Day 167 - 02 Oct 95 - Page 42
1 service engineer must be called. Temperatures are checked
2 again at 2 p.m., 4 p.m. and towards the middle of the
3 evening shift. Freezer temperatures must also be checked
4 around 8 a.m., 2 p.m., 6 p.m. and midnight to ensure that
5 the raw product has not thawed or dehydrated. In addition
6 to receiving training in these procedures, staff are also
7 encouraged to keep visual checks on products.
8
9 It is true that customers complain about uncooked
10 products. Logan is accurate in saying that such complaints
11 are received approximately once a week. However, it would
12 be extremely rare for a complaint of this nature to be
13 substantiated and again I would dispute Logan's claim that
14 they are attributable to overcrowding of meat on the
15 grill.
16
17 When complaints about product quality are received, it is
18 standard practice to follow a set procedure. The product
19 must be examined and if undercooked placed in a plastic
20 bag. The Kitchen Manager should then be instructed to
21 cease cooking that product and to throw away the remaining
22 product. Until the shift running Manager is completely
23 satisfied that the product integrity is satisfactory, no
24 further batches of that product are produced.
25
26 An investigation must then be conducted into cooking
27 equipment, temperatures, cooking time, etc. An incident
28 report must be completed. Managers are never too busy to
29 do this since failure to do so is a disciplinary offence.
30 All reports are sent to the local area management, who will
31 decide whether a serious incident or series of incidents
32 involving uncooked products should be investigated
33 further.
34
35 The 'face lift' referred to by Logan cost around £200,000,
36 not £350,000, as he suggests, and took place at the same
37 time as the overhaul of the RCD system.
38
39 Logan's account of the grease trap incident does not
40 coincide with my experience of McDonald's approach to
41 health and safety hazards. Firstly, I would say that a
42 broken grease trap is unlikely to pose a real safety hazard
43 since it is not possible to walk underneath the trap. I am
44 surprised by the allegation that a Manager said that the
45 repair could not be afforded and that it would affect the
46 'Profit and Loss', since the restaurant has a monthly
47 maintenance, repair and reinvestment budget. Repairs to a
48 broken grease trap would not represent a high expense and
49 could probably be carried out in any event by the
50 restaurant's own repair man.
51
52 Logan's comments concerning chicken vats are also
53 inaccurate, like the grills, the vats were linked up to the
54 RCD and so were subject to the same recurring fault. The
55 vats have now been replaced by a different model. It would
56 be obvious that a vat had 'tripped out', since the liquid
57 would stop bubbling, all lights would go out and a loud
58 clicking sound would be heard along with a strong 'whoosh'
59 of air. Since there is someone working at these vats
60 constantly, it would be very difficult not to notice that
