McCoy v. Wolf Co.

Citations

• 235 Pa. 571
• 84 A. 581
• 1912 Pa. LEXIS 590

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Unguarded shafting — Act of May 8, 1905, P. L. 358 — Contributory negligence.</p> <p>1. Shafting thirteen and one-half feet above the floor of a fac tory and ending in a collar upon •which is a projecting set screw, is properly guarded within the meaning of the Act of May 2, 1905, P L. 352, which provides that “shafting, set screws......shall be properly guarded,” in so far as employees on the floor of the factory are concerned; but it is not properly guarded as to an employee who is engaged at work at a scaffold ten feet nine inches above the floor and who was killed by reason of his clothes catching on the end of the revolving shaft.</p> <p>2. “Properly guarded” is a relative term or expression, and whether the statutory requirement in that respect has been complied with necessarily depends upon the facts of the particular case. Machinery may be so distant from the place where an employee is engaged, as to render it entirely safe as to him; on the other hand, it may be located in such proximity to the place he is called to perform his service that to protect him against danger an artificial guard is necessary.</p> <p>3. In an action against an employer to recover damages for the death of an employee, the question of the deceased’s contributory negligence is for the jury, where the evidence shows that the deceased did general work about the defendant’s factory, that on the day of the accident he was directed to assist a carpenter in completing certain work in the construction of a scaffold of a temporary character; that about four feet above the top of the scaffold was a revolving shaft which was unguarded, and that the deceased in performing the work which he was directed to do was caught by the revolving shaft and killed.</p>