Day 303 - 19 Nov 96 - Page 09
1 local stores, which were national in concern, and therefore
2 that is what prompted them to seek a national investigation
3 with McDonald's co-operation, which McDonald's agreed to.
4
5 On page 850 of the report under 'hours of work', 3.36, it
6 says, "McDonald's regulated and monitored for adequate
7 breaks between shifts, that is in their store audits, and
8 maximum hours worked for crew, and some of the audit
9 reports highlighted inadequate breaks", and 'some of' must
10 be at least three or four I would have thought otherwise
11 they would have just said one or two. And we are talking
12 about 19 stores visited.
13
14 So, we have there a substantial percentage, even under
15 McDonald's own documentation, which highlighted inadequate
16 breaks, which does not surprise us at all. I would say,
17 and I am going to come on to it in a minute, that it is
18 likely that every store in the country has the same pattern
19 from the very few documents at random that we have seen.
20
21 But while I have this HSE document I might as well finish
22 that off. On page 857 of that bundle of HSE reports, 4.8,
23 it says, "Whilst McDonald's had reported the majority of
24 RIDDOR injuries in their sector in 1989 they undoubtedly
25 have a better level of reporting. A recent labour survey
26 suggests that only ten to 15 per cent of reportable
27 injuries occurring in the services sector are reported.
28 McDonald's will exceed this figure." It is quite difficult
29 to calculate because it is not absolutely clear what sector
30 they are talking about. As regards McDonald's sector, that
31 may be the fast-food sector or the catering sector or the
32 whole services sector. There was an indication at the
33 beginning of the pamphlet that it was the fast-food sector
34 at the beginning of the report.
35
36 But if McDonald's are majority of reported injuries, and
37 this is how I have done the calculation, and everyone can
38 tear it apart if they want to, then bearing in mind these
39 are only reportable injuries, not the things that Mr. Phil
40 Pearson was more concerned about which was the much more
41 widespread, still serious not minor unreported injuries,
42 but if McDonald's were the majority in their sector and,
43 say, just completely arbitrary, it does not matter what the
44 figure is, a thousand was reported in that sector of which
45 600 were by McDonald's.
46
47 MR. JUSTICE BELL: But why do you say that?
48
49 MR. MORRIS: Sorry, what?
50
51 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Why do you say, 'if McDonald's were the
52 majority'?
53
54 MR. MORRIS: They are the majority, it says so absolutely
55 crystal clear.
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The majority of what?
58
59 MR. MORRIS: It says here, 4.8, "Whilst McDonald's had reported
60 the majority of RIDDOR injuries in their sector in 1989".
