Day 127 - 23 May 95 - Page 77


     
     1        communication time that has been involved too.
     2
     3   Q.   I suppose it is obvious, Mrs. Barnes, there is not much
     4        point committing yourself to implement recommendations on
     5        paper unless you can get the message across to the people
     6        who have to carry them out on the ground; is that right?
     7        A.  Yes.
     8
     9   Q.   When you say you had implemented them within 18 months,
    10        does that mean they were fully effective on the ground by
    11        the end of that time?
    12        A.  I would not say that and I would not say that now.
    13        In those 18 months we put in place all of the management
    14        structure and management systems, and communicated all the
    15        information and set up the training systems that we were
    16        advised to do and that we promised we would do and, really,
    17        we are just starting to see the fruits of that now.
    18
    19   Q.   Finally this, Mrs. Barnes, you have done all this, you have
    20        implemented these recommendations, you have obviously done
    21        a lot of work since you entered your post in July 1990,
    22        three years ago nearly now ---
    23        A.  Yes.
    24
    25   Q.   Sorry, five years ago nearly now.  I am sorry.  Do you
    26        think you can now put your feet up on your desk and have a
    27        snooze in the afternoon?
    28        A.  Absolutely not, no.  We are going back and revising
    29        things all over again.  As I have said during the course of
    30        today, things like accident investigation, we are now going
    31        back again and we can see we want to take it one step
    32        further.  As far as I am concerned, there always will be
    33        extra things that we can do.
    34
    35   Q.   The company in this country has been growing continuously
    36        ever since you joined it, has it not?
    37        A.  It has.
    38
    39   Q.   In terms of numbers of restaurants and numbers of people
    40        employed?
    41        A.  That is right.
    42
    43   Q.   Do you think as the Company, if it does, continues to
    44        increase, you will have to take on more people in your
    45        particular department or not?
    46        A.  Maybe one, maybe two, but I would certainly never see
    47        the health and safety department or even with food safety
    48        incorporated to the department as a whole being terribly
    49        big because, at the end of the day, it is the Operations
    50        people that have to make it work.  If they see a big 
    51        department sat up there at East Finchley, they will think: 
    52         "Oh, well, it is not to do with us; it is do with the 
    53        health and safety department", and that is not the idea at
    54        all.
    55
    56   Q.   At any rate, if I have understood you correctly, you do not
    57        see the day when you will have worked yourself out of a
    58        job?
    59        A.  No, I do not think so.
    60

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