Bardsley v. Gill

Citations

• 218 Pa. 56
• 66 A. 1112
• 1907 Pa. LEXIS 455

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Dangerous appliances — Lack of customary devices — Explosion of oil — Evidence—Contributory negligence.</p> <p>The particular duty of an employer to an employee in any given case is to be ascertained from the nature of the employment and the location and condition of the premises, and the particular facts of the case. A higher degree of care is required in dealing with an explosive substance, such as fuel oil, than in the ordinary affairs of life or business.</p> <p>Where a witness gives testimony as to a long experience with different oils, and states that he knew of some thirty or forty industrial institutions using fuel oil, he may testify that a room in which such oil was kept was not properly ventilated, and he may state what methods and appliances should have been used, and what precaution should have been taken, to insure safety to employees, and he may also state what methods are employed in other establishments.</p> <p>Where persons employed in other establishments, without knowledge of a general custom, testify as to the methods employed in their particular establishments, the jury may say what the general custom is, from a consideration of the testimony of such witnesses.</p> <p>In an action by a wife to recover damages for the death of her husband, caused by the alleged negligence of the defendant, her husband’s employer, in storing fuel oil, the facts proven were, that fuel oil generated explosive gases at all times; that an open manhole in the oil tank permitted the gas to permeate the room in which the deceased was killed; that contact with flame would explode the gas; that there was no permanent light of any kind in the oil room; that lamps and candles were used habitually by the employees in entering the room, and were provided for that purpose; that a witness who accompanied the deceased into the room stated that he thought deceased had a light, but, owing to his own injury received at the time, he could not be