Day 130 - 26 May 95 - Page 12
1 like. Obviously I have been in quite a few back rooms
2 since. From what I can remember the ice machine was at one
3 side of it, and then the back sink reasonably adjacent to
4 that. So it is possible that, yes, it did not go across
5 the wall, but it would not necessarily have been across a
6 path that other people would have been using. Again, I did
7 not have the advantage of seeing the machine there because
8 it had been moved and taken.
9
10 Q. Did you investigate, in this circumstance, the use of high
11 powered sprays and the use of the middle sink, which was
12 too small for the trays, resulting in water regularly
13 ending up on the floor because of the work that needed to
14 be doing?
15 A. It was standard practice then (and it is still standard
16 practice now) to use a hot spray to rinse off equipment in
17 that middle sink. Yes, it is a narrower sink from the one
18 you would use for washing the equipment, but the idea is it
19 is just sprayed off there, it has got no need to fit in
20 there completely. Yes, I would agree that back rooms do
21 get splashed with water when that is going on. It is one
22 of the reasons now that with the filtering machine, even
23 though they are asked still to put water through it, they
24 are asked to take the water to the machine, then it is kept
25 away from the sink itself.
26
27 Q. At the time of the accident there was a large puddle of
28 water on the floor in the back room?
29 A. I do not know that because I do not think it came up in
30 any of the information that was given to me, although I can
31 see it is here in Robert Chapman's statement. As I say, he
32 was there and I was not.
33
34 Q. Do you know why the ambulance guy refused to administer to
35 Mark in that room?
36 A. I do not know if he did. It is only just hearing in
37 Robert Chapman's statement that I have seen that.
38
39 Q. Did you investigate the type of shoes that Mr. Hopkins was
40 wearing?
41 A. I did not, but it does not seem to have any relevance,
42 in that the reason Mark Hopkins received such a severe
43 shock was that he was both holding the machine and earthing
44 himself by the other arm, and even with Robert Chapman, the
45 shock that he had, I understand, he felt it go across his
46 stomach. He was a very lucky man.
47
48 Q. He was wearing rubber shoes?
49 A. It did not make any difference if it is going arm to
50 arm, and it went arm to arm through Chapman's arm.
51
52 Q. When you make an investigation you do not decide what the
53 cause of the problem is first, and then find the evidence
54 which backs up your theory, do you? You go in and
55 investigate the important matter that may lead to a
56 potential electrocution, in this case, would you not?
57 A. In this case -- we know why he died at the time. The
58 EHO backed that up at the time. I gathered, together with
59 the fact as best I could.
60
