Day 128 - 24 May 95 - Page 16
1 Q. But, basically, you try to keep going and keep the
2 customers happy for as long as possible?
3 A. Well, no, that is not what I said, and you react to the
4 situation as it unfolds, and you have to keep your
5 employees and your customer safety at the forefront and
6 other things which is, you know, the hygiene, the food and
7 so forth, depending what happens.
8
9 Q. It would be very dangerous to be working with water, a
10 quarter of an inch of water all over the floor?
11 A. It depends what flooring it is. If it something like
12 Altro flooring, even with water on it, it is still slip
13 resistant.
14
15 Q. You could have problems with electrical equipment?
16 A. Electrical equipment is more than a quarter of an inch
17 off the ground, so it should not be a problem.
18
19 Q. So in some situations you would find that entirely
20 acceptable?
21 A. It would depend on the situation completely. For
22 example, if it was a back room and somebody had spilt water
23 on the floor, you might get a quarter of an inch quite
24 quickly. They are usually small rooms. They have
25 slip-resistant flooring. You would want to get somebody in
26 there to clear it up. Even in this situation, you have got
27 to have somebody in there to clear it up, and if you are
28 saying that a quarter of an inch of water on the floor is
29 inherently dangerous, that would be very difficult to do.
30
31 Q. In the kitchen area?
32 A. I would agree they would need, if the water was on the
33 floor, they would certainly need to get it cleaned up, sort
34 out the problem and, if was dangerous to the people,
35 depending on the flooring and the specific situation,
36 I would expect them to do what they did do and close the
37 restaurant until the clean-up had taken place.
38
39 Q. But just to clarify, you do not think it is inherently
40 dangerous to have a quarter of an inch of water on the
41 floor of a kitchen area?
42 A. It depends on the flooring. It depends on the
43 situation. It depends what the people were doing; if it
44 was very quiet, and there were not any customers in the
45 store, it would not be dangerous.
46
47 Q. But if they were serving customers it would be?
48 A. Well, in the middle of a lunch-time, yes, I would
49 expect it would quite dangerous without a slip resistant
50 floor. At 7 o'clock in the evening with a slip resistant
51 floor and no customers in sight, no, it would not be
52 dangerous.
53
54 Q. If there were two or three customers, not the middle of the
55 rush hour.
56 A. It is the Manager's decision, depending on what the
57 situation is at the time.
58
59 Q. Are the stores instructed on where to keep the accident
60 book?
