13th October 2006, 02:04 PM
Troll is right that his (or anyone else's) employer has a duty of care. Where we differ is in the action to be taken in the case of an archaeological unit.
An archaeological unit's duty of care in this particular respect can be discharged through a combination of three potential courses of action:
1. before accepting the contract, check the terms to make sure that the financial/programme risk arisign from potential contamination is not to be carried by the archaeological contractor.
2.before accepting the contract, or at any rate before going on site, obtain information about potential contamination from the client. Take that information into account in the project risk assessment and H&S plan. If the information suggests that the site will not be safe for archaeological work, don't go on site until it has been made safe by the client.
3. if unexpected contamination is identified during the work, take appropriate steps (potentially including leaving site) to ensure the safety of staff.
Getting involved in prior assessment/survey for contamination is not the archaeologists' job - it is the client's responsibility to get it done. It is a very specialist field, for which specialist companies charge lots of money, and it is unlikely that any archaeological unit in this country could do it properly. If there is a unit that can do it, they should charge for it as a separate service to the client, not carry it out for free as an H&S obligation to their staff.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished
An archaeological unit's duty of care in this particular respect can be discharged through a combination of three potential courses of action:
1. before accepting the contract, check the terms to make sure that the financial/programme risk arisign from potential contamination is not to be carried by the archaeological contractor.
2.before accepting the contract, or at any rate before going on site, obtain information about potential contamination from the client. Take that information into account in the project risk assessment and H&S plan. If the information suggests that the site will not be safe for archaeological work, don't go on site until it has been made safe by the client.
3. if unexpected contamination is identified during the work, take appropriate steps (potentially including leaving site) to ensure the safety of staff.
Getting involved in prior assessment/survey for contamination is not the archaeologists' job - it is the client's responsibility to get it done. It is a very specialist field, for which specialist companies charge lots of money, and it is unlikely that any archaeological unit in this country could do it properly. If there is a unit that can do it, they should charge for it as a separate service to the client, not carry it out for free as an H&S obligation to their staff.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished