Day 130 - 26 May 95 - Page 22


     
     1        or getting that done.  I do not understand this thing about
     2        the one below that, about more pages have been stamped than
     3        tests reported in the equipment service history form.  What
     4        does that mean?
     5        A.  Well, Bellec, were one of the companies that were doing
     6        our regular portable appliance testing, so they come in
     7        every six to 12 months, depending on the equipment, to
     8        check it, and make a stamp in the equipment log that they
     9        had checked it, and it was safe.  When we looked at the log
    10        and looked at the print out from their computer, because
    11        they have little hand-held computer, the two did not
    12        correlate.  That was one of the things that we went back to
    13        the contractors on, and we introduced into the audit, on
    14        electrical equipment.
    15
    16   Q.   In your summary of "Main Points For Action", there is
    17        nothing about water on the floor, missing handle or
    18        employees' shoes, is there?
    19        A.  No.  As I say, that certainly did not come out in the
    20        facts that I gathered.
    21
    22   Q.   I am just skipping ahead here, page 10:  "The health and
    23        safety management plan is being formulated to comply with
    24        the Health and Safety Executive's recommendations, to
    25        improve compliance with existing and new legislation, and
    26        to incorporate lessons learned from this accident."   So in
    27        some ways there were three areas of, if you like, pressure
    28        to change things, to improve things ---
    29        A.  There was of -----
    30
    31   Q.  --  all at the same?
    32        A.  There were three reasons why the plan was put forward,
    33        although I could probably add a fourth, in that the
    34        document that we shared with you yesterday, Successful
    35        Health and Safety Management, had come out at the end of
    36        1991 as well.  So, for the first time it gave us a template
    37        for a management plan.
    38
    39   Q.   Moving on to what would be page 14, effectively, which is
    40        the memo from Paul Preston.  This is about the residual
    41        current circuit breakers.  The third paragraph in the
    42        following steps section, they cost about £20.  Presumably,
    43        they are a bit more now, but is that what they cost?
    44        A.  The problem with those ones you buy from DIY stores  is
    45        they are not fail-safe.  They do break after a certain
    46        amount of time.  So that is why we decided not to go for
    47        RCDs fitted on the plugs, which that was.  The other thing
    48        is if you have RCDs fitted to a plug, somebody can take it
    49        off and put a normal plug on.  That is why we went for
    50        actually proofing all the circuits with RCDs as quickly as 
    51        we could arrange it, but that was a short term, interim 
    52        measure we felt would reduce the risk straightaway. 
    53
    54   Q.   Going to the last four pages.  It starts off with the
    55        chart; it has a small one at the bottom right-hand corner.
    56
    57   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I think I have got a bit out of sync here.
    58        After the plug I go to the one with a "2" on it, and then
    59        the family tree, then the one with a "1" on it, and then
    60        the update of action.

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