25th March 2006, 06:17 PM
I am pretty keen on health and safety and paid for my own first aid course when supervising on a training dig as I didnt want to be in a position to be sued - or have anyone die on me! However it is hard to keep standards up when you are constantly mocked by your colleagues - I wash my hands to general derision, refuse to work in wet conditions and collapsing soils on holes over 1m40 and am called a softy, as a first aider constantly tell people to WASH their various cuts and abrasions only to see them ignore me. Perhaps what we should be tackling (in addition to the usual abominable health and saftey lapses by management which go without saying) is the macho 'I'm too hard to do that' culture which prevails amongst many diggers. Some personal hygiene standards wouldnt go amiss either (I've also seen people eating with bone dust and cess on their hands, yuk)!