Dolan v. Slade Lumber Co.

Citations

• 69 Wash. 22
• 124 P. 133
• 1912 Wash. LEXIS 838

Syllabus

<p>Master and Servant—Safe Appliance—Evidence—Sufficiency. The fact that a resaw started automatically is insufficient to establish negligence in not providing proper tension for a belt connecting the machine with the power, where the plaintiff offered no evidence on the subject and defendant’s witnesses testified that the belt was kept at all times in such a tension that it would not start the machine automatically.</p> <p>Same—Guarding Machinery-—Question for Jury. Whether the gears of a resaw should have been guarded under the factory act, requiring the guarding of all gearing with which employees are liable to come in contact, is for the jury, where it appears that they could have been advantageously guarded, and that the operator was liable to come in contact with the gears whenever it became necessary to adjust the rolls, although the operator was expected to stop the machine before adjusting the rolls.</p> <p>Same—-Operation of Machinery — Contributory Negligence— Question for Jury. It is for the jury to say whether it was contributory negligence for an operator to attempt to adjust the rolls of a resaw without stopping the machine, the thumbscrew being near the gears, although defendant’s witnesses testified that he was expected to do so.</p> <p>Same—Assumption of Risks. The operator of a resaw does not assume the risk from the automatic starting of the machine from the fact that he knew that it had once before so started and failed to notify the employer thereof, since the employer may have had other notice.</p> <p>Master and Servant—Injury to Servant—Actions-—Issues and Proof—Instructions. In an action for injuries caused by the automatic starting of a resaw, through the alleged improper tension of the power belt by reason of too great a weight thereon, it is error to admit evidence that a belt-shifter would have been a safer device for starting the machine than a weight on the belt to increase. its tension, and to instruct that the lack of a belt-shifter