do I have muppet written on my forehead?

[mercenary]

Well, at the very least you should have been informed of what was being done if there was a safety aspect to it.

[Emjem]

Sorry for the late entry, a city, cellars, wobbly walls, machine above with bucket in trench to shovel brick debris into, putting serious pressure onto aforesaid walls, or, trenching a former ordnance site, natural 60 cm down across site except for ONE area, 2m down thick black material..took a local man walking a dog to say 'i remember when the army took a load of glowing instruments away from there one NIGHT a few years back'...GLOWING?!?!?!?!

[troll]

Greetings Emjem.I`m willing to wager that you did`nt get to see a soil analysis? Ex-Ordnance bases are to be avoided at all costs methinks.I`m also willing to wager that the site you mention was`nt subject to an unexploded ordnance sweep prior to trowel breaking ground either? Bet ordnance disposal team was`nt on site during excavations? Were you issued with any specialist protective kit? Hope yer bits are not still glowing.....

..knowledge without action is insanity and action without knowledge is vanity..(imam ghazali,ayyuhal-walad)

[Sith]

Unless you are actually digging for plutonium buried under a layer of bombs, you are unlikely to actually get a bomb disposal presence on site 'just in case'. They'll be where they always are, in the office drinking tea and waiting for the phone to ring and spoil their day.

As for glowing instruments, a tinfoil-lined hard had is usually proof against that sort of old wives tale. There must be one for pretty much everywhere I've ever dug; anthrax, Lancaster bombers or tunnels linking every building of note in the UK.

D. Vader
Senior Consultant

Vader Maull & Palpatine
Archaeological Consultants

Our geophysicists have completed their scan of the area and found nothing

[1man1desk]

Just to show that sometimes even the potential horrors can result in good practice:

I worked on a site in the mid-1980s where a very large rectangular pit with burned sides was found, cutting into the archaeology. It was suggested that it might have something to do with an old anthrax outbreak some 40 years earlier.

We all cleared off site; got the landowner to confirm (he had dug the pit himself and burned a number of cows in it, locating it on top of a round barrow so he would remember where it was!); and called in the HSE, who sent people to inspect, said it was safe and gave us clearance to go back on site.

1man1desk

to let, fully furnished

[chrysalis]

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)!

[1man1desk]

Chrysalis,

I agree with you entirely - people have individual responsibility for their own H&S, not just management, and we all have to take it seriously.

However, part of management's responsibility is to enforce the rules on their staff and view wilfule, deliberate failure to behave safely as a disciplinary offence.

1man1desk

to let, fully furnished

[troll]

Whilst I must applaud the intentions of a certain company (full issue of ppe including prescription safety glasses), I have to reiterate the folly of issuing such equipment only to fail miserably in the formulation of a professionally drafted risk assessment.As the field team operate in their full ppe regalia on a damp and windy day, the local farming landowner saw fit to spray his crops with insecticide/pesticides.About 10 percent of this noxious mix landed on the crop and the rest ran down my face.All day.Lip service is not good enough guys.......looking good is not enough either.....I drew this issue to the attention of the HS bod only to be reminded that I must keep my hard hat on at all times.......

..knowledge without action is insanity and action without knowledge is vanity..(imam ghazali,ayyuhal-walad)

[Dave-Bonner]

Troll - would you have happened to be wearing a bright orange boiler suit at the time?

Gizza job!!!!! ....please!!!!!

[troll]

sh***t dude- you`ve got some damn good eyesight aint you? Guantanamo is a bit of a distance ya know........(p.s howd you know that I`m a Muslim with an opinion?)

..knowledge without action is insanity and action without knowledge is vanity..(imam ghazali,ayyuhal-walad)