Day 130 - 26 May 95 - Page 59


     
     1   Q.   You can go on from there to discuss whether that works or
     2        not, but that is the system, it seems to me, apart from
     3        anything which your safety circles may bring in addition,
     4        or rap session may, when they are held, bring in addition?
     5        A.  Yes.
     6
     7   Q.   But if things are working well the manager should respond
     8        in an appropriate way to something like that?
     9        A.  They should do, yes, and one of the requirements now is
    10        also to have a hazard identification scheme in the
    11        restaurant, so that they could actually write things down,
    12        as well as going to see the managers, and that is part of
    13        what is discussed at safety circles as well.
    14
    15   MR. MORRIS:  In the course of your studies on health and safety
    16        matters regarding employees, did you look at what happens
    17        in other industries and in other workplaces with different
    18        management systems, or different situations, so you could
    19        compare McDonald's with other people?
    20        A.  I suppose one of the criticisms you could level at me
    21        is my experience does not extend outside of McDonald's, but
    22        that is one of reasons we use people like Chris, who has
    23        lot wider experience, and can put what we are doing into
    24        perspective. I have no reason to think that what we are
    25        doing is not amongst the best practice there is,
    26        particularly it falls in line with what is written in the
    27        Successful Health and Safety Management document.
    28
    29   Q.   So what you are saying is you do not know what happens in
    30        other industries, or even in other companies in the
    31        catering industry.
    32        A.  My experience is only inside McDonald's.  I have never
    33        worked for a company other than McDonald's, so my
    34        experience is very limited to McDonald's, but I do have
    35        Operations experience within the Company, and I know what
    36        happens in practice in our restaurants.
    37
    38   Q.   But whether you have a responsible management or not, and
    39        certainly if you did not, it would benefit employees'
    40        safety if they had their own independent, you could call it
    41        power, or ability to stop work or to have their own safety
    42        committee or whatever, whether it was through a union or
    43        not, it would benefit them, would it not?
    44        A.  (A) I have no experience and (B) anything that
    45        I answered would be purely hypothetical.
    46
    47   Q.   You talked about risk management, that is not just about
    48        which equipment is used and procedures and things like
    49        that; it is also about staffing levels, is it not?
    50        A.  It depends on the specific circumstances.  Do you have 
    51        a particular example in mind? 
    52 
    53   Q.   Under-staffing would be something you would want ----
    54
    55   MR. RAMPTON:  Mr. Morris repeatedly interrupts the witness
    56        before she has finished the answer.  Apart from anything
    57        else, it is extremely -----
    58
    59   MR. MORRIS:  I thought you were asking for help.
    60

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