Day 130 - 26 May 95 - Page 30
1 formally in writing, but certainly to look into the
2 circumstances of each one of them.
3
4 Q. Did you actually, as you were going through it, notice that
5 there is a very substantial percentage, the vast majority
6 seem to be burns, slips and falls?
7 A. Burns is an outsome, so you could have a slip accident
8 where you got a burn, but if you think of the hazards that
9 are in our kitchens, it is not surprising that those are
10 the most frequent types of accidents because there is not
11 very much else to injure.
12
13 MR. RAMPTON: If it would be of any help, I have counted them
14 up. I am not saying my figures are necessarily 100 per
15 cent.
16
17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Give them to me, and if it is challenged in
18 due course, at least there is something to work on.
19
20 MR. RAMPTON: I counted 64 burns, 57 cuts, 34 bruises, 19
21 sprains, in which I included things like hurt back and that
22 kind of thing, and two electric shocks. I excluded unusual
23 sorts of things which occur only once. I gave those
24 general categories as perhaps, I know not, being the more
25 typical kinds of injuries. I also excluded any customer
26 accidents.
27
28 My Lord, the percentages are burns 36, cuts 32, bruises 19,
29 sprains 11 and shocks 1, making 99 per cent, because I have
30 rounded up or down as I went along.
31
32 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What was it after bruises?
33
34 MR. RAMPTON: I called them sprains, which is a generic term for
35 sort of twisted wrist and hurt backs, and that sort of
36 thing.
37
38 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If you ask me what the most likely accidents
39 were in a kitchen or eating area, I would have said burns
40 because there is hot equipment and fat there, cuts because
41 you use sharp implements, and slips because, in any place
42 where you are cooking or eating, wet or eating matter can
43 end up on the floor and someone can slip or fall as a
44 result of it.
45 A. Yes.
46
47 Q. I do not suppose McDonald's is any different to anywhere
48 else; you have got the possibility of electric shocks,
49 which has now been very extensively canvassed as an area of
50 its own.
51 A. I would say that is a pretty accurate summing up, sir.
52
53 Q. All the slipping accidents I have ever had as a barrister
54 were in restaurants, in shops, particularly green grocery
55 shops, or hospitals, wet or shiny floors, that sort of
56 thing.
57 A. Yes.
58
59 MR. MORRIS: If we just turn through the pages of this, we can
60 note that in the early few pages there is a lot of people
