Day 086 - 09 Feb 95 - Page 11
1 under-staffing. The queues would get longer. It does not
2 necessarily mean that health and safety would be
3 compromised.
4
5 Q. So are you saying that the first priority, if there is
6 under-staffing, would be to serve customers more slowly?
7 A. No, that is not what I said -- that is not what I
8 meant, sorry.
9
10 Q. What is the priority if there is under-staffing in the
11 store in terms of what ---
12
13 MR. RAMPTON: Let him answer.
14
15 MR. MORRIS: -- all right then, go on.
16 A. If there are less staff, then you anticipate it, you
17 just continue to do the job as best you can. It would be,
18 instead of having three tills to serve the customer, you
19 may have two tills to serve the customer. So, as a result
20 of that the customer would end up getting served slower.
21
22 Q. Would it concern you if staff were or felt that they had to
23 cut corners on safety matters? For example, you said
24 running is something that is not encouraged, it is an
25 unsafe practice, and full checks were not being done that
26 machinery may be cleaned up more quickly than it should be
27 and, therefore, not done properly; those kinds of things,
28 would that concern you?
29 A. Could you -- I sort of got a bit lost with that one.
30 I think what I am trying to say -----
31
32 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I do not think Mr. Morris is putting more
33 than this to you, that if you are shorthanded for any
34 reason, you might be tempted to do something which if you
35 had more staff who, therefore, had more time would not be
36 done. You might, for instance, be tempted to turn on or
37 off an electric -- this is not what happened here but as an
38 example -- switch with a very wet hand when, if you had
39 more time, you might dry your hand first. I do not think
40 Mr. Morris is putting anything more to you than that at the
41 moment.
42 A. All right, I may have misunderstood. I accept that it
43 may happen, but I thought the assumption was or the
44 hypothesis that it naturally led from the fact that you
45 were under-staffed that people would start cutting corners
46 on health and safety. That I do not agree with. So if
47 I misunderstood his question, I do apologise.
48
49 MR. MORRIS: If it did lead -----
50
51 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I have to say I think that is a matter which
52 I can judge for myself, unless there is anything peculiar
53 about McDonald's in this respect.
54
55 MR. MORRIS: So when under-staffing occurs, your position is
56 that the safety work, the safety responsibilities, should
57 not be compromised; is that what you are saying?
58 A. I said they would not necessarily be compromised.
59
60 Q. So are there quite a lot of times in the running of the
