Day 127 - 23 May 95 - Page 46
1 I will take them, if I may, in numerical order, starting
2 with volume X at page 156. Now, tell me if I am wrong,
3 Mrs. Barnes, but we believe this to be, as one can see from
4 time to time from its spelling, an American document from
5 the Corporation?
6 A. Yes, it is the from the American Operations and
7 Training Manual.
8
9 Q. Is there an English equivalent or not?
10 A. Not in the same format, no.
11
12 Q. No. Does the English company use this, that we have here
13 in front of us?
14 A. Yes, every restaurant is issued with one and it is a
15 reference document, if you like.
16
17 Q. One of these that we have here?
18 A. Yes.
19
20 Q. I do not know what date this is, but perhaps that does not
21 matter. Obviously there may be areas in which American
22 society, culture and the operation of the business differs
23 from what is in place in England?
24 A. That's right.
25
26 Q. So how do the restaurants use this Operations Training
27 Manual in this country?
28 A. They would use it as something to refer to. For
29 example, with the safety sections they would go first to
30 the Health and Safety Manual which refers to our
31 restaurants in particular and use this as a particular
32 reference source, perhaps, for picking up ideas. Certainly
33 in putting together our health and safety manual this was
34 one of the sources of information that we used.
35
36 Q. Could you look at page 156, "Introduction"? It is in the
37 left-hand column. The American document says: "It is well
38 documented reality in business that injuries are expensive,
39 certainly the money paid out in claims, that tried yearly
40 is cause enough to take safety seriously. More important
41 is the health and well-being of your employers and
42 customers. Any injury to them causes more damage than any
43 claim for payment can remedy. Injuries to employees and
44 customers diminish your restaurant's reputation as a safe
45 place to enter, costing you sales and crew productivity.
46 It is clear that any accident can have important
47 consequences to your own operation".
48
49 From your perspective as from what I might call head of
50 health and safety in this country for McDonald's, is there
51 any area or part of that that you would like to rewrite
52 from the English perspective?
53 A. I would probably put the emphasis differently, in that
54 certainly in the States the employee claims are a lot
55 higher than here in the UK. The way that any safety
56 professional would look at it here is that there are three
57 reasons why you should achieve excellence in safety
58 management. The first is the moral reason in terms of the
59 safety and well-being of your employees; the second the
60 cost implications and the third the legal requirements.
