28th November 2005, 03:04 PM
Quote:quote:I always wore wellingtons (steel toe + midsole) in bad weather or on wet sites.
I'm of two minds about wellies. Indispensible when working in ankle deep water, but not so good for general purpose use. The loose fit makes the wearer less sure footed, a real problem in wet & slippery conditions. (I also developed a pathological hatred of them as a child growing up on a pig farm! Too many sprained ankles.)
I actually agree about gore-tex working if you treat it and wash it properly. I don't have the time/inclination to do this each week during my recovery time so it doesn't work for me.
As for working in the rain. I feel it should be avoided mostly on health and safety grounds, if barrow runs etc become too slippery, and if staff morale needs a boost, but ruining the site is not inevitable! Boards can be put down and all activity done from them. It is slower and possibly not always cost effective, but it can be done.
I've done my share of waterlogged sites which were much worse than a rain soaked site, and a process of pump, clean, excavate, re-pump, record, re-pump, photo, repeat, saw us through.
Quote:quote:And that wonderful site thats been cleaned is knackered with muddy footprints and then you spend another week (if the rains cleared) cleaning the site again hence wasting more time, so is it justifiable.
Muddy footprints across sites are entirely the responsibility of the maker and not the supervisor. I've driven myself near mad trying to get excavators to follow designated lanes/barrow runs to minimize damage to archaeology on wet days. So far I've utterly failed. When did this stop being accepted site practice?