Day 131 - 06 Jun 95 - Page 79
1 there is a hot surface there? We know that in any case.
2 This is a question of looking at conditions and asking
3 where conditions could be improved. We all know that if
4 you put your hand on a cooker you will burn yourself.
5 That, of course, is why people are trained in a set
6 procedure.
7
8 Q. The reality is, though, is it not, Mr. Purslow, that the
9 cooking of the products is the front line of the McDonald's
10 operation and the Company does not want to do anything
11 which would slow down or inhibit its work force from
12 performing that task as quickly as possible ---
13 A. No, the reality is, Mr. Morris ---
14
15 Q. -- for the benefit of the customer?
16 A. -- that you do not seem to be able to make any comment
17 on the previous point I made.
18
19 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, you cannot, I am sorry. You just answer
20 the questions.
21 A. I do not accept that as a statement. I do not accept
22 that as a basic. As I say again, any organisation is about
23 producing its product speedily, efficiently, safely and to
24 the quality the customer wants. McDonald's is no different
25 in this respect than any other competent organisation, as
26 its success shows.
27
28 MR. MORRIS: I have just one more question. When you commented
29 in your statement -- you do not have to get it out, I will
30 read it to you anyway; for the record, it is page 13 of the
31 statement -- about Karen Anstee, a Defendants' witness, it
32 referred to vats of boiling oil and grills at extremely
33 high temperatures ---
34 A. Yes.
35
36 Q. -- as a concern, a safety concern. Your response was:
37 "Firstly, deep fat fryers are used throughout the industry
38 and, secondly, grills do tend to be hot otherwise they do
39 not cook. As anyone who has ever cooked will tell you,
40 minor burns are endemic in the industry". I put it to you
41 that that sarcastic response, "As anyone who has ever
42 cooked will tell you, minor burns are endemic in the
43 industry" and grills do tend to be hot, as if Karen Anstee
44 is an idiot, is because she is actually pointing out
45 something that McDonald's cannot change, which is that it
46 is hazardous to work with hot oil and high temperature
47 grills, and nothing McDonald's can do is going to affect
48 that fact?
49 A. I am pointing out there is a difference between a deep
50 fat fryer and a vat of boiling oil, which certainly sounds
51 rather different to the reality, which is that you have a
52 cooker of that size with a deep fat fryer that is used
53 throughout industry. Certainly, hot surfaces can burn --
54 that is accepted -- but that is an endemic part of the
55 cooking process, and that is the point I was making and the
56 point I would reiterate to yourself; unless you are going
57 to stop cooking things, you are always going to have minor
58 burns.
59
60 MR. MORRIS: May that be a good time to stop?
