Day 084 - 07 Feb 95 - Page 33
1 was relatively large in 1992/1993?
2 A. In 1992 I believe Jill Barnes undertook the position of
3 Health and Safety Manager or just prior to that, and there
4 was an overhaul in our systems and, I think, maybe a
5 raising in consciousness of reporting of accidents which
6 may have occurred, but on top of that the number of
7 restaurants were opening at a rate of 50 per year, so maybe
8 the rate is around about the same, the same percentage per
9 number of employees is the same.
10
11 Q. We can do the exact mathematics later on. But to some
12 extent you think it may be -- perhaps we had better ask
13 Mrs. Barnes -- that the earlier years showed an
14 under-reporting?
15 A. I think so. I think it is one of the things we have
16 found in health and safety as we have sought to improve it,
17 that when we raise a particular issue, the number of the
18 incidents would rise and then we start managing those
19 particular incidents and they fall. So, that may be the
20 explanation. I am sure Jill would have a much better, a
21 much more detailed explanation for you.
22
23 Q. We will ask her. It may not be profitable for me to pursue
24 the next two sheets but just have a look at them, if you
25 will. The first one should be type of accident and the
26 next one should be place of accident; is that right?
27 A. I have them in the other order.
28
29 Q. Never mind. I do not why that is. That is the wrong order
30 but let us take "place of accident" first. We see that as
31 perhaps we might expect kitchen accounts for more accidents
32 by quite a long way than anywhere else, yes?
33 A. Yes, that is correct.
34
35 Q. I will not bother to ask you about that because it is so
36 blindingly obvious why that should be so. But the next
37 page -- perhaps this is just as obvious, I do not know --
38 we see that "slips" and "trips", I assume that they are two
39 names, they are different, slips and trips, are they?
40 A. Yes, slips, trips, falls are normally classed
41 together. They are a similar type of incident.
42
43 Q. We see that for both years, 1991 and 1993, they are by far
44 the most common kind of accident?
45 A. Yes.
46
47 Q. What is the reason for that?
48 A. I think it is as a result of the most common activity,
49 i.e. walking, moving around the restaurant, you know, there
50 is a chance of doing that; whereas, say, manual handling,
51 which would be picking a box up, it would be done less
52 often thereby the incidents would be less frequent.
53
54 Q. Is this a problem which you have your eye on, this business
55 of slipping and tripping?
56 A. Well, this is a type of document we would get and it
57 would prioritize to us that the health and safety
58 departments should look into slips, trips and falls as a
59 priority because it was the area that most accidents were.
60 So, yes, it would be a priority.
