Day 131 - 06 Jun 95 - Page 67
1
2 Q. I will ask you again.
3
4 MR. RAMPTON: No, my Lord, he has asked it three times.
5
6 MR. MORRIS: But he has not answered the question yet.
7
8 MR. RAMPTON: I think he has.
9
10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think it is extremely difficult unless you
11 put a particular task or activity where you say doing it
12 more quickly will lead to a greater risk. He has given you
13 a general answer because you asked him a very general
14 question. If you are going to suggest at the end of the
15 day: "If you do such and such an activity quickly or in a
16 hurried fashion, there is a greater risk of accident", now
17 is your chance to put it to Mr. Purslow.
18
19 MR. MORRIS: We will not go through 50 different jobs at
20 McDonald's but just to pick one at random, for example,
21 pouring the shortening out of the fat filtering unit, or
22 whatever, into the dustbin, the dustbin liner?
23 A. Yes.
24
25 Q. Yes? A number of accidents, and it is known as a hazardous
26 job.
27 A. Because you have got hot shortening.
28
29 Q. Hot shortening, and sometimes it splashes over the sides of
30 the bin, it may go on to someone's shoes, whatever. There
31 have been a number of accidents in that Colchester book,
32 for example, mentioning that. Obviously, I put it to you,
33 the faster you do that job, the more likely you are to
34 splash or misdirect the oil?
35 A. I am not sure speed is the key thing there and in any
36 case ------
37
38 Q. Have you a problem with that?
39 A. No, I am sorry. I will repeat again, I am not sure
40 that speed is of the thing. If you pick up a container and
41 you empty the container, it takes no longer to empty it
42 properly than it does to try to do it quickly. All your
43 (indecipherable) are for set speeds. I am awfully sorry
44 about this. You have also picked a job which is done on
45 the night closure routine when they are not under
46 pressure. I can see the drift of where you are going,
47 I understand it, but it does not stand up in practice.
48
49 MR. MORRIS: So oil is different from water, is it, that if you
50 pour water fast it splashes and if you do not, it does not?
51 A. No. Oil does have different properties to water, as
52 you well know and it flows differently to water. But if it
53 is directed at -- what I am saying is it takes no longer to
54 do it properly than it would to attempt to do it quickly.
55
56 Q. If you have to flip 20 burgers or, let us say, 12 burgers,
57 whatever the clamshell or open top grill is, and you have
58 to do them in 50 seconds, or whatever it is, whereas if
59 there were only six burgers, you would only have to do six
60 in 50-seconds, you would actually have to do twice as many
