McIntire v. Pittsburg Steel Foundry

Citations

• 208 Pa. 34
• 57 A. 61
• 1904 Pa. LEXIS 694

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Contributory negligence — Fellow-servant — Dangerous appliance.</p> <p>In an action to recover damages for personal injuries it appeared that plaintiff was employed as a carpenter in defendant’s foundry, and when injured was engaged in bolting a belt-shifter to the flange of a steel girder which was at one side of a machine shop and twelve feet above the ground. This girder was thirty-six inches wide, with flanges at the top and bottom which extended five'inches from the sides. Various mechanical appliances, used in connection with the machinery below, were attached to the girder, and it was used also with a corresponding girder at the other side of the shop to support the rails on which the truck of an electrical crane ran from one end of the building to the other. On the top of each of the girders there was an iron rail, of the kind in general use by railroad companies, on which the wheels of the truck ran: The rails covered only a part of the top of the girders, and did not extend within five inches of the edges of the flanges. In doing his work the plaintiff stood on a ladder, one end of which rested on the ground, and the other against the side of the girder between the flanges. He found some difficulty in adjusting a bolt and called to the master mechanic who was passing for advice. In order to make room for him on the ladder, the plaintiff stepped off onto the lower flange, and threw his arm on the top of the girder at the moment when the truck was passing the point. There was no evidence that the workman who operated the crane was incompetent. It also appeared that there was no occasion for plaintiff descending from the ladder, or, after having done so, for.his putting his arm across the rail. Held, that the evidence was insufficient to support a judgment on a verdict for plaintiff.</p>