Day 181 - 01 Nov 95 - Page 44


     
     1
     2        What I am suggesting is this, Mr. Pearson, that whilst it
     3        is undoubtedly right that burns, cuts, slips, bangs,
     4        bruises, matters of that kind, do occur -- and we will
     5        argue in this case, and his Lordship will decide in due
     6        course, the answer how frequently that happens -- it is
     7        not, the McDonald's environment, one in which the risk of
     8        serious injury is very great.  It exists, and must be
     9        catered for, but perhaps you would agree that it is not
    10        very great?
    11        A.  Well, I do not agree that it is acceptable to dismiss
    12        the range -- the suggestion is that the range of
    13        non-reportable injuries does not matter.  Because, clearly,
    14        they do matter.
    15
    16   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That has not been suggested.
    17
    18   MR. RAMPTON:   It has not been suggested at all.
    19        A.  Well, my point -----
    20
    21   MR. JUSTICE BELL: Put the question again, Mr. Rampton.
    22
    23   THE WITNESS:   I must have misunderstood you, sorry.
    24
    25   MR. RAMPTON:  I think you did.  I was asking you whether you
    26        would accept, so far as you are aware of it -- and I will
    27        ask you in a moment another question about that, and then
    28        I have finished -- would you accept that so far as
    29        reportable injury is concerned, that is to say, serious
    30        injury, though one must be on one's guard to see that it
    31        does not occur, the risk of that kind of injury in the
    32        McDonald's environment is not very great?
    33        A.  I do not think we have seen any statistics on those
    34        kinds of injuries in McDonald's.
    35
    36   Q.   Then I will show you some.
    37
    38   MS. STEEL:  Before we go away from this, I am still confused.
    39        The bit where it says "distribution hotels and catering and
    40        repairs" -----
    41
    42   MR. JUSTICE BELL: Why not ask in re-examination?
    43
    44   MS. STEEL:  Because it is not really a question for the
    45        witness.  It has actually got a semi-colon between the
    46        "hotels and catering and repairs", and that was why we
    47        thought it was talking about repairs in those industries.
    48
    49   THE WITNESS:   I can explain this, my Lord.
    50 
    51   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Yes, explain it now.  I would rather we got 
    52        to it now than re-examination. 
    53        A.  Yes.  I mean, the reason why repairs are in there is
    54        because you have this category of repair of consumer goods
    55        and vehicles hidden in.  It is a bit inconsistent, but this
    56        is where these jobs fit into the table so they put a
    57        semicolon -----
    58
    59   Q.   One might equally have had distribution, hotels and
    60        catering and the first four, four sub-headings, and then

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