Day 105 - 16 Mar 95 - Page 22
1 round coming from anywhere into the slaughterhouse but they
2 do not.
3
4 Q. Should the doors be kept closed then when there is not
5 actually physically someone going through them?
6 A. That would help. It is not crucial, but I am saying
7 that for the hide room there is not a door, there is a
8 small opening which people could squeeze through but, in
9 fact, a trolley squeezes through it. Into the gut room,
10 the only access is from the outside, and in the fat room,
11 as I recall, there is a door into the fat room from the
12 slaughter area. It provides access if people used it, but
13 in the fat room no employees are, in fact, in there
14 because fat is taken off in the gut room and stored in the
15 fat room.
16
17 Q. Are you aware that MAFF, whilst being concerned about the
18 lack of chilled detained in condemned rooms, were also
19 concerned about other matters to do with the operation of
20 the abattoir?
21 A. Not directly. I was not consulted in relation to
22 discussions with MAFF, which tends to be a separate and
23 time consuming issue, and raises correspondence of
24 considerable volume. Thus, in general terms, I would
25 expect a whole list of requirements to be being worked on
26 at any particular time, but I have no direct knowledge of
27 the discussions with MAFF. That would be a separate issue
28 if a company chose to involve me in that.
29
30 Q. You heard of a few bits and pieces did you -----
31 A. Not even that, because I work on the assumption that
32 there are many bits and pieces at this stage in the
33 industry's history in discussions with MAFF.
34
35 Q. Have you heard about the problems with over-crowding in the
36 lairage?
37 A. No, that has not been put to me. I have examined the
38 lairage myself, but it has not been put to me that MAFF
39 have worried about over-crowding. I am not saying they
40 have not said that; I am saying I have not been consulted.
41
42 Q. I understand. Going on to the documents, in general, you
43 have seen this file, yes?
44 A. The file we have in front of us?
45
46 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is the Jarrett bundle?
47 A. Yes.
48
49 MR. MORRIS: Were these all the documents that were relevant
50 that you saw, or that you have seen, at Jarretts or are
51 these a selection of them?
52 A. As I understand it, Jarretts provided on request a
53 selection of the documents to demonstrate the sort of
54 controls they carry out. I have had closer inspection.
55
56 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just pause a moment.
57
58 MR. MORRIS: This will go fairly slowly. I notice on documents
59 H and I ---
60 A. Yes, I have that.
