Day 084 - 07 Feb 95 - Page 35


     
     1        work with it.
     2
     3   Q.   Yes.  Are we best to direct detailed questions about these
     4        charts to Mrs. Barnes?
     5        A.  I think you would find a much more informed answer from
     6        Jill.  She has been working in detail on this for years;
     7        whereas I have taken supervisory responsibility for the
     8        last six months.
     9
    10   Q.   Then I will restrain myself.  I will ask you only this in
    11        conclusion, Mr. Atherton:  Looking at these figures which
    12        show that -- nobody should be pleased about it -- 400
    13        accidents, reportable accidents, nationwide in 1993,
    14        looking at the number of the people, and we have excluded
    15        from these figures franchisees, have we not?
    16        A.  They are excluded from here, yes.
    17
    18   Q.   Looking at the number of company employees nationwide, are
    19        you, looking at those figures, anxious, concerned or smug
    20        and satisfied or something in between?
    21        A.  Concerned.
    22
    23   Q.   For what reason concerned?
    24        A.  Well, we obviously are not happy to have any employees
    25        injured in our restaurants and would try to stop that
    26        whatever way we could.  But, then again, looking at the
    27        figures and the fact that we have 32,000 employees working
    28        for us, working 364 days of the year and 16 hours per day,
    29        you know, I think the figures could reasonably be expected
    30        to be a lot worse, but our aim is to reduce them by
    31        whatever means we can.
    32
    33   Q.   Do you recognise, Mr. Atherton, that in a business like
    34        yours, employing roughly 32,000 people throughout the
    35        country and supplying, what, how many meals a day?
    36        A.  We serve about one million customers per day.
    37
    38   Q.   One million customers per day -- do you recognise that from
    39        time to time things will go wrong; somebody may be injured,
    40        somebody may get a product that is badly cooked or
    41        something of that kind?
    42        A.  Unfortunately, I think it is inevitable.  We would hope
    43        to reduce it by as much as possible, but I do not think we
    44        will ever, unfortunately, get to the position where we
    45        eliminate accidents completely.
    46
    47   Q.   In saying that, do you ever see a point at which you can
    48        sit complacently back and, as it were, wash your hands and
    49        say: "Well, now we have done our job; it is only a few poor
    50        people over a year that have an accident or get something 
    51        that makes them ill"? 
    52        A.  I am afraid that is just not the nature of the company. 
    53          In my 12 years experience, I have never seen anyone
    54        complacent about whatever area it is, and accidents in
    55        particular.
    56
    57   Q.   So, although I think you have accepted that you will never
    58        achieve perfection, will you go on striving for it?
    59        A.  Fortunately, that is the ethic within the company, what
    60        people work at.  We strive to achieve this sort of

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