Day 130 - 26 May 95 - Page 24


     
     1
     2   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  We will break off for five minutes.
     3
     4                       (Short Adjournment)
     5
     6   MS. STEEL:  Just one small matter:  On page 736 of the bundle,
     7        pink XIII still, a letter you sent out to all employees
     8        following the accident?
     9        A.  Yes.
    10
    11   Q.   Despite discovering that there were several damaged sockets
    12        in the store, and they were being used, you did not think
    13        to state in this letter, to explicitly state, that
    14        employees should not use damaged sockets?
    15        A.  It obviously is not in here, but we already say about
    16        not using damaged equipment.  Remember, we also decided we
    17        would put it in the contractors' hands to make sure the
    18        work was done, instead of leaving it to the discretion of
    19        management.
    20
    21   Q.   But the contractors would not be coming around to all the
    22        stores right at this time, would they?  They are not all
    23        coming to all the stores the same day, to immediately take
    24        action?
    25        A.  No, they would not go around straightaway.  I cannot
    26        really remember the wording in the memo from Paul Preston,
    27        but certainly we felt we had raised the awareness of
    28        electrical safety with both of those.  Remember this too
    29        was aimed mainly at crew members as opposed to managers,
    30        although it was the employees' the idea was it was posted
    31        so that crew could see it.
    32
    33   Q.   If you turn to page 773.  We have referred to this memo
    34        before; this is the one dated 17th February 1992, and it
    35        says:  "There have been several recent instances in our
    36        restaurants where members of staff have received severe
    37        shocks from faulty items from electrical equipment.
    38        Unfortunately, I have not been notified of these accidents
    39        at the time they occurred".  Were you notified about these
    40        accidents at the time they occurred?
    41        A.  I doubt it if Frank Frost was not.  At that time it was
    42        before my original people were appointed, so the regional
    43        facilities engineers, like Frank, would be the primary
    44        point of contact for electric shocks.
    45
    46   Q.   You would not expect it to come to you and then you report
    47        to Frank Frost?
    48        A.  No, I would expect it go straight to him so he could
    49        get the contractors in there to investigate.  It is still
    50        joint now between my people and the people, like Frank 
    51        Frost, to get the investigation done.  As I say, using 
    52        electrical equipment is just the same as at home, there is 
    53        just no way you can say categorically an electric shock
    54        will never happen.  You can maintain them to try and make
    55        sure you pick up any faults they develop.
    56
    57        We feel, now, putting the RCDs on, should a shock occur, it
    58        is unlikely to cause any severe injury, but I cannot
    59        categorically say that nobody else at McDonald's will ever
    60        get an electric shock.  It is just impossible to do that,

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