Day 128 - 24 May 95 - Page 15
1 added in there was that electrical equipment must not be
2 ---
3
4 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Tampered with?
5 A. -- "tampered with" was the way we put it in there, and
6 that had been introduced before the accident. One of the
7 things we considered was, would Robert Chapman have seen
8 it, being he joined in 1989, left and then came back.
9
10 Q. One may as well come out in the open, although
11 Mr. Nicholson thought not to tamper with electrical
12 equipment would mean not to do any repairing, that was not
13 my own reaction. When I read the draft report (for which
14 you were responsible) there was wording there which makes
15 it look as if that is not how you viewed it either.
16 A. Well, certainly at the time we wished we had made it
17 more specific.
18
19 MS. STEEL: I just wanted to ask some points about
20 Mr. Purslow's statement.
21
22 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is yellow X.
23
24 MS. STEEL: On page 256 there is a reference to something that
25 Carol Anstey (who is a witness of ours) said in her
26 statement where a pipe burst and there was water up to,
27 I think, about quarter of an inch -- it might have been
28 more; I am not sure -- over the floor of the kitchen grill
29 area. As Health and Safety Officer for the Company, do you
30 think it is acceptable that work is carried on for 20
31 minutes in conditions like that?
32 A. Well, not having been there, I do not really know what
33 the exact conditions were, but I would concur with Chris
34 that the right decision was taken. Obviously, it would
35 depend how the events unfolded and there are no details
36 here. Obviously, I would not like to say, not having been
37 there.
38
39 Q. If the situation was that there was water, quarter of an
40 inch of water, all over the floor of the grill area,
41 kitchen area, and workers were continuing frying burgers,
42 whatever else it is they do in a kitchen, do you think it
43 is acceptable for them to continue working for 20 minutes
44 while the situation is assessed?
45 A. If the situation developed so it had got to that stage,
46 I personally would have stopped work straightaway but, as
47 I say, I do not know how it unfolded and it might not have
48 got to that stage straightaway.
49
50 Q. So if it was at that stage and management did not instruct
51 staff to stop work immediately, would you discipline the
52 management for not taking health and safety seriously?
53 A. Again it would just depend on the circumstances. It is
54 just very difficult to say in a hypothetical situation.
55 I would certainly expect them to react to what was best for
56 the crew, and for the customers, as well, for that matter.
57 Certainly there comes a time when you have no option but
58 just to cease business and get action taken to sort out the
59 problem and clear up the mess.
60
