Day 128 - 24 May 95 - Page 29


     
     1        necessarily directed just at running and rushing, but
     2        I think the suggestion is that working at speed is put at a
     3        premium in McDonald's and that is bound to increase the
     4        incidence of accidents and injuries.  What do you say about
     5        that?
     6        A.  Well, I suppose, unless you do things very slowly and
     7        very deliberately every time, that you could argue that in
     8        increasing the efficiency of what you do, you increase the
     9        risk.  However, from a practical standpoint, I would not do
    10        things slowly and deliberately at home every time, and
    11        I suppose in a real world there is a working speed that you
    12        go at.
    13
    14   MS. STEEL:   Things that might not necessarily make the RIDDOR
    15        statistics, like burns or scalds, scalds caused by bumping
    16        into someone when you are trying to, you know, prepare a
    17        coffee for an order, or burns caused by quickly flipping
    18        over the burgers, not really thinking about what you are
    19        doing because you are doing it at such a speed.  Things
    20        like that would be reduced, would they not, if employees
    21        were instructed that you should not be working at speed,
    22        you should be working at whatever pace is safe; put safety
    23        before speed?
    24        A.  Certainly safety is in there with the definition of
    25        hustle now.  The examples you have given, I have seen both
    26        of those happen in stores when they have been very quiet
    27        and people have not been rushing.  I suppose you could
    28        argue, as I have just said, that doing them quicker
    29        increases the chance of it happening.
    30
    31   Q.   They are more likely to happen if people are working fast
    32        and not consciously thinking about taking care?
    33        A.  One thing you are doing, if you are doing things more
    34        quickly, you are doing more actions in that same time, so
    35        just from that very aspect alone, you could say you
    36        increase the risk.
    37
    38   Q.   You said that safety is in there in the definition of
    39        "hustle" now?
    40        A.  Yes.
    41
    42   Q.   That was in response to the Health and Safety Executive
    43        report?
    44        A.  We actual implemented the change before the report came
    45        out, but it was -----
    46
    47   Q.   You had discussions by that stage with the Health and
    48        Safety Executive?
    49        A.  Yes, we discussed it with Andrew Foster while he was
    50        doing his assessment plan. 
    51 
    52   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  My reaction to the new definition to "hustle" 
    53        is that if I had to define what "hustle" would mean to me,
    54        not having been familiar with the word, I have to say, that
    55        is the last definition in the world I would have thought
    56        of.  It is a completely artificial one.  It is not
    57        artificial in the sense that it is redefined for people who
    58        are working, but it is not what the word itself would mean.
    59        A.  No, it is not.  We use it in a very specific way.  The
    60        reason we chose the three Cs, is that it is something that

Prev Next Index