Day 112 - 31 Mar 95 - Page 21
1 Q. Then I was going to ask you, what is the breach of
2 regulation that you are asserting here, even supposing you
3 had been right which you are not, of course?
4 A. Basically, I am referring to the fact that there was
5 such resistance at me starting to do these quality control
6 measures. That is a breach of regulations of the OVS's
7 authority in the plant.
8
9 Q. You mean because the OVS wants you to do something that you
10 are not compelled to do by law, it is a breach of the
11 regulations to tell the OVS to mind their own business?
12 A. I did not ask them to do anything. I asked if could I
13 start doing -- I find, in my opinion, the OVS should act,
14 and that is the best way of carrying out the job, as a
15 consultant to the plant. I strive to do my job so that
16 I can work in the co-operation with the plant, that is why
17 I usually inform -- I do not start taking new measures in a
18 plant where they have not been done before without
19 informing them and discussing it and, perhaps, doing it in
20 co-operation with the plant, particularly since it is
21 usually the plant that ends up picking up the bill in case
22 we use outside services to do these.
23
24 Q. Suppose I am the owner of an abattoir and I have the
25 misfortune to be blessed with an over-officious,
26 authoritarian, bossy OVS who tries to get me to do
27 something, such as allowing him or her to take swab tests
28 which it is not my legal obligation to do or have done on
29 my behalf, what is the breach of regulation involved in my
30 saying: "Go away, mind your own business; do not be so
31 bossy"?
32 A. It might not be directly a breach of regulation, but
33 I see that it is a breach of their duty to -- a lot of
34 these regulations do not refer to OVS's duties. They refer
35 to the management duties to run an abattoir where the risks
36 to public health are not increased, where they are high
37 regulations required to run an abattoir on a hygienic
38 basis.
39
40 Most of the regulations, the schedules start, "the owner of
41 the abattoir" or "the abattoir is required to do the
42 following". The OVS is there in a supervisory role, or
43 I would like to see it in a consultancy role.
44
45 Q. I am going to leave the third bullet point because I will
46 have to come back to that (in view of the evidence you gave
47 yesterday) at a future date. Can you look at the fourth
48 one: "Throughout the plant there was a shortage of
49 facilities for disinfection of hand tools and knives
50 leading to contamination of the carcasses and meat". Could
51 you please find the Jarrett plan -- I hope it is still up
52 there?
53 A. I think it was at the beginning of this file.
54
55 Q. I would like you to keep it out because I have another
56 thing I want to ask you while we have it out. You have
57 written, as I said: "Throughout the plant there was a
58 shortage of facilities for disinfection of hand tools and
59 knives". Pausing there, where do you say in this plan
60 there should have been sterilization points, is it, sorry,
