Day 132 - 07 Jun 95 - Page 36
1 discourage people from hanging around when they could be
2 working? It is possible, is it not?
3 A. It is also possible that there was an electrical fault
4 or whatever. I have said that in my comment I find it
5 difficult to accept that heating would be deliberately
6 isolated.
7
8 Q. But if the heating in the crew room was low, you would be
9 concerned?
10 A. Yes, certainly it should be at an equitable
11 temperature, certainly.
12
13 Q. On page 16 there was: "Mr. McGill had stated that there
14 was neither cold protection or gloves available for staff
15 in the cold store". Your response was: "The time spent in
16 a refrigerator stowing stores is minimal"?
17 A. Yes.
18
19 Q. But there will be checks on the stores, on what is stored
20 in the cold store, would there not, from time to time to
21 see what is actually -----
22
23 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You made a reservation about that. You said
24 unless they were stock-taking?
25 A. Well, indeed. I mean, even stock-taking would not take
26 that long, my Lord, because you are talking about may be a
27 dozen boxes of burgers in the freezer, or whatever, but
28 certainly if anybody was called upon to work in the freezer
29 for any length of time, one would expect some sort of
30 gloves or outer clothing to be worn, but it would need to
31 be more than just the general stowing and movement of
32 goods.
33
34 MR. MORRIS: There may be times when the stores in the storeroom
35 have to be re-arranged?
36 A. Possibly so. I do not know. You would have to ask an
37 Operations person.
38
39 Q. There is also the loading and unloading which in some
40 stores may take sometime?
41 A. Loading and unloading I do not see as a problem. You
42 take a box, you walk into the freezer, put it down and walk
43 out again. You know, throughout industry that is done and
44 walk-in freezers are used throughout the hotel and catering
45 industry. I say again, if you have a need for somebody to
46 work in there for any length of time, to be actually
47 staying in there for any length of time, then, yes, you
48 should have some sort of warm clothing. I accept that, but
49 it is not the norm.
50
51 Q. You then say: "Dermatitis from chemicals is well
52 documented in the industry"?
53 A. Yes.
54
55 Q. So that is a risk, is it, from cleaning chemicals?
56 A. Dermatitis is a risk from cleaning chemicals, yes.
57 That is a known risk in industry generally. I would add
58 that that is one of the reasons why we specified
59 comparatively mild chemicals, and so on and so forth, to
60 try to limit any such problems.
