Day 130 - 26 May 95 - Page 32
1 tiles got worn quickly and obviously reduced the risk of
2 it. That is not to say we still do not have slipping
3 accidents, we do. But I mean this is also -----
4
5 Q. There are still hot surfaces. The clamshell grill is only
6 one piece of equipment, is it not? There are a lot of
7 other hot surfaces?
8 A. I am afraid if you are cooking things, the surfaces are
9 going to be hot. Yes, with the vats, they are still open
10 vats. Again they have slip resistant flooring in front of
11 them to reduce the risk of slipping accidents happening.
12 On this page is a good example of an accident that we
13 probably never ever will prevent, which is the second one
14 down, "banged hand on the grill". How do you prevent that
15 happening?
16
17 Q. That might be a slip.
18 A. We do not know. One of the problems with the accident
19 book is that unless it is the local management that is
20 looking at them, you really do not know what the cause of
21 the accident has been. That is why we investigate all the
22 RIDDOR ones, to try to identify causes. So if it is a
23 cause that is common, could be common, throughout the
24 Company, we can then communicate it to people.
25
26 Q. The point I am asking, though, is that the slip accidents
27 are more hazardous in the kitchen situation, whether it is
28 McDonald's or any other catering establishment, because of
29 the hot surfaces where people might grab something to
30 steady themselves?
31 A. It is like if you slip at home, and you happen to have
32 the cooker on and you put your hand on it.
33
34 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That is fair enough comment then?
35 A. Yes.
36
37 Q. If you are working in the kitchen, you have got the double
38 hazard of possibly slipping on some matter on the floor,
39 and then some part of your body coming into contact with
40 something hot?
41 A. That is correct, sir.
42
43 MR. MORRIS: Yes. I do not slip in my kitchen because it is not
44 that kind of kitchen!
45 A. One of the things we do not have in our kitchens, which
46 is quite frequently found in other catering establishments,
47 are free-standing fryers. All of ours are locked in place
48 because one of the really nastiest accidents you could have
49 in a kitchen is to slip, put your hand in a fryer and pull
50 it on top of you. That just does not happen because they
51 are all locked in place; the worst you would probably get
52 is a burnt arm.
53
54 Q. On the same page it says: "Cut three fingers on filet
55 station". What is the filet station?
56 A. The filet station is fryers from which we cook the
57 filet-o-fish. I have no idea which part of it -- one of
58 the things we have asked our equipment suppliers to do is
59 to make sure that the edges of equipment are rounded off.
60 One of the problems that we identified is that because we
