Barry v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Co.

Citations

• 234 Pa. 367
• 83 A. 299
• 1912 Pa. LEXIS 655

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Safe place to work — Steel mill.</p> <p>1. It is not only the duty of a master to provide a safe place for his servant to work, but also to maintain it in a reasonably safe condition by inspection and repair. This is a direct, personal absolute obligation from which nothing but performance can relieve the master.</p> <p>2. Where the recrement or “scull” of a steel mill falls in the operation of the converters on to the roof-shield, and it is the duty of the owner of the mill to keep the roof-shield clean of the scull so that it may not harden and fall on the vessel floor below where men are at work, and the owner fails to perform this duty, and an employee who was required by his work to be on the vessel floor is hit and injured by the falling “scull,” the employer is liable for the injury sustained. In such a case the employee’s injuries are not caused from dangers which arise during the progress of the work, but are due to the failure of the employer to furnish a reasonably safe place to work.</p>