Day 131 - 06 Jun 95 - Page 15
1 Q. Plainly, it would be nice if the figures were zero?
2 A. Absolutely. But the accident rate it reflects is not
3 be abnormally high; and, secondly, although I know it goes
4 from 335 to 344 to 400, you have to look at that against
5 the background. Greater attention was paid to health and
6 safety. You do get a blip in reporting, when you are
7 sorting your report out, which they have been. Also, we
8 have to accept the fact that McDonald's are expanding
9 quickly during this period; there are more stores and more
10 people being employed. So that is generally a positive
11 performance, I would have thought.
12
13 MR. MORRIS: We cannot find that particular sheet. We have all
14 the other sheets.
15
16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You have had it at some stage, have you
17 not? It is the annual totals.
18
19 MR. MORRIS: We do not have it in front of us. It is not that
20 detailed.
21
22 MR. RAMPTON: I will read the figures again: 1991, 335; 1992,
23 334; 1993, 400; 1994, 380. That is not on the sheet.
24
25 MR. JUSTICE BELL: All we have is a bar chart beneath that which
26 says no more than Mr. Rampton has already said.
27
28 MR. RAMPTON: Now I would like to turn over the page,
29 Mr. Purslow, please. I hope it is headed "Sheet 5"?
30 A. Indeed, yes.
31
32 Q. That gives us the place of accident. I do not ask you
33 anything about that save, perhaps, to suggest to you in the
34 most blatantly leading way that it is not surprising that
35 most accidents happen in the kitchen?
36 A. No, it is not.
37
38 Q. More interesting, perhaps, is the next page, sheet 4, "type
39 of accident". You see there that both in 1991 and 1993,
40 where there is a slight increase, by far the majority of
41 accidents were slips or trips?
42 A. Yes, indeed.
43
44 Q. Does that surprise you?
45 A. Not at all. That represents the national experience.
46
47 Q. In an operation such as McDonald's where, as we know, the
48 majority of the workforce is on the ground in the
49 restaurant, and where we can see that the majority of
50 RIDDOR accidents are caused by slips and trips -----
51 A. Yes.
52
53 Q. Or the RIDDOR injuries, I should say?
54 A. Yes.
55
56 Q. What measures do you think McDonald's should or could
57 usefully take to reduce the number of slips and trips?
58 A. Well, I know this is something McDonald's have looked
59 at very closely. Firstly, obviously, one has to look at
60 the structure of the floor itself and whether it is
