Bentley v. Rochester Planing Mill Co.

Citations

• 38 Pa. Super. 172
• 1909 Pa. Super. LEXIS 108

Syllabus

<p>Master and servant — Contributory negligence — Planing mill.</p> <p>In an action by an employee against his employer, a planing mill company, to recover damages for personal injuries, it appeared that the plaintiff, a man of mature years, who had been in the service of the defendant for several years, was foreman of the planing mill, machine hands and carpenters, with the right to hire and discharge men, and with general control over his'department. On the main floor of the mill there was a saw intended for a special use. It was operated by a belt from the basement and could be detached from the general system of power by throwing the belt in the basement. When the saw was to be used it was necessary for someone to go to the basement and restore the broken connection. On the day of the accident a superior officer of the plaintiff told him that he wished to have some lumber sawed up by the special saw. He said: “When you have time, I wish you would do that. ” Plaintiff said: “ If I have to do it, I might as well do it now as at any other time.” Plaintiff then proceeded to slacken the speed of the running machinery, which he could do by an apparatus on the first floor. After this he went down into the basement, which was separate from his own department and apart from his control, and which he did not often visit, and while attempting to adjust the belt of the special saw was caught in his clothing by a set screw projecting from the shaft revolving near the belt, and was injured. Held, that the plaintiff was not entitled to recover, as the proximate cause of the injury was his own lack of care.</p>