Day 217 - 09 02 96 - Page 49
DAY 217
1
2 Q. What is the horn cutter sterilizer?
3 A. That is a huge big sterilizer that is used for horn
4 cutters that are big scissors. There is no facility to put
5 your knife in the -- the purpose of the sterilizer is not
6 to stick your knife in there. The purpose of the
7 sterilizer -- the sterilizer for knives is a facility where
8 you can leave your knife, there is a rack where you leave
9 your knife to exchange it for another knife and then you
10 come back. As we know, time and temperature has a combined
11 effect, and just rinsing your knife in the sterilizer,
12 sticking it into the sterilizer is not going to do it any
13 good.
14
15 Q. Mrs. Hovi, please, as you can tell from reading Mr. Bone's
16 statement, there is no water between us on that. As you
17 remember, he says that the man who does the sticking
18 exchanges his knife each time for a new one from the
19 sterilizer. The knives have to be left. It is not a real
20 sterilization anyway ---
21 A. Yes.
22
23 Q. It is a kind of debacterialising?
24 A. Yes, that is right.
25
26 Q. What about all the hand washes and sterilizers along the
27 back wall though, there are three of them?
28 A. Those are quite far. They are on the other side of the
29 sheep line and they are actually for the sheep line
30 operators when they were opening the fronts of the sheep.
31
32 Q. The sheep and the cattle do not run at the same time, do
33 they?
34 A. No, they do not run at the same time, but you can
35 understand, it is quite far aware. For a man who is having
36 to work continuously, he cannot walk three or four yards or
37 five yards -- I would say that it was about four yards to
38 those hand washes -- and he has to cross the man. He has
39 to go around the man who is cutting the horns with the horn
40 cutter and the head wash facility. He has not got time to
41 go and change his knife between every animal.
42
43 Q. Last time you were here, Mrs. Hovi, I accused you of
44 picking nits, but am afraid I am going to have to pick
45 one. If it is two to three metres between the bleed hoist
46 man and his apron wash, then it is something like nine or
47 10 metres between the brown man at the transfer hoist as
48 and the nearest hand wash and sterilizer, is it not?
49 A. Nine or?
50
51 Q. 10 metres.
52 A. Yes, well, it was a long distance. I mean, I find it
53 difficult to say now. I am trying to think in my mind how
54 far it was, but it was definitely a good distance, and you
55 have to remember that he has to go around the horn cutter
56 sterilizer, the head wash, and the man who is there in the
57 middle. He cannot pass through there.
58
59 Q. Just a point of curiosity, Mrs. Hovi. Whose head is it
60 that is washed in the head wash?
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