Day 127 - 23 May 95 - Page 23


     
     1        assessment then.
     2
     3        We could see that there was a potential that it could kill
     4        and we wanted them to be made very aware of that.  Part of
     5        the problem is that -- I am just the same as anybody else;
     6         "It's not going to happen to me", and therefore we wanted
     7        to make the message as strong as possible to try to get
     8        that over.
     9
    10   Q.   Did you make any changes, whether for your own reasons or
    11        in consequence of the new regulations, in the rules, your
    12        Company rules, about who was allowed to do electrical work
    13        in any part of the Company's property?
    14        A.  Well, we certainly went into more detail about what the
    15        policy was.  I believe it was actually June 1992 before
    16        this was inserted into the Health and Safety policy, but we
    17        specified that unless people had been on the advanced
    18        equipment course they were not to carry out any equipment
    19        repairs ---
    20
    21   Q.   Sorry.
    22        A.  -- part of that course included training, further
    23        training, of the dangers of electricity.  We also put into
    24        place a training seminar for all managers and supervisors
    25        that was rolled out throughout the country, throughout 1991
    26        and early 1992, where every restaurant manager and
    27        supervisor was personally addressed in terms of the dangers
    28        of electricity and what the new regulations meant.
    29
    30   Q.   That we see in paragraph 3, do we not, Mrs. Barnes, which
    31        has been underlined by you?
    32        A.  That is correct.
    33
    34   Q.   Then it says this:  "Regional Training departments will
    35        arrange for maintenance men to attend an AEC if required,
    36        the maintenance person's job description has been changed
    37        to exclude", which is underlined, "small equipment repair.
    38        Please delete small equipment repair from the duties
    39        section of any maintenance person's job descriptions you
    40        might have in your restaurant e.g. in the crew training
    41        programme.  Small equipment repair is now an optional duty
    42        to the maintenance men, i.e. to be carried out only if an
    43        AEC has been completed".  So had it been the position
    44        before that the maintenance person could have done small
    45        electrical jobs even if he had not done the AEC?
    46        A.  That is correct.  In many cases, of course, these
    47        maintenance men were probably ex-electricians who had
    48        retired and had come to work for the restaurant.  But we
    49        felt, even if that were so, we still need to specify
    50        internal training for them. 
    51 
    52   Q.   Do you know yourself how long it takes to get a 
    53        professional qualification as a practical electrician?
    54        A.  I believe it is several years.
    55
    56   Q.   Over the page, Mrs. Barnes, 720, "NB", you say:  "The AEC
    57        has been revised and from now on will include tuition on
    58        electrical safety".  Up to this date had it not done so?
    59        A.  It did mention electricity but we did not feel that the
    60        information was in enough detail.  You certainly could not

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