Dzikowska v. Superior Steel Co.

Citations

• 259 Pa. 578
• 103 A. 351
• 1918 Pa. LEXIS 452

Syllabus

<p>Workmen’s Compensation Law — Injury in course of employment —Interval of leisure while awaiting material — Lighting cigarette— Clothes catching afire — Death—Award—Act of June 3, 1915, P. L. 736.</p> <p>1. In order to hold an emptier liable under the Workmen’s Compensation Law of 1915 it is not necessary to show that the injury arose out of the employment. It is sufficient if it occurred in the course of employment, except for injuries intentionally self-inflicted, or caused by an act of a third person intended to injure the workman for reasons personal to him.</p> <p>2. An employer is liable for compensation for an injury sustained by a workman during a short interval in his work while awaiting the arrival of material with which to work.</p> <p>3. Acts of ministration by a servant to himself, such as quenching his thirst, satisfying his hunger, and protecting himself from excessive cold, the performance of which while at work are reasonably necessary to his health and comfort, are incident to his employment and acts of service therein within the workmen’s compensation acts, although they are only indirectly conducive to the purpose of the employment.</p> <p>4. An employment is not broken by mere intervals of leisure such as those taken for a meal and if an accident occurs to a workman during such time the employer is liable even though the workman is paid by the hour for the time he is actually at work, especially where the accident occurs on the employer’s premises, or about his property, unless the workman is doing something that is wholly foreign to his employment.</p> <p>5. It is not unreasonable for workmen to smoke out of doors, during intervals in their work, where it does not interfere with their duties.</p> <p>6. Where an employee, during an intermission in his work, while waiting' for material, struck a match for the purpose of lighting a cigarette and as a result his clothing, saturated with oil, by reason of the work in which he was engaged, caught o