have lost count of the amount of times 'someone' has raised a H+S issue whcih is at best pedantic at worst plainly incorrect. - the boy that cired wolf springs to mind - if you get my drift!
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Cooky has stuck his neck out a bit by saying what he did, but Mr Wooldridge's reaction is a bit one-sided. There are such work-shy creatures looking for an excuse as described by Cooky, although they are very much a minority in archaeology, and supervisors/managers may not take their complaints seriously. If their contract is not renewed, it is unlikely to be because of the H&S complaint (unless shown to be malicious). My experience of such people on site is that they can be a significant H&S risk in themselves, because they can't be bothered to take the precautions/use the kit that has been provided. When I myself was running field projects, the only significant actual indident that occurred on any of my sites was caused by such a person (bad cut on the hand, caused by de-turfing in a way that was unsafe and against instructions, but seemed easier).
Similarly, there are hard-working, conscientious site workers (in my experience, the majority) whose complaints are likely to be genuine. Any unit (or any other employer) wants to keep such people, especially if they are experienced, and if they get rid of them for making justified H&S complaints all they are doing is undermining their own commercial viability. Good, experienced diggers are a valuable resource, not easily replaced (as someone else suggested) from the crop of new graduates, who have no experience and who are themselves an unknown quantity.
When a contract is not renewed, it is very hard for anyone other than the manager to say why, and people may have very inaccurate theories. However, if anyone can come up with a real case where H&S complaints were the cause, or a case where someone was actually sacked, I would like to hear about it.
1man1desk