Day 132 - 07 Jun 95 - Page 39
1 perfectly prepared to say what I have just said. I do not
2 see any grounds for that allegation.
3
4 Q. Going down to the Venice Labrest, 19, who described how she
5 fell off a ladder in the stock room but "had to carry on
6 working", you say: "Patently, if she had been injured she
7 would not have been able to continue work"?
8 A. Absolutely.
9
10 Q. So you have never known anybody in your vast experience, no
11 employee, who ever carried on working while having some
12 kind of injury?
13 A. I did not say that at all.
14
15 Q. You said "patently" as if it is a contradiction in terms?
16 A. It is fairly self-evident, that if somebody has been
17 injured they cannot carry on moving stock and so on and so
18 forth.
19
20 Q. So you have never known that, in your experience ---
21 A. I have known ---
22
23 Q. -- for someone to continue working while injured?
24 A. -- I known people come back to work with broken legs.
25 I have done it myself with a broken arm. You come back and
26 do light duties, restricted duties, or whatever, or as much
27 as much as your disability will allow you to do so.
28
29 MR. JUSTICE BELL: All that is being put to you is that she
30 complained she had to carry on working when she did not
31 feel she was fit to do so. What is suggested is that your
32 comment, "Patently, if she had been injured she would not
33 have been able to continue work" just is not necessarily
34 right, because people who ought to stop work after an
35 injury, and whose managers ought to tell them they must not
36 work, do work on despite the injury?
37 A. I think, with the benefit of hindsight, it could have
38 been better phrased, my Lord. The point I am making is
39 that if somebody was injured and injured severely, or
40 whatever it may be, under normal circumstances, there would
41 be treatment and they would not be able to continue with
42 the physical task. You would need to know details of the
43 injury and so on, so, yes, I would agree it could have been
44 better phrased, my Lord.
45
46 MR. MORRIS: In fact, is it not standard practice to recognise
47 that people may suffer from shock or trauma after an
48 accident and that it is very important to recognise that?
49 A. Well, it depends on the degree of accident but, yes,
50 certainly, if they have had a serious injury or even
51 observed a serious injury, there can be shock as part and
52 parcel of it. Obviously, one would have to be very careful
53 with that, but you are talking about training.
54
55 Q. I will not finish this before lunch.
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Let us pause there. Thank you, Mr. Purslow.
58 What time do you want to resume, if you have to look at
59 that document?
60
