Day 132 - 07 Jun 95 - Page 45
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2 MR. MORRIS: The figures which you give there, that would relate
3 to the Colchester store?
4 A. Indeed, that is the heading of that section, yes.
5 I attempted to contrast that with the amount of hours
6 worked, so that we have an idea of what the normal
7 full-time occupancy would be so that I could get some idea
8 of accident rates basically.
9
10 Q. I do not think I need to ask any questions about that
11 then. I have finished with your statement, Mr. Purslow.
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13 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Give it back to Mr. Rampton. We took what
14 appeared to be the one legible copy, Mr. Rampton.
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16 MS. STEEL: In 1992 when Jill Barnes was on maternity leave
17 you, kind of, stepped into her shoes and dealt with the
18 investigations into the incident where an employee received
19 an electric shock at the Harbourn store; is that right?
20 A. I did not conduct a full investigation. I was
21 certainly involved in that the incident was referred to me
22 for my advice, certainly, and that I covered for Jill on
23 that basis and I have done so subsequently. In other
24 words, if they want any backup advice, everybody knows my
25 telephone number. They get in touch with me. I looked at
26 it on that basis.
27
28 Q. What did your investigations reveal?
29 A. The investigation had already been conducted both by
30 the Environmental Health Officer and McDonald's by the time
31 I was asked to look at it or my advice was sought. The
32 machine had been, as I remember, removed by the
33 Environmental Health Department for an engineer's report.
34 As I remember, the facts of case were that a plug had been
35 adjusted, altered, whatever, in such a way that ultimately
36 it created an electric shock. The facts of case were not
37 dissimilar to the one that caused a tragic death
38 subsequently.
39
40 Q. Was there an investigation into related matters in terms of
41 damaged sockets, whether the flex for the equipment was
42 long enough to reach from the equipment to the socket
43 without being taut?
44 A. As I say, the equipment was not available for me to
45 look at and it already been seized by the EHO for their own
46 investigation. Whether they considered it or not, I really
47 do not know.
48
49 Q. So you do not know what other matters the Company
50 investigated then?
51 A. Well, yes, as far as the Company were concerned, as
52 I say, we looked at the business once again of rewiring
53 plugs, and so on and so forth. As I remember (and I have
54 not got any reports in front of me, but as I remember), the
55 EHO also drew attention to two other pieces of equipment
56 where the cable had come out of the plug grips, as
57 I remember. Those were, in actual fact, on equipment that
58 had been brought in for a child's party. I think it was
59 discotheque type equipment or something along those lines.
60 We made the point within the Company that, obviously,
