Coll v. Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co.

Citations

• 230 Pa. 86
• 79 A. 163
• 1911 Pa. LEXIS 566

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Machinery—Change in construction of machine.</p> <p>1. Where an employer during the absence of an employee changes the construction of a machine and the employee on his return resumes his work without notice of the change, and while using the machine in a way which would have been attended with no risk whatever had the machine not been changed is injured, the employer is liable for the injury sustained. In such a case it is immaterial that the employee is a mature and experienced workman, or that the effect of the change was to reduce the risk of accident to the employees generally who worked upon the machine.</p> <p>Negligence — Statement of claim — Amendment.</p> <p>2. In an action of trespass to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by an employee at a machine which had been changed during his absence and without his knowledge, an amendment to the statement of claim may be allowed more than two years after the accident which does not change the negligence charged, viz., failure to give notice of the change in the machine, but merely sets forth more accurately the effect produced by the change in its relation to the accident.</p>