Day 084 - 07 Feb 95 - Page 34


     
     1
     2   Q.   What sort of thinking do you do about that problem?
     3        A.  Over time we have tried a number of different floor
     4        coverings.  We tried safety shoes.  We tried different
     5        methods of cleaning the floors, using different solutions,
     6        different companies' ideas and recommendations for that.
     7
     8   Q.   Are you still working on it?
     9        A.  I think we will always be working on it because it
    10        still remains as one of the major causes of reportable
    11        accidents.  Until we see the numbers, sort of, declining
    12        almost into non-existence with us, that I think perhaps
    13        then we could say we have cracked it and it is not a cause
    14        of concern for us.
    15
    16   Q.   One other thing about this chart:  We notice just above
    17        half way down "manual handling" was a 30 per cent problem
    18        in 1991 but by 1993 had shrunk to just over 10 per cent.
    19        In the side column it is stated to be 11.33 per cent.
    20        Do you know what the reason might be for that reduction
    21        from 1991?
    22        A.  I think so.  I think that it was, obviously, another
    23        priority behind slips, trips and falls, but it was an area
    24        that we could more easily address.  As I said before, it is
    25        an activity in the restaurant that happens less often and
    26        by specific people, and most of those are through
    27        deliveries.  So, we could target people to train them
    28        better and I recollect we had posters and a campaign on
    29        manual handling to try to reduce these accidents.  So,
    30        maybe that is an example of health and safety and
    31        operations development working the way that it does in
    32        McDonald's, by gathering information, looking at, targeting
    33        an area to impact upon, looking at different alternatives,
    34        then working out a course of action and then we get the
    35        results back to show that that has been successful.
    36
    37   Q.   I was going to ask you:  Slips and trips speak for
    38        themselves, but what sort of accidents are involved in the
    39        definition of "manual handling"?
    40        A.  I think that is where you may hurt your back by lifting
    41        a box incorrectly.
    42
    43   Q.   Do your back by lifting a box, yes.   Would it include
    44        dropping something on your foot that you lifted up, do you
    45        think, or not?
    46        A.  Probably not.  I think that would most likely be
    47        "struck by".
    48
    49   Q.   That would be "struck by".  Where in all of this would one
    50        find the statistics for burns, people who are burnt by 
    51        something falling on them? 
    52        A.  Burnt by something falling?  I would not like to 
    53        speculate on that one.  Maybe a burn would not be a
    54        reportable accident, thereby it would not be included in
    55        these figures, unless it was very severe.
    56
    57   Q.   I suppose it might be if it was bad enough.
    58        A.  If it was bad enough, but I think the figures probably
    59        suggest that we have, perhaps, not that many burns that are
    60        severe.  Remember, they would have to have three days off

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