6th April 2009, 01:06 PM
Oh the joyful side of community archaeology 
Anyone who volunteers on our digs/fieldwork have to fill in so much paperwork as it is; if we asked them to have a crb check too, it'd tip them over the edge.
Some of my lot complain when i give them the health and safety talk before walkover survey. 'can't you just give us the shortened version and tell us not to be daft?' they ask.
i wish!
Having kids on site is a particularly worm-riddled problem. Firstly; schools themselves have so much paperwork to do, before we even start ours. And there need to be enough supervisors for any kids, and they have to be crb checked. Unfortunately there are so many issues that we often take the easy route out and say 'children must be accompanied by parent or guardian for the duration', because we just don't have time or staff to do more.
In terms of the fitness of volunteers; we try and include everyone, and archaeology is such a great subject for inclusivity; eg arts projects running alongside excavation, 'archaeology by touch' sessions for visually impaired etc. But there are some instances where it is just not possible to make something accessible to all, unfortunately. But with a bit of lateral thinking you can get around most obstacles. The real issue then becomes time and money.
I agree that knowing about health issues is vitally important, especially when the work may be physically demanding, or taking place in remote areas. But as long as you are sensible, and don't have unsupervised kids working with adults, and make sure there is adequate supervision on site for everyone, i don't see a crb check as being necessary. Lay down the rules at the induction, and if they break them, they have to leave site.
~~~~~
Thunder rolled. ... It rolled a six.
Anyone who volunteers on our digs/fieldwork have to fill in so much paperwork as it is; if we asked them to have a crb check too, it'd tip them over the edge.
Some of my lot complain when i give them the health and safety talk before walkover survey. 'can't you just give us the shortened version and tell us not to be daft?' they ask.
i wish!Having kids on site is a particularly worm-riddled problem. Firstly; schools themselves have so much paperwork to do, before we even start ours. And there need to be enough supervisors for any kids, and they have to be crb checked. Unfortunately there are so many issues that we often take the easy route out and say 'children must be accompanied by parent or guardian for the duration', because we just don't have time or staff to do more.
In terms of the fitness of volunteers; we try and include everyone, and archaeology is such a great subject for inclusivity; eg arts projects running alongside excavation, 'archaeology by touch' sessions for visually impaired etc. But there are some instances where it is just not possible to make something accessible to all, unfortunately. But with a bit of lateral thinking you can get around most obstacles. The real issue then becomes time and money.
I agree that knowing about health issues is vitally important, especially when the work may be physically demanding, or taking place in remote areas. But as long as you are sensible, and don't have unsupervised kids working with adults, and make sure there is adequate supervision on site for everyone, i don't see a crb check as being necessary. Lay down the rules at the induction, and if they break them, they have to leave site.
~~~~~
Thunder rolled. ... It rolled a six.