00:00.00 archpodnet Welcome back to the final segment of the Sierra Archeology Podcast episode 2 38 and we are talking about disaster preparedness and we're going to bring this back to weather disasters as we started with in the first segment because I want to talk about some. Some tools that you can use. We've talked about what could go wrong and we've talked about paying attention to those things that could go wrong. But I want to talk about how you can be a little bit more prepared for when those things do do go wrong again. We've touched on this throughout the episode but I want to be more specific and have some actionable things for people who. Either working for companies that have ah a voice that they can they can bring this up and hopefully everybody at the company has a voice but that's a topic for another podcast. But and maybe you're running a show when you're a crew chief for a a project manager you're working for a company. So I just want to talk about a few things that we can do let's first talk about just like. Being prepared. First off, um I think just about every well first off radios. Okay, everybody. There should be radios in the field and and I don't always see radios being used especially when maybe it's a smaller crew. Maybe your your survey intervals a little closer. Um, and maybe there's just like radios in the truck but nobody pays attention to them because you don't actually need them to do your job. That's fine, but you should all just have radios. Even if they're turned off. It should have radios in an extra set of batteries on every field crew and one of the reasons for that of course is if you do happen to get separated for whatever reason. You are in radio contact. That's not dependent on cell service. It's not dependent on anything. It is dependent on having the batteries checked regularly and making sure they work That's why you should have a second set of batteries with you but batteries are cheap. Buy them at Costco buy them on Amazon it doesn't matter you you can buy thousands of batteries for. You know pennies on the dollar when you get them at those at those levels at the company level and then not only should you have that. But also when you're caravaning make sure that you have radio contact with the other vehicles and you should be able to see the other vehicles as well. Man I don't know how many times and I'm just thinking about this one particular these couple actually 2 Nevada projects that I was on where there were probably 5 or 6 or 7 vehicles going in and out of the field every single day big cruise and. You always had when we when we get off the small roads and we get back onto the highway onto the interstate and we got another thirty forty miles to go to the town that we're staying in this is common in Nevada by the way. Um, and you've just got somebody. That's just either got a lead foot or in vice versa. You've got somebody who drives 5 under the speed limit and. 02:32.41 archpodnet People need to know that if you're a driver you need to stay in contact with that other vehicle you should be Caravanning. You should be right behind the vehicle that's in front of you and the next vehicle should be behind you and you should be driving as fast as the slowest vehicle is going to drive I don't care if they're lagging behind get a new driver next time. Okay. But don't just leave them in the dust because they could have a blowout they could have something bad happen in their vehicle. They could be thrown off the road with that flat tire. You don't even know and you're not going to see it because you're too far ahead because you're just you know it's the same thing as those like field crew that just like can't stay in line because they're mountain goats and they feel like they need to prove themselves up over the hills. Stay in the line. Okay, um, that's just ah, it just really irritates me. Um, yeah, go ahead and. 03:14.22 Andrew Kinkella I am equally irritated with you in that moment I can't stand that stuff. It's like be a professional and focus on others. 03:14.94 Heather Yeah. 03:19.70 archpodnet Right? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. 03:25.60 Heather You know, ah 1 one thing that everybody should have is those um devices the emergency devices so that like radios. Yeah right? a spot. You know we use. That's what we use so you have a. 03:36.62 archpodnet Ah, like us ah or something. Yeah. 03:45.80 Heather Um, they should be in every truck you should have them and then when you're out of the truck. You should take them with you but every single vehicle should have these spot monitors or whatever kind of an emergency device. So it's a small kind of a device that you push and there's like sometimes there's 3 different choices where it's. 03:45.51 archpodnet Um. 04:04.22 Heather An absolute like emergency I've been bit by a snake I have limited time I need help type of thing all the way to ok, we're we're okay, but we are in a bit of distress right? like our car broke down or whatever. So I think everybody. 04:08.70 archpodnet Yeah. 04:19.37 archpodnet Brett. 04:23.95 Heather We have that everybody should have that another thing is you should be calling in. Um, you know I love the reporting that you started off with the beginning I think um people that if you have somebody in your company or on your crew that has any military experience. You should put them in charge right away in charge of I'm serious. 