Hoffman v. Brentmore Knitting Mills

Citations

• 252 Pa. 337
• 97 A. 474
• 1916 Pa. LEXIS 617

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Moving machinery — Act of May 2,1905, P. L. 852 — Guard in course of construction — Contributory negligence — Binding instructions for defendant.</p> <p>1. It is contributory negligence for an employee engaged in operating machinery to fail to observe a temporary danger which is obvious and of the existence of which he was fully aware.</p> <p>2. The defense of contributory negligence is not taken away by the Act of May 2, 1905, P. L. 352, requiring moving machinery to be properly guarded.</p> <p>3. An employer is not liable for injuries sustained by an employee not due to the ahsence of protection required by the Act of May 2, 1905, P. L. 352, but received because of the latter’s failure to observe the guard while the work of construction was in progress and unfinished.</p> <p>4. In an action by an employee against his employer to recover damages for personal injuries sustained while endeavoring to stop machinery by grasping a flywheel, thereby bringing his hands into contact with a bracket intended to hold a guard which had just been put in place, the trial court was correct in directing a verdict for defendant on the ground of plaintiff’s contributory negligence, where it appeared he had knowledge of the presence of the bracket and could have stopped the machinery in other and safer ways.</p>