6. Safety
Safety, Risk Assessment and Insurance
By law, the minimum health and safety
requirement for your group is to choose an
‘appointed person’ who will be responsible for
taking charge when someone is ill and keeping
A one day Emergency First Aid at Work Course
Team will help
you to assess whether further training is needed
and can tell you the location of your nearest
Assessing the site, Mulchaich
Risk Assessment
matter how minor) and all ‘near misses’ should
be entered into the book.
You should include:
number
• A brief description of how the accident
happened
• Follow-up action taken (if any)
Accident books can be obtained from: HSE
2WA
(T: 0178 788 1165)
You must produce a risk assessment each time
you host an Adopt-a-Monument event, no
aider or appointed person, but someone in your
group who has taken on the responsibility for
the health and safety aspects of your work. Risk
Assessment involves an examination of what
may cause harm to people so that you can
decide on the appropriate precautions to
prevent accidents (follow the steps below).
Remember to inform attendees of any
precautions to take before they arrive (for
example the need for appropriate footwear and
wet weather gear). Also ensure that you take a
copy of your risk assessment to the event; gather
everyone together and explain the hazards at
the site and the precautions they should take.
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6. Safety
Anyone who does not adhere to these
precautions should not be permitted to take
part, for their own safety and that of others.
Remember that you should never work alone or
undertake activities for which you do not have
adequate training. Please ensure that you read
your AaM Participant Agreement, which
requirements for AaM projects.
Step 1 > Identify the Hazards
A hazard is simply anything (substance, object,
process, piece of equipment or event) which has
the potential to cause harm. Before you list your
hazards, think about the surrounding
landscape, since each location presents its own
dangers. Consider your proximity to water,
railways. How far are you from shelter or
medical help?
• Wildlife (for example snakes, bees or
midges)
• Vegetation (for example nettles or
brambles)
• Unstable walls or fences
• Unstable stones (e.g. gravestones or
upstanding masonry), ditches,
earthworks, litter and debris (e.g.
broken glass)
• Your tools and equipment
Step 2 > Decide who is at risk
and how they may be harmed
Risk is the likelihood of a hazard causing
harm and the likely severity of that harm. By
thinking about the range of people who may
attend (this includes members of the visiting
public) this will help you to calculate the
risk, since some hazards are more of a risk to
some than others, such as children, those with
special needs and nursing/pregnant mothers.
STEP ONE EXAMPLES
• Landscape dangers (terrain and
altitude)
• Adverse weather
• Concealed entrances, poorly surfaced
roads
• Your own and other vehicles
• Uneven and wet ground (trip and fall
hazards)
• Electric fences, barbed wire, rusting
metal
• Overhead pylons or overhanging/dead
branches and trees
• Farm machinery and livestock
STEP TWO EXAMPLE
Hazard: BERRY-PRODUCING TREES
CHILDREN
Risk: SICKNESS FROM EATING
BERRIES
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6. Safety
Step 3 > Reduce the risks:
decide upon precautions
and implement them
Although there is no ‘standard’ way to do this,
about how to reduce the likelihood of them
occurring and ways of reducing their severity.
Can you get rid of the hazard all together? If
not, how can you control the risk so that harm
is unlikely?
STEP THREE EXAMPLE
Hazard: BARBED WIRE
ALL
Risk: CUT / ABRASION
Precautions: ENSURE ATTENDEES USE
GATE / STILE
wish to use this format, you can use the blank
specimen form that can be found in the Site
Resources at the back of this Tool Kit. If you
wish to createyour own form or use another
example, speak to the AaM Team for more
help. Remember that risk assessment is a process
of review; each event will present different risks
and as such requires an individual risk assessment.
NOTES:
First aiders cannot administer
medicine; patients must take medication
themselves unless the situation requires urgent
action (e.g. for emergency injections if
anaphylactic shock has entirely disabled a
patient).
