Day 127 - 23 May 95 - Page 26
1 What is the use to which this sheet of paper is put or was
2 put?
3 A. The original document, of course, is a little larger
4 than that and it is laminated. It is posted on the
5 restaurant notice board. It is our Company policy, as we
6 are required to have under the Health and Safety at Work
7 Act, and it is also replicated in the Crew Handbook, the
8 Employee handbook and various other documents.
9
10 Q. We will look at those books later on, Mrs. Barnes, when we
11 go back to general evidence. Let me just read you what it
12 says under "Electrical Equipment: The Company is aware of
13 the duty imposed by the Electricity at Work Regulations to
14 maintain equipment in a safe condition and to ensure that
15 only suitably qualified individuals undertake maintenance
16 or repair of any electrical equipment. No Company employ
17 is allowed to carry out any repair or maintenance other
18 than calibration unless they have satisfactorily completed
19 the Applied Equipment Course. Employees are only allowed
20 to carry out those electrical repair and maintenance
21 functions for which they have been trained.
22
23 Employees who work on electrical equipment have their own
24 personal duty to follow Company training so as not to
25 endanger themselves, fellow employees, customers or any
26 other visitors. All electrical equipment on Company
27 premises, whether fixed or portable, will be checked by an
28 independent electrical contractor at least once per annum
29 and any necessary remedial work carried out to ensure that
30 all equipment is maintained in a safe electrical condition.
31
32 A record of all maintenance and repair work carried out on
33 any equipment will be provided by means of the equipment
34 service history file. It is the Store Manager's
35 responsibility to ensure that the equipment service history
36 file is correctly maintained. No unauthorised electrical
37 equipment is to be used or brought into Company premises.
38 Electrical installations and equipment must not be tampered
39 with".
40
41 This is in April 1991; does it differ in any respect from
42 what the Company says about electricity nowadays as part of
43 its policy?
44 A. It is slightly different than that, in that it is now
45 laid out in a Health and Safety manual, but it is very much
46 that same information. It has just been laid out in a
47 slightly different way now.
48
49 Q. So does this thing still got on a board in a restaurant?
50 A. No, we do not have that any more. We have a one page
51 policy statement committing ourselves to safety. It is
52 backed up with the Health and Safety manual which is laid
53 out in risk assessment format with the control procedures
54 under each hazard.
55
56 Q. I am looking at it now. Even in this A3 or B4, whatever
57 the size is, I am bound to say it looks like quite a heavy
58 read under a lamination on a notice board; did you have any
59 impression that maybe people were not reading it?
60 A. Certainly I doubt it was read on the notice board. It
