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More and more these days this stuff is being driven by the claims mentality that seems to have wormed its way over here from the USA. That is just as disturbing as the fact that employers are not exercising their duty of care to all employees. This covers the directly employed, sub contracted and any other person "who may be affected by what could be deemed as the acts or omissions" of the responsible party.
Legislation like the Management Regs state that appropriate method statements and risk assessments should be completed prior to any works (this includes all parties involved in any works).
That said, no legislation anywhere takes ignorance into account and reminding people of legislation always seems to be taken as a threat.
Issues involving soil contamination sould be discussed as a matter of course at planning meetings before work starts.
Funny how us Health and Safety types always look at these things with rose coloured glasses before some parentless ameoba developer type comes along and acts like a Nazi female genital.
Sound familiar Troll?
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bugger!
I just worked on a site where I knew there was loads of eighteenth and nineteenth century dyeing and cloth processing stuff. I confess I didn't even think to ask to see the risk assessmemt. Did get a nice thingie about how to spot Weil's disease though...
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Weil's disease is becoming more and more dangerous these days with the massive rise in the rat population in this country.
Leptospirosis is another disease on the increase. This is a fungal nasty that gets in your lungs. This is a result from working in areas with powered dry pigeon cr*p.
Just something else to look out for !!!
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Could I have more info about Leptospirosis and pigeon c**P!
I recently did a lot of research on said substance and I didnt find any references to it.
Peter
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Galaxsea-will you marry me? Sounds like we may have worked on the same site! As a matter of course, archaeologists should ask for/be provided with method statements/project designs/risk assessments on day one PRIOR to lifting a trowel. Yes, we`re itinerent and temporary workers, no, we`re not expendable muppets who don`t matter and, no, there is no law that provides employers with a list of excuses. Whilst I agree that the litigation thing can get bloody silly at times (and I for one want nothing from America apart from total silence) it has made employers sit up and listen-just not in archaeology. Is`nt it sad that a duty of care is only adhered to when monetary threats are injected? Commercial archaeology as a whole is desperate to appear professional....then, lets start behaving as though we are....many thanx Galaxsea, welcome and don`t go away, we`re just warming up!!!
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I thought Weil's Disease and Leptospirosis were the same thing?
Also, pigeons carry more diseases communicable to humans than any other animal; something like 96. And they keep flying into my car. Lost a windscreen wiper due to bird strike the other day.
Cheers,
Eggbasket
Eggy by name, eggy by nature
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Is the general crapness of archaeological H&S any different from that evident in the construction industry? The big sites I've worked on where there was a dedicated H&S person were among the worst for really stupid accidents. The inductions were always a joke, and one of the H&S blokes got fired for taking no action over numerous accidents. It got to the point where near death accidents were kept quiet because the real H&S boys had threatened to shut the project down if there were any more accidents. For once I was glad to be an archaeologist when it came to the H&S!
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weils and lepto are the same thing. Carried not just in the dust of pidgeon crap but within rodent urine. As you can imagine, anywhere that water rests is a potential host. From puddles to canals to riverbanks to waterfilled trenches. The emphasis is upon clean hands when eating/drinking and NOT rolling fags without washing hands in hot water first. There are symptoms to look out for and from memory, swift medical attention is a must. The details beyond this are somewhat hazy as it`s been a while...Would anyone care to put a thread together where we can discuss mitigation for specific threats?[?]
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I agree with troll - there is a need to share H&S infomation. My info about pigeon c*** differs to what has been posted. What I found when I was researching this was a lot of infomation which was not attributable and the scientific basis for it was unclear.
One hazard I had not thought about with said substance was the risk of slipping on it.
The answer in fact was that a specialist cleaner will remove said substance for not very much money.
Peter
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Regarding roll-ups - I remember being warned that this was the best/worst way to ingest heavy metals quickly. The other was a housemate I shared with once.
Always be very wary of dust - unless it is supplied by the gram. It seems dangerous things like asbestos, contaminates and pigeon-poo are really deadly once airborne.
