Day 181 - 01 Nov 95 - Page 44
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2 What I am suggesting is this, Mr. Pearson, that whilst it
3 is undoubtedly right that burns, cuts, slips, bangs,
4 bruises, matters of that kind, do occur -- and we will
5 argue in this case, and his Lordship will decide in due
6 course, the answer how frequently that happens -- it is
7 not, the McDonald's environment, one in which the risk of
8 serious injury is very great. It exists, and must be
9 catered for, but perhaps you would agree that it is not
10 very great?
11 A. Well, I do not agree that it is acceptable to dismiss
12 the range -- the suggestion is that the range of
13 non-reportable injuries does not matter. Because, clearly,
14 they do matter.
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16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That has not been suggested.
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18 MR. RAMPTON: It has not been suggested at all.
19 A. Well, my point -----
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21 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Put the question again, Mr. Rampton.
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23 THE WITNESS: I must have misunderstood you, sorry.
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25 MR. RAMPTON: I think you did. I was asking you whether you
26 would accept, so far as you are aware of it -- and I will
27 ask you in a moment another question about that, and then
28 I have finished -- would you accept that so far as
29 reportable injury is concerned, that is to say, serious
30 injury, though one must be on one's guard to see that it
31 does not occur, the risk of that kind of injury in the
32 McDonald's environment is not very great?
33 A. I do not think we have seen any statistics on those
34 kinds of injuries in McDonald's.
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36 Q. Then I will show you some.
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38 MS. STEEL: Before we go away from this, I am still confused.
39 The bit where it says "distribution hotels and catering and
40 repairs" -----
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42 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Why not ask in re-examination?
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44 MS. STEEL: Because it is not really a question for the
45 witness. It has actually got a semi-colon between the
46 "hotels and catering and repairs", and that was why we
47 thought it was talking about repairs in those industries.
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49 THE WITNESS: I can explain this, my Lord.
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51 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, explain it now. I would rather we got
52 to it now than re-examination.
53 A. Yes. I mean, the reason why repairs are in there is
54 because you have this category of repair of consumer goods
55 and vehicles hidden in. It is a bit inconsistent, but this
56 is where these jobs fit into the table so they put a
57 semicolon -----
58
59 Q. One might equally have had distribution, hotels and
60 catering and the first four, four sub-headings, and then
