3rd February 2013, 07:22 PM
Nell 23 Wrote:I would have thought (but correct me if i'm wrong) to make a system like this standard, across all companies, would require some pressure from an organisation. But what then for companies who aren't registered or affiliated?
Any well-run company ought to have something like that in place, it's pretty commonplace (normal?) across the board, not just archaeology - wherever you're working always read the other contractor's noticeboards (wise anyway, its educational, fends off tea-break tedium, you get some idea what's going on around you on a busy construction site, and serious accident/fatality circulars are always worth checking since you'll be working near the same machinery at some point in your career even if not using it) - its amazing how often even dead-hard all-male builders' crews have a sexual harassment policy posted up!
Wax is right, a lot of archaeological outfits are very poor when it comes to being aware of their obligations - look at the state of a lot of PPE for instance, and how many first-aid kits have their contents regularly checked for use-by dates? [or fire-extinguishers tested, check the sticker on yours when you get to site on Monday morning, have seen them 5 years out of date before now!] For all the slagging I seem to get every time I mention ISO accreditation on here, the first aid kit's the first thing inspectors always seem to go for, a nice simple one in any cabin that they can go straight to. And all the beaurocracy has to work and be up to date, if there's claimed to be a policy on something, the document actually has to exist and be easily accessible, proper records have to kept for everything etc, so eg Nell 23's complaints would have to have been recorded, together with any responses, with a proper paper-trail...normally a pain in the **** but invaluable when things go wrong