04:42.38 archpodnet Logistics. Yeah. 04:43.76 Heather Logistics because they've been trained to do that even if they weren't in logistics in the military. They've been trained on how to go into the field and how to be safe. That's number 1 mustering making sure that you have a muster location that's another you know I'm surprised. Ah, good health and safety plan should have that but sometimes they don't and people just are kind of winging it. You know they don't have enough money. The company doesn't have enough money to have ah a safety officer so they don't have all this knowledge but I would say if you have anybody with military experience have them be in charge of making sure that. You know you guys are safe out there if you don't have if the if the company hasn't given you those those tools to be safe. But I think calling in we have everybody call in when they go into the field and call when they're leaving the field um to one person that's in the office and we do that. 05:33.81 archpodnet Like yeah yeah. 05:37.34 Heather All the time and you know what? let's just be honest, you got unfortunately people are sent out in the field by themselves so calling on it. Every hour is is essential and it's you know we got this idea that if we're in a you know in an area that has a lot of people in it that everything's fine. No, and it's so then the dangers only with the rules sometimes ah the more urban environments are more dangerous and we can go into that another time because I know we want to focus on weather. But um, yeah I think everything you can do to keep communication going. And it's not just about being able to reach out when you're in trouble. It's about just like you said in the beginning if somebody doesn't reach out. We know, somebody's not somebody's in trouble so having regular check-ins is really important. 06:18.56 Andrew Kinkella Yeah, you know I I would just sort of I wanted to disagree with 1 thing about the military thing because you can also just as easily get the macho asshole who is like well I was in the military and it's like what so horrible. 06:19.29 archpodnet Right. 06:26.16 Heather Um, okay, true. Yeah, good point. That's a very good point. That's that's that's a good point but I would say as far as starting in the beginning you're not making them in charge of it. 06:29.76 succinctbill Ah. 06:36.53 Andrew Kinkella Those are dangerous. 06:45.55 Heather But starting in the beginning about setting up ah some kind of um, you know, ah connect point or whatever I mean these things in the very beginning are important to set up. You can't set them up when you're in trouble. You got to set them up when you begin. 06:55.21 Andrew Kinkella Um, right? yeah. 06:59.80 archpodnet Oh. 06:59.60 succinctbill Um, yeah I think you know also listening to other people on the crew. So you know someone may be just a field tech and they're just starting out. But if they did you know. Outward bound or something like that or they were you know? Ah eagle scout you might want to listen to them. They don't have a master's degree and they're 10 years younger than you but they definitely know what the heck they're talking about when they're outside compared to you who spent you know multiple years getting a grad degree sitting in ah office somewhere right? so. 07:16.45 Heather Okay. 07:31.90 succinctbill Definitely listening to folks listening to people also about their physical condition right? because just because you're out there in the sun every day doesn't mean that you're going to feel the same every day in the sun and so if someone needs breaks or needs space or something like that like you know that's definitely another aspect and then you know we were talking about those. Ah. Personal locator beacons and stuff. There's a lot of really great ones out there that if the company will spring for a few hundred dollars a year to keep these um, ah personal like a zolio or something like that that works with your phone that you can send texts and you know other stuff from out there. Those are totally awesome. But I've also seen them used against cruise because someone is just like somehow watching their dot on the screen and being like well how come there stop there for 40 like why? Why isn't the the jeeps all moving like what's going on. Maybe there's something wrong or maybe they're just all somehow horseing around in the forest. And not actually working right? So getting questions when you get back about I saw that your personal locators weren't moving for 2 hours like what were you doing and you're shaking your head like hey you're really sitting here at the office back in Tucson like staring at the computer screen to figure out what I'm doing. Where's your job get us some contracts man I thought you were leading this company. 08:32.94 Heather You Ah you. 08:38.48 Andrew Kinkella Yeah, first. Yeah. 08:40.53 Heather Well. 08:45.84 succinctbill Instead of watching me as a dot moving on Google earth you need to start getting more money for the company so that can also be a reality when when crews don't want to turn on the the ah zolio because they know that people back at the home base are going to start scrutinizing their movements and. 08:50.71 archpodnet Yeah. 08:55.50 Andrew Kinkella Um, yeah, how man preach on brother bill. Yeah I've totally experienced that. 08:59.50 archpodnet Well, that's but listen, that's that's literally 1 of 2 problems though, right either the crews really are screwing around or you need to work for somebody who's not so paranoid. Um. 09:02.33 Heather And. 09:09.86 Heather That Thank you? That's what I was gonna say yeah, that's your that's your red flag. Go work somewhere else I mean and and you know what I know we've been saying people are desperate right now. There's so much work out there. You can go work for someone else. Okay, if somebody's not treating you right. 09:10.83 Andrew Kinkella Yeah. Yeah. 09:15.59 archpodnet Ah, yeah. 09:25.36 Andrew Kinkella Right. 