Day 131 - 06 Jun 95 - Page 37

     
     1        British Rail?
     2        A.  I understand so.  British Rail did a lot of research at
     3        one time to see whether the type of accidents -- because BR
     4        at one stage had a lot of accidents on the line, with men
     5        being killed on the line; and they carried out -- they
     6        broke down the timings when these occurred, to see if it
     7        had any relevance to body systems, or whatever it may be.
     8        The results are entirely negative.  It proved something
     9        like the most dangerous time was 11.30 on a Tuesday
    10        morning.  It was something entirely irrelevant at the end
    11        of the day.  So a lot of work has been done, but nobody has
    12        ever proved it conclusively.
    13
    14   Q.   You may or may not know this, but the evidence is (or has
    15        been) that something like 80 per cent of McDonald's people
    16        in the restaurants work less than 39 hours a week.
    17        A.  I am sure that is so.
    18
    19   Q.   From your point of view as a health and safety expert, do
    20        you think that those kinds of hours -- and I have not, of
         course, split it down into shifts or anything like that --
    22        worked by the crew present an inherent safety risk?
    23        A.  I have never considered it so.
    24
    25   MR. RAMPTON:  Thank you, Mr. Purslow.  I have no more questions.
    26        Remain there, please.
    27
    28   MS. STEEL:  Could I just ask about that report that was
    29        mentioned, about British Rail?  Obviously, we have not seen
    30        that, so we are not in a position to be able to question
    31        what Mr. Purslow has said.
    32
    33   THE WITNESS:  It was not a published report, my Lord.  It is a
    34        research to which I have had access over the years, but it
    35        is not a published report.
    36
    37   MS. STEEL:   I do not know what the position is, but I think
    38        there should not be allowed to be any reliance on it unless
    39        we have seen it.
    40
    MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No.  I think, as an expert, he can quote it.
    42        I will say that I would be much more interested in whether
    43        there is any evidence in this case that accidents take
    44        place when people have been working long hours on one
    45        particular day or during busy periods, apart from any
    46        inference you may ask me to draw as to what is more likely
    47        than not.  Could you give me the reference to T. McDonald?
    48
    49   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, it is Defendants' volume 2, No. 22.
    50 
    51   MS. STEEL:   I am a bit concerned about this because, obviously, 
    52        the main point we would be putting, I think, is that there 
    53        is an inference to be drawn.
    54
    55   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It is very unlikely.  I cannot see, myself --
    56        I am not criticising Mr. Purslow for bringing it in -- but
    57        unless I actually see the report -- and it is work on the
    58        railway; it is not work in McDonald's.  I know the
    59        provisions for HGV drivers.  In fact, there is some debate
    60        at the moment upon which the Department of Transport and