Day 127 - 23 May 95 - Page 71
1 part of that sentence, if you will. Is it right that there
2 were no safety committees or safety representatives at that
3 time?
4 A. Apart from the pilot scheme in the Midlands, yes, that
5 is right.
6
7 Q. Then turn over a few pages to 823, please, paragraph 2.21:
8 "In the restaurants rap sessions, meetings attended by
9 crew and led by a manager independent of the restaurant,
10 were held routinely. These referred to health and safety
11 issues, and though these were mainly just repair items
12 which had not been resolved, crew members appeared to be
13 encouraged to constructively criticise procedures or
14 managers. Issues raised at rap sessions were taken serious
15 and generally resolved quickly. These sessions were
16 providing an important last resort for unresolved issues
17 and a measure of crew satisfaction with their manager's
18 performance."
19
20 Next paragraph: "Crew meetings, led by a manager, provide
21 perhaps the best forum for promoting health and safety
22 positively in the restaurants, if used to build general
23 awareness, review practices or procedures operating in the
24 store and encourage improvements."
25
26 Over the page, 2.23: "Other approaches could be to develop
27 safety circles, where a small group of employees meet to
28 identify and solve safety problems in the store, and to
29 include crew members in ad hoc problem solving teams on an
30 area/region basis". I am sorry that is a long read. You
31 have told us already that safety circles are now in place?
32 A. Yes.
33
34 Q. How quickly were they implemented after this report was
35 brought out? It came out in August 1992.
36 A. It would certainly be throughout 1993 that we rolled
37 them out.
38
39 Q. Did you get a clue or a hint or more than that as this
40 report was, as it were, being prepared of what the thinking
41 of the Advisory Unit was?
42 A. Well, yes, we knew that they were in support of our
43 having safety circles or safety committees in every
44 restaurant, so that is a route that we decided to take.
45
46 Q. One other question about this. They have given some
47 information about what goes on in rap sessions and crew
48 meetings in those two paragraphs that we have looked at.
49 Do you know whether they actually interviewed managers and
50 crew members?
51 A. They did interview managers and crew members, yes.
52
53 Q. Do you know whether they attended any rap sessions or crew
54 meetings?
55 A. I do not know, but certainly Andrew Foster was shown
56 minutes from rap sessions.
57
58 Q. 824, "Communication", the first paragraph, general this
59 is: "Effective communication is essential if the health
60 and safety policy and procedures are to be understood and