09:25.69 archpodnet Yeah, yeah. 09:29.14 Heather And here's the other thing is that you know you hear a lot of people people are getting paid a lot of money some people hourly and sometimes you you have to you can't just look at the money you have to look at a company that has a good reputation for treating as needed employees as well as they treat their full time employees or to. Just train their their their employees across the board. Well um, yeah, money's not everything. 09:51.80 Andrew Kinkella Right? You you know I wanted to reach back real real fast to something ah small that Chris said earlier about the radios which I think is super important but also make sure that everyone knows how to use the radios because. 09:51.83 archpodnet Yeah, indeed. 09:58.10 archpodnet Here. 10:02.13 Heather Yes, and it's like like. 10:05.37 Andrew Kinkella Like some radios like the two meter band ones they'll have like squelch controls and stuff and what happens is they never use them and then an emergency comes and they're like I don't how do you turn on this radio. You know so you want to make sure people like know and remember remember what channel it's on hey guys we're all on channel 2 10:12.51 Heather Get. 10:23.28 Andrew Kinkella You know that that I've seen that multiple times people not knowing how to use a radio that's fully charged and ready to go. 10:27.48 Heather And I'll take that 1 more step for 1 step further and say in the beginning when you have a tailgate meeting you teach them how to use it even if you think everybody knows they may have forgotten and people are afraid to ask like let's say you say hey does everybody know how to use a radio. Well you have a new guy on. 10:27.74 archpodnet Yeah, yeah. 10:38.79 Andrew Kinkella Colorly and. 10:45.71 Heather Crew that's embarrassed to say they don't know how to use it. So just just assume nobody knows and teach them. It takes like 3 minutes yeah 10:48.68 Andrew Kinkella Yep. 10:51.91 archpodnet Yeah, another benefit to the radios that I didn't mention yet was a lot of those handhelds and some Gps is actually like I know the rhino did that I used to have I loved that rhino by the way that thing was phenomenal. But anyway, um, a lot of those radios have a weather radio channel which is really handy and they work. 11:07.34 Heather But yeah it we can transport. 11:09.70 Andrew Kinkella Yeah. 11:11.52 archpodnet Almost anywhere right? It's crazy I don't know where these signals are coming from but they work literally almost anywhere. So if you think there's something coming in. You can see something on the horizon and and it wasn't forecast for the day. Check the weather radio and know how to do that and and make sure you do that. You know a couple of other apps too while I'm talking about those because you may have cell service and if you do great if you don't another quick note back to the mapping thing like Heather you mentioned having something that's not just like a phone-based application for mapping which is smart. You need to have some kind of Gps whether it's in a vehicle or handheld or something like that. 11:41.72 Heather Some kind of yeah people can't help that. 11:45.63 archpodnet That being said, there are apps in case, you're in case, you're out in the field or maybe something happens to the vehicle or something like that like here mapshere um I've used that in other countries and stuff before because you can download. Ah, you can download the entire database you can download either a state or areas or a whole country like I downloaded Scotland when we were over there because I didn't have cell service and I didn't have data. Um, so look for an app where you can actually download. 11:59.12 Heather Yeah, yes, state or. 12:04.40 Heather So. 12:12.56 archpodnet Resources to your device and you don't need to use um, anything else because your Gps will still work if you don't have cell service. It will still show you where you're at on the map. This not is not based on the cell towers. Yeah yeah, yeah, just find something you can use because not everybody can use collector either because you might not have access to it. But um. 12:17.69 Heather Yeah, quote collector you can yeah collector you can download. Yeah sure right. 12:31.35 archpodnet Other apps too. If you do have cell service make sure somebody on your team. It's not that expensive. It's like a few dollars a year I think if you upgrade the weather channel app to show lightning strikes near you and it will literally push notification onto your phone and your watch or whatever you have if you have that kind of thing and tell you hey lightning has been detected within ten miles of your area. Right? It will literally tell you that um that lightning detection is kind of a little special add on where there's stupid premium things but still, it's totally worth it if somebody has that and maybe it's not even somebody on your crew. Maybe it's somebody who's you know, just in contact with the crew and can get a message out saying hey lightning is nearby. 