Coffeyville Vitrified Brick & Tile Co. v. Shanks

Citations

• 69 Kan. 306
• 76 P. 856
• 1904 Kan. LEXIS 248

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Mines and Mining—Operation of Shale-pit—Duty of Master to Warn Servant. It is a master’s duty to conduct the business of mining shale in a manner affording reasonable safety to his employees; and if the operation of a shale-pit from thirty to thirty-five feet deep, with steep walls, require that massive fragments of shale, loosened by blasting, be thrown down at irregular intervals from the top of the pit upon the place at the foot of the wall, where men are required to work, whose duties prevent them from properly protecting themselves against injury from the falling shale, it is the master’s duty to make efficient and permanent provision for warning signals to be given upon such occasions in time for the men to retire beyond the reach of harm.</p> <p>2. - Servant May Bely on Warnings of Pit-boss. Under a rule governing the operation of a shale-pit, that men at the foot of the pit wall shall shovel shale into cars while the pit-boss watches that drillers at work at the top of the pit do not throw fragments of loosened shale down upon them without previous warning, a man shoveling shale is not obliged to observe the progress of the drillers’ work, but may rely upon the warnings the pit-boss is required to give.</p> <p>3. - Fellow Servants—Master Must Give Warning of Danger. In determining the question whether or not two employees are fellow servants, the fact that the negligent act of one of them, which injures the other, violates a duty which the master himself owes is controlling, irrespective of the rank or grade of service between the employees, and notwithstanding the circumstance that they are engaged in a common employment directed to a common end; and if, in the discharge of the master’s duty, a warning be necessary, it is not enough that he has provided a competent person to give it; the warning must be given.</p> <p>4. Practice, District Court—Exceptions to Special Questions to Jury. A general exception to a refusal to s