Day 127 - 23 May 95 - Page 66


     
     1        the others as well.
     2
     3   Q.   That is what I was going to ask you next.  Do you see
     4        implications in your analysis of the RIDDOR figures for
     5        reductions or preventative measures in relation to the
     6        other 100?
     7        A.  Yes, yes, we do and, in fact, one thing we have
     8        proposed for the next stage of accident monitoring is to
     9        start monitoring any accident where an employee is off
    10        work, so that will take us to the next stage, if you like,
    11        that they are not reportable but they might be off for a
    12        day or so, and can we look at those and, therefore, can we
    13        increase our learning, just bearing in mind how quickly the
    14        Company is expanding all of the time and how much is
    15        manageable.
    16
    17   Q.   Finally, the lost topic, Mrs. Barnes, the HSE Report of
    18        April 1992, I think it was, which you will find at tab 55
    19        in the same file ----
    20
    21   MR. BELL:  It occurs to me that where you have something like,
    22        looking at the RIDDOR accidents in 1993, 400 altogether
    23        with many, many thousands of employees, you do not have to
    24        have many more accidents to increase the percentage
    25        twofold; suppose you have 20 accidents of a certain kind --
    26        I mean, you fall from a height on sheet 4 would be
    27        something like about seven falls, one per cent being four
    28        falls?
    29        A.  Yes.
    30
    31   Q.   So it would be six or seven falls?
    32        A.  They are very small numbers.
    33
    34   Q.   So that may not be the best to choose because it is a very
    35        small percentage, but manual handling, for instance, would
    36        be something like 45 incidents, reportable ones, of
    37        course.  There may have been many others which did not
    38        merit reporting.  So, it might be statistically totally
    39        insignificant that the next year you have 20 more or 20
    40        less manual handling when you are considering the numbers
    41        of ---
    42        A.  Yes.
    43
    44   Q.   -- employees you have?
    45        A.  This is why I feel it is important that over-time we
    46        build up a picture of the trends as opposed to just looking
    47        at one year on year.  This report was prepared for a
    48        specific reason which was after Thomas -----
    49
    50   Q.   I can see, despite the tentative comment I have made, that 
    51        there is a value in monitoring it anyway, because if you do 
    52        not do any monitoring, all sorts of things could be 
    53        happening without your actually noticing, but you do not
    54        need very many more accidents in number in order to change
    55        the percentage really quite radically?
    56        A.  Yes, you are right, and it might be that just one of
    57        those accidents is one that is very concerning.  For
    58        example, we had one where a tailgate failed on the back of
    59        a delivery vehicle and an oil cage fell.
    60

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