12:58.11 Heather Home that somebody very much if like. 13:08.18 archpodnet Heads up or get out. You know, depending on what the situation is so because if the if the lightning is between you and where you need to go. You need to consider leaving now if it's advancing on your position and you still have an exit then maybe you've got some time and it could go another direction or whatever but you got to think about those things. Um, and also ah. There's apps out there that will notify you of earthquakes that have been nearby that might not be a huge concern for some people but out in California it's a pretty big concern right? because earthquakes can do you know all kinds of lasting damage. It could have destroyed infrastructure between you and your exit. It could cause a tsunami if you're working on the coast. Um, it could cause all kinds of things it could cause a wildfire because the earthquake knocked over power lines and sparked off a fire so who knows what could happen. You might be like well I didn't feel the earthquake. So. It's not affecting me but it could absolutely affect you because it could affect resources between you and your exit. 13:59.97 Heather Right? I and I'll just say real quick that again, it's ah the responsibility. Obviously the company should be safe but you have a personal responsibility to do your homework and so when you're moving around the area just for somebody who grew up in the midwest and then moved to California. 14:01.73 archpodnet So. 14:19.41 Heather It I had no idea you could have to me flash floods for like you'd have to have a ton of water coming down to get a flash flood and in California you could have a minimal amount of water if you're in a mountainous and canyon region where. All the waters going down into one area and you can have a flash flood and it's not even that much water. Not much rain that has come so just making sure that if you're going into a new geography that you do your homework and you understand what? um the different you know, ah situations are yep. 14:46.55 Andrew Kinkella Right? right? You know and I just want to add just in order to make people feel comfortable out there for other emergencies to carrying epi pen if you if you have 1 and also there's a book that I love called where there is no doctor and so something really. 14:47.21 archpodnet Yeah, like. 14:56.74 archpodnet Oh yeah. 15:03.95 Andrew Kinkella Bad happens. You're in the middle of nowhere. It's really for Village Healthcare care in the third world but that book you can you can look up what to do if somebody gets shot. It has everything in it. So I love where there is no doctor. So. 15:07.78 archpodnet That's awesome. 15:08.88 Heather That's cool how it's cool cool I'm writingen that down. 15:11.65 archpodnet Nice. That's awesome. All right? Well I will leave the end of this episode with just 1 thing that has I've really been thinking about again with my time as the emergency services officer my civil air patrol squadron in this last couple years and as. I've got I don't do a ton of field projects with my company right now but we do have another big one coming up thirty eight hundred acre survey starting in midsummertime give or take and it's in really rugged area. It's in rough terrain we have mine radios where we're in contact with the mine but almost nothing else works most of the time and I'm putting together. Um, actually it's a wild note form but you could put this together anyway using any form basically a safety plan of the day. It's going to have the weather forecast for the day. The hazards for the area that we're going to be in meeting points for end of the day because there are multiple crews we need to know where to meet up at the end of the day. 15:53.32 Heather Okay. 16:04.76 archpodnet Check-in times. Um, check in times throughout the day. What Radio Channel we're using for that both on the mine radio and on the company radios and then anything else we need to know from a safety standpoint. You know that's going to be just like boilerplate that's on there. You know what are the? Where's the hospital. You know all the directions and stuff like that that should be in your safety plan anyway but have that on the safety plan of the day. And then I'm going to you know, basically export that and drop it in the documents and the the nice thing about doing it in a resource that everybody has access to you don't have to print it out. Um, necessarily it might be nice to have a copy in the vehicle if you don't have a way to store it digitally. But um, I'm going to put it in the documents for the project and that way every single crew will have access to it offline. And they'll be able to read this document and know everything for that day. What's going on now if you're doing this daily make sure you title them appropriately so they sort by day so they have the right date format on there. Um. 16:45.27 Heather App. 16:51.49 Heather Right. 16:56.52 archpodnet But I would suggest everybody do something like that and maybe not every day. Maybe you don't have to do it every day. Maybe you can do it every couple days. But once you get the first one done. It's really just going to be pulling weather in current hazards. Everything else is really going to stay the same but they'll have that information and they'll know what's happening for the day. So. With that I think we'll end this thanks for the question if you got more questions Chris at http://archaeologyponetwork.com or hit us up on any of the socials and places where we drop these episodes. We really appreciate the question. We've had some good activity over in our members channel as well I was hoping to get to some of those comments about our last episode but we didn't get a chance and I'm sure we'll get to them eventually. So. Again, keep the comments coming keep listening. We'll see you next time. All right keeping this rolling for the outro sorry Bill. We went a little over all right where we at here we go thanks to everyone for joining me this week thanks also to the listeners for tuning in and we'll see you in the field. 17:39.90 succinctbill Start it. 17:50.30 succinctbill So goodbye. 17:51.60 Heather You Thanks for listening. 17:51.12 archpodnet Goodbye. 17:52.20 Andrew Kinkella Next time my friends. 17:54.91 archpodnet Why guys are all so cordial about it. No doug. 17:56.93 succinctbill No dog. No reason.