Jennifer

These sound very good and worthwhile tasks.

I'm not sure of the legal requirements or standard practice elsewhere but
Australian state law is increasingly insisting on all contractors to a job
having a Safe Work Method Statement for the variuous tasks they are about to
do.  This is a sort of mini-risk assessment which dissects the parts of a
task such as recording a standing structure.  It lists identifiable hazards
eg work at heights, asbestos, any applicable standards or site guidelines
that need to be observed, relevant safety / personal protective gear that
must be worn and so on.  It should amount to no more than one page per task.
I have found the format useful as a way of collating infomration about risks
and relating them to solutions, in the same way chemical safety data sheets
also work.

This may be a convenient way of structuring what could otherwise be a very
large and homogenous amount of information ranging from national standards
and laws to handy hints.  A resource of 'model' safe work method statements
would be a very useful and worthwhile resource.

Denis

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jennifer Palmer" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2003 3:37 AM
Subject: guide to health and safety for archaeologists, and other projects


> Hello everyone, and the usual apologies for cross-posting.  I'm currently
> working on several projects for my website archaeologyfieldwork.com (have
to
> make something of the downtime between semesters!).  The first project is
a
> guide to health and safety for archaeologists.  I've thought of doing
> something along these lines for years - a document that would be
especially
> useful to students in field school addressing the various dangers of
working
> in the field (subjects such as dealing with extreme weather conditions,
> poison ivy, harmful insects and animals, safety during hunting season,
> working along roads, alongside heavy equipment, hazardous materials
> encountered on projects, OSHA confined spaces regs, etc).
>
> The second project planned is a comprehensive links page of legislation
> pertaining to archaeology and historic preservation.  ACRA does have a
great
> page for this on the web (http://www.acra-crm.org/legallinks.html), though
I
> would also like to expand this to include laws in other countries and also
> address entities other than the U.S. government who may have influence
> pertaining to archaeology and historic preservation (such as a particular
> state's historic register or links to county archaeologists).
>
> The third project in the works is a very large directory of internet
> websites that are of particular usefulness to students and professionals
in
> archaeology, historic preservation and cultural resource management.  I
used
> to have a version of this on my website in the past, though it
unfortunately
> bit the dust on my old laptop when the hard drive burned up.
>
> If anyone would like to contribute content or links for any of the above
> projects, please contact me off-list at
[log in to unmask]
>
> (And, as always, I am looking for other content for
archaeologyfieldwork.com
> including archaeology and architectural history job postings, as well as
> updates for our worldwide list of cultural resource and heritage
management
> firms list.)
>
> Thanks... :)
>
> Jennifer Palmer
> Webmaster, archaeologyfieldwork.com
>
> http://www.archaeologyfieldwork.com
>
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