Day 127 - 23 May 95 - Page 54


     
     1        better information it gives you about trends.  We encourage
     2        the management team in each restaurant and their safety
     3        circles and safety co-ordinators to look at the trends in
     4        the accident book to see if there is any particular area of
     5        the restaurant or any particular piece of equipment that
     6        could be causing them concern.  It is not something we feel
     7        we can do corporately because every restaurant is laid out
     8        slightly differently.
     9
    10   Q.   If a manager being conscientious and assiduous in his
    11        duties spots what he thinks is a particular trend in a kind
    12        of minor accident, what will he do with that information?
    13        A.  Well, he could act upon it himself if it was just
    14        something local to the restaurant, maybe some of the safety
    15        flooring needed replacing, it had become worn.
    16
    17   Q.   But suppose he thought the fault probably lay with the
    18        design of a particular kind of equipment, what would he do
    19        about that?
    20        A.  We have a structure where within each operations
    21        manager group -- now an operations manager has 20 to 30
    22        stores and he will have about six area supervisors
    23        reporting to him.  Within each of those groups one of those
    24        area supervisors will specialise in safety and he will be
    25        the contact for all of the restaurants if they have any
    26        concerns.  Now that appointed supervisor as we call them
    27        meets with my people every quarter, they meet as a group
    28        regionally, so it gives them a way of feeding up he
    29        information to my people who, in turn, can then assess:
    30        "Well, is it something regional we need to address or
    31        should we take it along to the Corporate Health and Safety
    32        Steering Group meeting, or is it something hat we as a
    33        department can get sorted out in the meantime or need to
    34        get sorted out in the meantime."
    35
    36   Q.   Yes, I understand.  You mentioned a moment ago -- I do not
    37        think we have had this, and forgive me if you have already
    38        told us -- safety circles; what are those?
    39        A.  Each restaurant is required to set up, which I suppose
    40        is a safety committee, a group of about eight to nine
    41        people made up of hourly paid employees -- for example,
    42        floor managers, dining area hostesses and crew members --
    43        headed up by one of the management team, who again -- we
    44        suggest that they give one of the management team a
    45        specific brief for safety in the restaurant, and they will
    46        head up the safety circle they meet every quarter, and we
    47        give them some guidance on the sort of things they should
    48        be discussing.  But it is obviously reviewing any action
    49        plans from the previous meeting, checking to see that the
    50        restaurant has health and safety goals, that they are on 
    51        target, looking at the accident book, checking to see if 
    52        the environmental health officer has been in, that 
    53        everything has been done that they want.
    54
    55   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  When did they start?
    56
    57   MR. RAMPTON:  I was going to ask that.
    58        A.  They started, it would be mid to late 1992.
    59
    60   Q.   It was one of the things that was mentioned, was it not,

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