Claypits, Possilpark, Glasgow
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Risk Assessment Form
Group name:
Unst Archaeology Group
Event leader:
Rick Barton
Event Supervisor(s):
EXAMPLE
Jim Keddie
Appointed Person/Health and Safety Officer:
Helen Bradley
Event location: (with NGR if remote)
Sandwick Bay, Unst (200m SE of Hannigarth Farm)
Name, location and telephone number of nearest
hospital/medical centre:
Unst Health Centre, Baltasound, Unst. 01957711318
Gilbert Bain Hospital, Lerwick. 01595695672
Description of Event:
Four day event; archaeologists and drystane dykers to work with community volunteers
to reconstruct the drystane walling of a later prehistoric site situated on the coast edge
above the high tide mark.
Date(s): for which Risk Assessment is valid
Estimated number of attendees:
22.06.13 - 29.06.13
20
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Risk Assessment Form
EXAMPLE
Hazard
Who is
at risk?
Risk
Precautions
Sea and tides
All
Drowning
Keep a safe distance from water.
Lifebelt/throw rope on site. Check
tide patterns and warn of high tides
Adverse weather
All
Illness/hypothermia
Watch weather forecast, wear warm
clothes, waterproofs and sturdy shoes
Unstable walling
All
Crush injury
Hard hats & steel toes if working
directly with walling. No leaning on
structures
Uneven ground
All
Trip or fall injury
Watch underfoot, no running,
sturdy shoes
Tools
All
Cut/bruise/abrasions
Wear gloves, provide briefing in
tool use
Midges/insects
All
Stings and bites
Repellent & soothe creams in first aid kit
Heavy stones
All
Crush injury/sprain or strain
Full manual handling briefing on site.
Weight assessment to body size /weight.
* Risk Categories: all attendees, children, people with special needs, nursing/pregnant mothers.
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6. Safety
Group insurance
Most adoption projects will involve at least
some fieldwork, which requires insurance
against injury or damage to property. Whether
you are carrying out conservation works, or
simply visiting the site, there is always an
element of risk to you, your property (such as
tools or vehicles) and to any visiting members
of the public. Towergate Risk Solutions
Fareham (incorporating RPBM General Ltd) is
a specialist insurance provider who provide
cover for a wide range of both
professional and amateur archaeological
organisations. Of the different types of cover on
offer a standard package of public liability
insurance combined with personal accident
insurance is sufficient for most Adopt-aMonument projects.
Groups affiliated with Archaeology Scotland
are offered this cover at a competitive rate. If
you choose to insure against injury or damage
only to third parties and not for members of
your own group, in this case standard public
liability insurance is all that is required. If you
already hold an RPBM policy you should
declare your participation in AaM so that your
policy can be updated. For more information
visit the CBA website at:
www.archaeologyuk.org/cba/insurance
Useful Contacts and
Websites
1. Health and Safety Executive
Risk assessment advice and specimen
formats:
Risk assessment and control
W: www.hse.gov.uk/risk/index.htm
E: infoline@natbrit.com
Advice on first aid at work:
W: www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg347.pdf
First aid; your questions answered
document:
W: www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg214.pdf
2. TCV online handbooks
The Conservation Volunteers provides a very
useful handbook for conservation-based
outdoor community projects available from
their online shop; Health
and
Safety
overview handbook: www.tcv.org.uk
3. Scottish Graveyards Health
and Safety Advice
Working safely in graveyards guidance
document:
W: www.scottishgraveyards.org.uk
4. Working in Rural Environments
The Scotland’s Rural Past team have
produced a useful guidance note for those
surveying later historic buildings in rural
locations. Provides extra tips for thinking
about the hazards posed by landscapes. W:
www.scotlandsruralpast.org.uk
5. SNH Access Liabilty Guidelines
A guide to occupiers’ legal liabilities in Scotland in relation to the Ourdoor Access Code
W: www.snh.gov.uk/docs/B54968.pdf
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