Day 128 - 24 May 95 - Page 18


     
     1        I have recently received a complaint from a member of staff
     2        that crew at the above restaurant are regularly burning
     3        their hands whilst cleaning the mini clam shell grilles.
     4        Having visited the premises and examined the accident book
     5        it would appear that the complaint is justified and thereby
     6        warrants remedial action.
     7
     8        My investigation identified two separate areas of concern.
     9        The first being the restricted lift of the top platten
    10        which significantly reduces the angle of opening which can
    11        be achieved on the standard unit.  The second concern
    12        relates to the enforced protocol of some supervisory staff
    13        who insist that the plattens and back plate are scraped and
    14        wiped after every cooking operation, the crew taking not
    15        more than 10 seconds to complete the cleaning.
    16
    17        In view of the restricted access to the high temperature
    18        plattens and back plate coupled with the speed of
    19        operation, I feel that this does not constitute a safe
    20        system of work in accordance with the above statutory
    21        provisions.
    22
    23        I would therefore be obliged if you advise me of your
    24        comments and future proposals to rectify this
    25        unsatisfactory situation which I will give my full
    26        consideration before taking further action.  M.A. Nelson,
    27        Team Leader".
    28
    29        These grills that he is referring to, or she, sorry -- is
    30        it he or she?
    31        A.  He.
    32
    33   Q.   Is that the clamshell grills you were referring to, saying
    34        there had been a reduced rate of burns since they were
    35        introduced?
    36        A.  I do not know because, as you will see from the next
    37        page, Mark Hathaway, who works for me in Birmingham,
    38        actually visited.  I suspect it could have been the mini
    39        clamshells grill that we did have for a while, which we
    40        used specifically for cooking quarter pounders.  You could
    41        only fit two patties underneath them, and they were quite
    42        small and difficult to get back.
    43
    44        We phased these out as we put four clamshells into all
    45        restaurants.  I can see from Mark's response that one of
    46        the things that they did there was to put in a second full
    47        clamshell unit, but he also makes the comments there that
    48        the burns Mr. Nelson was concerned about was when the
    49        equipment was quite new, which really goes back to what
    50        I was saying when I was Trainee Manager; it is so difficult 
    51        when you are new, just to be on the ball all the time. 
    52 
    53        You can see there we followed up with some information in
    54        the restaurant as well, and certainly all the restaurants
    55        now have clamshell grills.  It is the route that we decided
    56        to go, and there is a specific technique for cleaning the
    57        back of the clamshell.  I think it also perhaps an
    58        illustration that one piece of equipment might decrease the
    59        risk in one way.  For example, people stumbling or falling
    60        and putting their hand on the grill, but might bring a

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