Day 130 - 26 May 95 - Page 12


     
     1        like.  Obviously I have been in quite a few back rooms
     2        since.  From what I can remember the ice machine was at one
     3        side of it, and then the back sink reasonably adjacent to
     4        that.  So it is possible that, yes, it did not go across
     5        the wall, but it would not necessarily have been across a
     6        path that other people would have been using.  Again, I did
     7        not have the advantage of seeing the machine there because
     8        it had been moved and taken.
     9
    10   Q.   Did you investigate, in this circumstance, the use of high
    11        powered sprays and the use of the middle sink, which was
    12        too small for the trays, resulting in water regularly
    13        ending up on the floor because of the work that needed to
    14        be doing?
    15        A.  It was standard practice then (and it is still standard
    16        practice now) to use a hot spray to rinse off equipment in
    17        that middle sink.  Yes, it is a narrower sink from the one
    18        you would use for washing the equipment, but the idea is it
    19        is just sprayed off there, it has got no need to fit in
    20        there completely.  Yes, I would agree that back rooms do
    21        get splashed with water when that is going on.  It is one
    22        of the reasons now that with the filtering machine, even
    23        though they are asked still to put water through it, they
    24        are asked to take the water to the machine, then it is kept
    25        away from the sink itself.
    26
    27   Q.   At the time of the accident there was a large puddle of
    28        water on the floor in the back room?
    29        A.  I do not know that because I do not think it came up in
    30        any of the information that was given to me, although I can
    31        see it is here in Robert Chapman's statement.  As I say, he
    32        was there and I was not.
    33
    34   Q.   Do you know why the ambulance guy refused to administer to
    35        Mark in that room?
    36        A.  I do not know if he did.  It is only just hearing in
    37        Robert Chapman's statement that I have seen that.
    38
    39   Q.   Did you investigate the type of shoes that Mr. Hopkins was
    40        wearing?
    41        A.  I did not, but it does not seem to have any relevance,
    42        in that the reason Mark Hopkins received such a severe
    43        shock was that he was both holding the machine and earthing
    44        himself by the other arm, and even with Robert Chapman, the
    45        shock that he had, I understand, he felt it go across his
    46        stomach.   He was a very lucky man.
    47
    48   Q.   He was wearing rubber shoes?
    49        A.  It did not make any difference if it is going arm to
    50        arm, and it went arm to arm through Chapman's arm. 
    51 
    52   Q.   When you make an investigation you do not decide what the 
    53        cause of the problem is first, and then find the evidence
    54        which backs up your theory, do you?  You go in and
    55        investigate the important matter that may lead to a
    56        potential electrocution, in this case, would you not?
    57        A.  In this case -- we know why he died at the time.  The
    58        EHO backed that up at the time.  I gathered, together with
    59        the fact as best I could.
    60

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