Day 132 - 07 Jun 95 - Page 30
1 Q. It is a fact of life that prominent concerns attract
2 attention and I am assuming -- you tell me if I am wrong --
3 that there is a certain advantage in environmental health
4 if you from time to time do make an example of a prominent
5 name. One can think of restaurants and hotels in Greater
6 London which have been prosecuted from time to time and
7 automatically there is quite a lot of publicity which,
8 presumably, the Environmental Health Department might think
9 is all for the good because it might encourage others?
10 A. A Westminster Senior Environmental Health Officer once
11 said to me: "You know, Chris, that one prosecution like
12 this is worth 1,000 Chinese restaurants". It is exactly
13 the point that you are making, my Lord, I agree.
14
15 Q. It does not surprise me.
16 A. In other -- as well it has to be fair to say as well a
17 busy McDonald's has a very considerable food turnover. An
18 enormous amount of meals are served during the course of
19 the day and, quite rightly, I am sure an Environmental
20 Health Department would say that that is a significant
21 business and, obviously, it needs close monitoring, so
22 there is that too, but certainly ----
23
24 Q. It is not just my point then, that if you prosecute a
25 chain, whatever it is, for a shortfall in one of its
26 outlets, you hope that that will have a beneficial effect
27 throughout the rest of that chain?
28 A. Well, that is absolutely so, my Lord and, as you
29 rightly say, if a major name is prosecuted, it encourages
30 the others wonderfully. Yes, I agree.
31
32 MR. MORRIS: If we go to page 11 at the bottom, you say: "Long
33 hours and fatigue can be a factor in safety". Do you agree
34 with that?
35 A. Yes.
36
37 Q. Go to page 11?
38 A. If we take that as taken out of context, because I then
39 go on to say: "But it has to be looked at in terms of the
40 risk element of the job", and so on, and whether we are
41 talking about failures of perceptions, rather than just
42 generalised fatigue.
43
44 Q. Yes OK. Page 12. I am not going to go through the factual
45 basis of these comments because that is a matter of
46 evidence but -----
47
48 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Remember that these have not been read into
49 the evidence. I am not going to take them into account
50 save in so far as Mr. Purslow gave specific evidence in
51 answer to Mr. Rampton's questions or save in so far as you
52 or Ms. Steel brings anything out. So you need not worry
53 that I might have read it and taken some account of it.
54
55 MR. MORRIS: I am taking it from a different angle. Can I just
56 say that we are certain to finish today, and I would like
57 to look at the Health & Safety Commission Annual Report
58 over lunch.
59
60 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What I would like you to do is deal with the
