BRRRRRR!!!!!!!

[trowelhead]

Cold aint it! just seen a coupla brass monkeys crying their eyes out! Anyways a weather question! Is it me or does working in the rain and indeed snow just because the project is running out of time justify wreaking an archaeological site.

All of us are familiar with the experience of looking at each other in the rain and our looks say it all " surely he`s gona rain us off" no chance!

And that wonderful site thats been cleaned is knackered with muddy footprints and then you spend another week (if the rains cleared) cleaning the site again hence wasting more time, so is it justifiable.

I know a lot of "the more important site" get the shelter but its usually not the entire site.

Another bone of contention is the feeling guilty about being in the site hut when it is bad weather and a sign of your comitment (or stupidity) is to be seen working in the rain. Many a time I have seen workmen laughing their bits of as we continue to work and they have been rained off. A coupla corking examples Ive worked on are Cambourne in Cambridge (when it rained for a year!) and Stanstead that had site hut conditions worse than any WW1 trench. Also workmen get decent rain proof clothing, you know the light weight stuff while we get the boil in a bag fishermans friend yellow sowester styly that rips to a thousand shreds as soon as you bend down. Also the workmen guys tend to get wet pay for working in adverse conditions, try that one at the Unit!

[the invisible man]

By "workmen" I assume you mean construction workers. Whether they get paid when rained off depends entirely on the contractual situation and how they are employed: most activities on a site are carried out by specialist subcontractors any many operatives are self-employed. As with archaeology, time is money as time lost not working has to made up - extensions of time are not granted for adverse weather conditions, only exceptionally adverse. On the other hand many activities cannot be carried out in the rain, or temperatures below 5 degrees - anything involving wet stuff, basically - concrete, bricklaying etc. Then again, the project is (usually, but not always!) programmed properly.

We owe the dead nothing but the truth.

[mysteryman]

What gets me is that office staff at the unit I work for can go home if it gets too cold (under Health and Safety) yet we have to work no matter how cold it gets.

[Illuminated]

This will be my 5th winter outside (if the Lord spares me through it ) and so far two items have made it a lot more bearable

- the snood (a sort of circular neck warming tube - acts like a scarf but has no dangly bits and doesn't fall off - available from cycling/motorbike shops). I think I read elsewhere on these boards reference to cutting the top off a cheap wooly hat to create one which would work too.
- mittens. Believe it or not, trapping the air around your fingers in a mitten is a lot warmer than the bare layer of protection offered by fingered gloves.

Looking up how to keep warm on the internet, lots of expensive outdoor clothes shops reccomend just 3 layers - a base wicking layer, a fleece middle and a windproof outer.
I'm sceptical if this flimsy sounding arrangement can really keep you warm, so if anybody's tried it and would like to verify this I may consider investing.
Until then I'll carry on piling on the layers and stripping them off as I work up steam!

[Real Job]

1. Silk long johns work like a dream (although expensive!)
2. Cut the tips off the first two fingers and thumb of a pair of cheap fleece gloves - you can write/operate total station/trowel delicately/etc.
3. If you buy a brilliant sheepskin hat that warms your head like a radiator, make sure it will fit under a safety helmet

I agree about the snood - I made mine out of a fleece hat when I was a biker. Motor bike accessory shops sell a suit that has tiny water channels in its fabric that circulate warm water around your body.

[mercenary]

Yep, the snood is the way forward. Dug mine out of the closet about a week ago. Combined with a touque (woolly hat for the non-informed) you only leave a ninja like slit to see through. The layering thing does work, but the windproof layer is critical, and in the recent windy conditions the fleece/insulating layer has to be quite thick.

I've found the best glove combo is thin cotton gloves with fingerless cycling/weightlifting gloves over them. Enough padding for bracing oneself while trowelling, while allowing pencil use for recording. No bare skin!

I've also found it best to have 2 pairs of boots, which get used on alternate days. Going out with even slightly wet boots will guarantee a miserable day. It also allows the other pair to dry slowly. Critical if cracking of the leather is to be avoided. Radiator drying and oven drying a big no-no. Slapping on polish while wet and muddy doesn't seem right but does preserve the leather.

As for waterproofing: I've not figured this one out yet. Expensive gore-tex does not work. Not surprising when you read the small print where it says dirt will ruin it! Road coats likewise aren't waterproof after a few uses. I'm coming to the conclusion that rubber fishermen's togs are the only way forward. But then there is the sweating problem. Either way you're going to get wet.[xx(]

[kevin wooldridge]

quote:Originally posted by mysteryman
What gets me is that office staff at the unit I work for can go home if it gets too cold (under Health and Safety) yet we have to work no matter how cold it gets.

Well that's not strictly true. There is absolutely nothing to stop you asking for a risk assessment of the potential Health and Safety dangers arising from working in extreme cold weather. I would consider that such an assessment should take account of the length of time that individuals are exposed to the cold, the type of work and the available facilities for getting warm/keeping warm after exposure. The obvious remedies including shorter working hours, longer breaks, availability of warm drinks/food etc, drying rooms for clothes and boots, etc etc.

There is no reason why a constantly changing work environment such as an archaeological site should have any less stringent Health and Safety conditions than a fixed and climate controlled office space.

[Real Job]

I remember one site in the middle of a really cold, snowy winter three or four years ago when we were provided with a tool store without windows as our only shelter... after several protests and a few weeks of sitting in our cars at breaks, we got a tea hut - this one also had no windows... eventually we got a proper hut but no heater/fire ('no-one has ever asked for one of them before'!). Until we finally got a fire, we were almost reduced to huddling together naked for warmth...

[the invisible man]

quote:Originally posted by Real Job
we were almost reduced to huddling together naked for warmth...

That could almost count as a perk...... depends on your colleagues I suppose...[:I]

Notwithstanding HS legislation, I presume that curators can specify adequate hutting as a standard thing? Certainly consultants can. Then all tendering contractors start from a level playing field.

Office staff have a higher minimum temperature as they are sedentary.

We owe the dead nothing but the truth.

[Real Job]

The site I mentioned was a particularly extreme example in my experience (as a straight male working with several other blokes, I would not relish huddling naked... although alwys willing to try new experiences ).

However it is the norm at many units that small evaluations and watching briefs are conducted from the back of a car - in some cases other contractors' facilities are available on the site, often not. One female colleague tells me that she has - out of necessity -mastered the art of not urinating for 8-9 hours!

Lack of toilet facilties is an obvious breach of HS law, but what about working from a car or van. I wonder if that counts as somewhere to have breaks away from the place of work (or however the legislation specifies it)?